Lawyer Salary

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Which JLVs with higher salaries are you referring to?

Duane Morris & Selvam LLP? Hogan Lovells Lee & Lee? Watson Farley & Williams Asia Practice LLP? Withers Khattarwong? Morgan Lewis Stamford?

I know that Hogan Lovells Lee & Lee, or simply Lee & Lee, pays a rather low 4ks salary. Any idea about the rest?

But I know that Clifford Chance - Cavenagh Law pays a far superior salary.

What about three years experience at Gabriel Law Corporation?

://.leguslaw.com/member/gabriel-law-corporation/

New MOE graduate employment survey is out. moe.gov.sg/education/post-secondary

NUS 2015: Mean $4,910, Median $4,700
SMU 2015: Mean $4,997, Median $4,731

It is a very significant drop from last year which was

NUS 2014: Mean $5,247, Median $5,150
SMU 2014: Mean $5,332, Median $5,025

You can see a decline of about 300-400 dollars in starting salary industry-wide.

It's only a matter of time our local law industry become like the US. In the US, lawyer salaries are plunging with the oversupply of law grads. But this is good news for everyone else who isn't a lawyer because legal costs are falling.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

New MOE graduate employment survey is out. moe.gov.sg/education/post-secondary

NUS 2015: Mean $4,910, Median $4,700
SMU 2015: Mean $4,997, Median $4,731

It is a very significant drop from last year which was

NUS 2014: Mean $5,247, Median $5,150
SMU 2014: Mean $5,332, Median $5,025

You can see a decline of about 300-400 dollars in starting salary industry-wide.

Lol man this industry is shite now. Better get out while you can. Civil servants can earn more while doing nothing

Originally Posted by Unregistered

It's only a matter of time our local law industry become like the US. In the US, lawyer salaries are plunging with the oversupply of law grads. But this is good news for everyone else who isn't a lawyer because legal costs are falling.

This is a common misconception actually.

In the US legal market, wages are either sticky or stagnant. Biglaw firms in the major markets like New York, Chicago and LA/SF have been paying starting salaries of US $160,000 since 2007. In smaller cities, it is of course less, but commensurate with the cost of living. But salaries have never fallen because there is fierce competition to attract talent.

It is either you land an associate position or you are jobless. There's no such thing as paycuts. Of course there are bonus cuts. But never the base salary.

A second misconception is that an oversupply of law graduates means legal costs fall. Only someone without a working knowledge of how the legal industry works would assume such a thing.

For big ticket corporate work, costs pressures are client driven. If companies want to cut legal spend on external lawyers, they will pressure for fee cuts. Law firms will drive down their fees to undercut competitors. If your law firm is unwilling to charge at a competitive rate, some other law firm will step in to do the work. This occurs whenever the economy is bad, like it is now.

For man-in-street work, there is only so low prices these small shops can charge. They still need to cover their overheads and make a profit. I believe your usual Chinatown firms are already charging as low a fee as they can viably do.

In neither of these cases does the supply of law graduates affect the legal pricing one iota. The only effect of an oversupply of law grads is the effect on salaries, so in that sense you are correct. But only in Singapore can law firms get away with cutting salaries. In the major markets like the UK and USA, salaries are never cut. They can only rise.

Anyway the talk about how much easier it is to get a first / 2:1 overseas can finally be put to rest. Dean of NUS law school has said that it will become easier to get a first/2:1 from this batch onwards.
So finally, all the disputes on this forum can be finally put to rest.
Just wondering though, will JLC requirements still be a top 5% or a top 10%?

Hi all, I'm a student in the UK thinking of training in London. Would like to ask all the SG-qualified lawyers here what practice areas a UK solicitor should try to specialise in in order to maximise his chance of relocating to Singapore...thanks for any help!

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Anyway the talk about how much easier it is to get a first / 2:1 overseas can finally be put to rest. Dean of NUS law school has said that it will become easier to get a first/2:1 from this batch onwards.
So finally, all the disputes on this forum can be finally put to rest.
Just wondering though, will JLC requirements still be a top 5% or a top 10%?

its now a "very good" FCH...whatever that means.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Hi all, I'm a student in the UK thinking of training in London. Would like to ask all the SG-qualified lawyers here what practice areas a UK solicitor should try to specialise in in order to maximise his chance of relocating to Singapore...thanks for any help!

Whatever practice area you feel you can commit a career to.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Anyway the talk about how much easier it is to get a first / 2:1 overseas can finally be put to rest. Dean of NUS law school has said that it will become easier to get a first/2:1 from this batch onwards.
So finally, all the disputes on this forum can be finally put to rest.
Just wondering though, will JLC requirements still be a top 5% or a top 10%?

The NUS move should be seen in context. The reason it's easier to attain honours overseas is because the grading policy for each module is less strict (e.g. some schools do not impose a bell curve). What NUS is doing is to relax the honours requirement while maintaining a strict grading policy. This won't help students that much since given the tight competition for TCs, many firms now look at an applicant's grades rather than his/her class of honours.