Lawyer Salary

Far too many students in this forum this days. Currently a 2 PQE, getting restless. What are my options?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Far too many students in this forum this days. Currently a 2 PQE, getting restless. What are my options?

Thats obvious.

Inhouse or move to another law firm

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Thats obvious.

Inhouse or move to another law firm

That's a dumb question with a dumb response

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Thats quite extreme. Going at all costs have associated consequencs.

Instead of focusing on the branding, I think students now should focus on being hustlers just like the business students.

The investment banks traditionally favours the Ivy league/Oxbridge graduate. Typically for an SMU/NUS student to get in, they would have to hustle and build an insane CV to get an interview.

The same would be to the law guys now. A degree is simply not enough

Originally Posted by skydiver

I'm a 3rd year PQE in a Big 4 law firm. I'll be hitting Senior Associate within the next 3 months. I'd like to take this opportunity to clarify the salary structure within local firms. Here goes:

(1) Salary Culture Whilst local firms tend to set a low basic monthly salary, the annual remuneration is by no means unattractive. The annual remuneration mechanism is a very, very bonus-centric one, which involves a bonus component which pushes up the base wage by a minimum of 50%. A minimum 6 month bonus is given to flat-out average performers. Better performers typically get 7-8 months, while star performers (very rare) may get up to 9 or more. Anything less than a 6 month bonus is typically the firm’s signal telling an associate to leave.

In order to bring monthly take-home paychecks more in line with those offered by offshore firms, part of the 6 month bonus is set aside, divided by 12 and "front-loaded" into monthly paychecks. These are set out below in Paragraph (3).

The easiest way to calculate your annual pay is to take the following formula: (12 + no. of months bonus) * Basic Salary. Typical annual packages based on a ballpark average performance are set out below in Paragrapsh (3).

(2) Basic Salary schedule for the first 4.5 years:
Year 1 (NQ, 1st 5 months) - $4,000
Year 2 - $5,000
Year 3 - $6,000
Year 4 (SA1) - $7,200
Year 5 (SA2) - $8,500

(3) Take-home Salary schedule for the first 4.5 years (pre-CPF):
Year 1 (NQ, 1st 5 months) - $5,800
Year 2 - $6,800
Year 3 - $7,800
Year 4 (SA1) - $9,000
Year 5 (SA2) - $10,500

(4) Aggregate Annual Salary schedule (based on 6-8 months bonus, ie 18-20 months basic salary)
Year 1 - $30,000 over 5 mths.
Year 2 - $90,000 to $100,000
Year 3 - $108,000 to $120,000
Year 4 - $129,600 to $144,000
Year 5 - $153,000 to $170,000

It is thus clear that the yearly increment in annual pay is not $12,000. Since local firms pay typically 18-20 months of the basic wage within a year, the true average annual increment ranges from $18,000 (years 1-3) to $24,000 (year 4-5 increase), often outstripping the annual increment offered by offshore firms. As a result, the income gap between a Big 4 associate and ann offshore associate shrinks every year, and by the time a local Big 4 associate hits Year 5, his annual pay really isn't too far below what his peers in the offshore firms are taking. Furthermore, the move to offshore firms starts looking less and less attractive, given the better prospects of making partner within the next 3 years.

Final Note: These figures exclude the monthly S$650 employer CPF contribution as these are useless funds that go into your Medisave and Special Account. They can't be used to pay for housing (or anything for that matter), and in most cases, you will only smell these funds when you're way too close to your deathbed... Nevertheless if you wish to include this, you can add about $12,000 to each of the annual income figures stated above.

Bump for being an informative post. Is this still relevant?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Bump for being an informative post. Is this still relevant?

Does the inhouse route follow a typical structured wage banding?

Lynne

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Bump for being an informative post. Is this still relevant?

It is still fairly relevant as far as I'm aware. The banding hasn't really change, the only change in the foreseeable future is probably the way they structure the package, but I highly doubt that the absolute figure is going to change much. Either way it is a great compensation compared to other professions.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

It is still fairly relevant as far as I'm aware. The banding hasn't really change, the only change in the foreseeable future is probably the way they structure the package, but I highly doubt that the absolute figure is going to change much. Either way it is a great compensation compared to other professions.

Definitely true, many of the good lawyer would leave for the international firms if the wage model is not competitive. Though this would be largely dependent on the economy next year.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Definitely true, many of the good lawyer would leave for the international firms if the wage model is not competitive. Though this would be largely dependent on the economy next year.

Hey!

I think this would be sector dependent and would also depend on the area of competency one is in. I think in general there are still a lack of legal talents in Singapore, lawyers with a few years PQE are still in demand. A lot of fear at the moment is driven by grads not having enough places at the law firm, but this does not apply to the whole legal sector as a whole, as the bottleneck would weed out supply of newly-minted lawyers.

Regards,
Zach

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Does the inhouse route follow a typical structured wage banding?

Lynne

Hey Lynne,

Inhouse legal salaries are driven a lot by the industry that you are exiting into and at what levels you are exiting at. One thing for certain is that your salary progression would not be as quick as you would enjoy if you were in a sizable law firm.