Lawyer Salary

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Rumour is some firms made it clear they can't retain a significant number of trainees.

Including the big 4? (actually it should be 5, rodyk is pretty big now)

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Actually, Google Singapore pays poorly for an MNC in Singapore. No joke.

6k+ for a fresh grad software engineer. pretty decent I would say

Originally Posted by Unregistered

6k+ for a fresh grad software engineer. pretty decent I would say

Eh, Google Singapore isn't an engineering office. I know they recently opened up engineering roles so I am not sure what are the exact salaries. Even then, 6k is low compared to bay area salaries.

Plus, if you compare apples to apples, and compare their sales/marketing/biz roles to other MNCs then you will definitely agree that Google pays poorly.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Including the big 4? (actually it should be 5, rodyk is pretty big now)

Yes, gone were the rosy days when A&G and drew could boast of near 100% retention. There's a dilemma because law society actually emailed the firms to take in more Trainees if they could, to alleviate the glut of law students. Law firms took in more Trainees out of charity, the intent is that these Trainees could move to other non-legal sectors, at least they got called to the bar before. So the situation is that more TCs are being offered but a far lower percentage are being retained.

Can't blame the firms either, they were already doing charity to take in more trainees

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yes, gone were the rosy days when A&G and drew could boast of near 100% retention. There's a dilemma because law society actually emailed the firms to take in more Trainees if they could, to alleviate the glut of law students. Law firms took in more Trainees out of charity, the intent is that these Trainees could move to other non-legal sectors, at least they got called to the bar before. So the situation is that more TCs are being offered but a far lower percentage are being retained.

Can't blame the firms either, they were already doing charity to take in more trainees

But I know so many legal trainees who do NOT want to be retained, and increasingly view a legal career with disdain. If you're in the big 4, you should know what I am talking about..

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Oh so how do you get entry into these foreign firms? I guess the big 4 is such a big thing in the legal industry that many newbies don't consider other options.

Also, would anyone care to share the salary scale of a lawyer/trainee in foreign firms?

Can't really just refer to them as 'foreign firms' either. There are different kinds of foreign firms. Many are 'fake' foreign firms which have a tie-up with a local firm, but their salaries are still based on the local firm payscale. It is not hard to get into these.

The truly international firms would be the "magic circle" UK firms and "white shoe" US firms which have an office in Singapore. You can do a quick google search on those. Only a few of them (maybe only one, ie Clifford Chance) offer training contracts to fresh graduates, and usually only to 2-3 students per year. People in there usually have first class honours and achievements in mooting competitions.

Because these firms are out of reach to 99.5% of each cohort, nobody really talks much about them.

The starting salary at these firms are in the low 10ks with a yearly increment of about 2k. Pretty sick compared to local big 4 firms which start at 5.5k with a yearly increment of about 1k.

What about Baker and Mckenzie? Any idea on salaries? And wow yeah, I didn't know the gap was so huge.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

What about Baker and Mckenzie? Any idea on salaries? And wow yeah, I didn't know the gap was so huge.

Baker's starting salary is 7.5k, yearly increment about 1k. It is not a true international firm (more like individual firms in each country with their own revenue count but just bearing the same name). But it's pretty decent, prestige level lies somewhere in between the local big 4 and the true international firms.

Baker takes in about 10+ trainees per year, no need to be very exceptional. Generally people with high second uppers.

Clifford Chance now takes in 5-6 trainees every year now. Currently it's the most prestigious programme as it offers 2 year TC to qualify in both SG and UK, pays equivalent or more than Big 4 starting salaries during TC, and associates start at ~12k after the 2 years.

Baker takes in 12-15 trainees every year.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Eh, Google Singapore isn't an engineering office. I know they recently opened up engineering roles so I am not sure what are the exact salaries. Even then, 6k is low compared to bay area salaries.

Plus, if you compare apples to apples, and compare their sales/marketing/biz roles to other MNCs then you will definitely agree that Google pays poorly.

yup, their recently opened up engineering roles. Bay area income tax is significantly higher than Singapore, and they have no employer CPF contribution, which basically adds 17% to your salary up to a max of 6k. After taking that into account and a significantly lower cost of living here, rental ,food etc, take home salary post necessary expenses is more similar than you might think.

Yes, I have indeed heard that their non-eng roles pay lower than expected compared to the other MNCs here