Lawyer Salary

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi, anyone actually considered the longevity and recession-resistance of the legal industry when they wanna leave?

I am thinking of switching out to legal tech - but i feel the private practice is more of a iron rice bowl compared to legal tech. pls advise

Please switch mai tu le

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I wish I could do my legal research like this. No summary, no explanation, nothing - just go "eh boss, nah" and put a one pager from everybody's favourite J on my boss' table.

I wish I could read a case but I am illiterate

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi, anyone actually considered the longevity and recession-resistance of the legal industry when they wanna leave?

I am thinking of switching out to legal tech - but i feel the private practice is more of a iron rice bowl compared to legal tech. pls advise

U sure u wanna switch?
Recession is coming soon and u r the first one to go in legal tech. Most legal tech companies are start up and the market size is too small. That's why u don see Google, meta, Microsoft, apple venture into legal tech. Few customers, high capital. First one to shutter when recession hits

Mind my word. Stay in practice for now

Junior Assoc. Burnt out and unhappy.

Firm frequently pays salary late and reimbursements. Previous month salary still unpaid.
This has happened since my Trainee days.

Any recourse?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Junior Assoc. Burnt out and unhappy.

Firm frequently pays salary late and reimbursements. Previous month salary still unpaid.
This has happened since my Trainee days.

Any recourse?

Chnage firm

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Junior Assoc. Burnt out and unhappy.

Firm frequently pays salary late and reimbursements. Previous month salary still unpaid.
This has happened since my Trainee days.

Any recourse?

Change firm. Write in to LawSoc to alert them and complain:
//lawsociety.org.sg/the-law-society/support-schemes/members-assistance-care-helpline-mach/

What's your qualification & practice area? School and class of honours? PQE? What type of work do you primarily do?

With the current shortage/attrition of juniors, there's no reason to put up with toxic environments. Get out of there ASAP.

Your current burnout might be due to the unfair and toxic working conditions which you face and you might actually like practice in a supportive & fair environment. Give a better firm a fair shot for a while and see if practice is still for you.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Change firm. Write in to LawSoc to alert them and complain:
//lawsociety.org.sg/the-law-society/support-schemes/members-assistance-care-helpline-mach/

What's your qualification & practice area? School and class of honours? PQE? What type of work do you primarily do?

With the current shortage/attrition of juniors, there's no reason to put up with toxic environments. Get out of there ASAP.

Your current burnout might be due to the unfair and toxic working conditions which you face and you might actually like practice in a supportive & fair environment. Give a better firm a fair shot for a while and see if practice is still for you.

I agree but it may not be due to exploitation but the unreliability of salary payments.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Sure, there may be nothing legally, or even morally or ethically wrong (arguable), with just leaving and tuning out beyond office hours as a trainee. But the fact remains that it reflects badly on the trainee, especially when the justification is "I don't plan to stay or be retained". Just do it at your own risk because while most employers won't block your call, the legal circle is small and people talk.

I'm not saying trainees should be exploited, I'm saying try to be smart about how you handle a shitty situation, for your own sake if not anyone else's.

It is this sort of attitude that perpetuates a culture of abuse in the industry. If enough trainees/associates push back in numbers sufficient enough to make an operational impact of the situation is not rectified, there will be quick and drastic changes from the top down…

Interesting discussions above. I think Adrian tan has sparked an industry-wide conversation on what kinds of environments and treatment junior lawyers ought to accept.

That said, any change in culture must come from the big firms. If they don't lead the way in best workplace practices, change will not percolate to the mid tiers.

At the risk of being cynical, I think working conditions for small firms will continue to remain crappy. Most small law firms are too disconnected from the wider industry to be shaped by progressive trends.

The typical abusive and exploitative 65-year-old small firm proprietor close to retirement is hardly going to inform himself about what is appropriate or inappropriate treatment of his employees, nor is he going to be perturbed at the fact that what's acceptable treatment 30 years ago isn't acceptable today.

The best advice I can give to juniors is, to know your worth and don't be gaslighted or accept abuse. The toxic, previous-generation mindset that "you should be grateful to be employed" and "youngsters should slog it out without complaints in their formative working years" does not and never did hold water.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

U sure u wanna switch?
Recession is coming soon and u r the first one to go in legal tech. Most legal tech companies are start up and the market size is too small. That's why u don see Google, meta, Microsoft, apple venture into legal tech. Few customers, high capital. First one to shutter when recession hits

Mind my word. Stay in practice for now

Spoken like a true boomer EP living off the sweat and tears of juniors. Recession incoming? More like recession ending soon and boom times ahead with the covid pandemic drawing to an end.
Go back to berating juniors for "not working hard enough" while you got in during early during the good times, like our out of touch million dollars politicians.