Lawyer Salary

yes i am currrently serving ns. need to accept my offer by tmr 1 jun. thank you for all your advice. probably i will take up the nanyang scholarship to read aerospace in ntu

Originally Posted by Unregistered

yes i am currrently serving ns. need to accept my offer by tmr 1 jun. thank you for all your advice. probably i will take up the nanyang scholarship to read aerospace in ntu

I was in your position around 7 years ago. Applied to NTU and they offered me all the stuffs i applied for inclusing the scholarship. Back then, our dear Government haven't tinkered with the supply of law graduates. No news of lawyers glut and it was only during my NS times that the Government suddenly said they want to expand law school intakes. So, i picked law.

I didn't regret the decision because i was truly attracted to the rigour of the study and way to break down complex issues as i read more cases and books. But it wasn't one of the best decision i made because now i am caught in a tough job prospect. Felt really cheated because back in 2009 there was an undersupply, local law faculties were really tough to get in. Gov and eager parents all itchy hands and pushed for great supply in 2011. The result is a surge starting 2015 graduates. And then they only reported the news and realised the severity in late 2014. Too late. Law graduates will continue to be in excess until 2019.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I was in your position around 7 years ago. Applied to NTU and they offered me all the stuffs i applied for inclusing the scholarship. Back then, our dear Government haven't tinkered with the supply of law graduates. No news of lawyers glut and it was only during my NS times that the Government suddenly said they want to expand law school intakes. So, i picked law.

I didn't regret the decision because i was truly attracted to the rigour of the study and way to break down complex issues as i read more cases and books. But it wasn't one of the best decision i made because now i am caught in a tough job prospect. Felt really cheated because back in 2009 there was an undersupply, local law faculties were really tough to get in. Gov and eager parents all itchy hands and pushed for great supply in 2011. The result is a surge starting 2015 graduates. And then they only reported the news and realised the severity in late 2014. Too late. Law graduates will continue to be in excess until 2019.

That is what happens when you jump in on the latest hot industry without thinking.

Same thing happened 10 years ago with life sciences, same thing happened to you with law. All you can do now is hunker down and try to ride it out. Keep improving yourself and keep fingers crossed that you are not "retrenched" from your firm.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I didn't regret the decision because i was truly attracted to the rigour of the study and way to break down complex issues as i read more cases and books. But it wasn't one of the best decision i made because now i am caught in a tough job prospect.

So you don't regret what turned out not to be one of the best decisions you made. Would you rather learn something interest but be stuck in this situation or learn something not as interesting but be in demand by the job market?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

That is what happens when you jump in on the latest hot industry without thinking.

Same thing happened 10 years ago with life sciences, same thing happened to you with law. All you can do now is hunker down and try to ride it out. Keep improving yourself and keep fingers crossed that you are not "retrenched" from your firm.

True bor. I guess the glut is mainly due to the UK grads.. A couple of years back many mid tier UK universities started offering LLB progs to Singapore poly grads with minimum GPA of 2.0 + ? So many scooped over to read law...

The quality of lawyers in a couple of years are also gonna dip. Not to mention the law undergrads down under..

Originally Posted by Unregistered

So you don't regret what turned out not to be one of the best decisions you made. Would you rather learn something interest but be stuck in this situation or learn something not as interesting but be in demand by the job market?

It's about getting the right balance. Having said that i will give slightly more weight to interest in the area of study over demands by the job market. Why? Because i value the opportunity to get educated in something i am interested in as much as a job opportunity. But let's be pragmatic: interest is just one part of the puzzle. I am interested in cooking and baking, that doesn't make a great cook and doesn't remotely guarantee that i will succeed as a chef or baker. If i did really badly in first few years in law school i will immediately review my choice.

Being interested in the study also doesn't mean interest in the practice. With the legal market so unattractive now, i admit i am contemplating a career switch ( wait i don't think i even established a legal career) ... so that's another point for prospective students and students of law to ponder.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I was in your position around 7 years ago. Applied to NTU and they offered me all the stuffs i applied for inclusing the scholarship. Back then, our dear Government haven't tinkered with the supply of law graduates. No news of lawyers glut and it was only during my NS times that the Government suddenly said they want to expand law school intakes. So, i picked law.

I didn't regret the decision because i was truly attracted to the rigour of the study and way to break down complex issues as i read more cases and books. But it wasn't one of the best decision i made because now i am caught in a tough job prospect. Felt really cheated because back in 2009 there was an undersupply, local law faculties were really tough to get in. Gov and eager parents all itchy hands and pushed for great supply in 2011. The result is a surge starting 2015 graduates. And then they only reported the news and realised the severity in late 2014. Too late. Law graduates will continue to be in excess until 2019.

At the risk of sounding like a taxi uncle or one of those (sometimes insightful) uncles discussing politics at coffeeshops, i think this is squarely the government's fault. They were benchmarking our lawyer-to-population ratio to countries such as UK and US, where there has been a glut of lawyers for decades. The reality is that, unlike these countries, we don't have the numbers or spare population to have our brightest study law only to not get a job (read: not contributing to economy and/or the legal profession). Any gain in terms of lowering of legal fees etc is certainly not worth this brain drain/wastage.

Another instance of poor planning, in my humble view, is the removal of some UK universities from the list of scheduled universities last year, only to add more Australian universities to the list pursuant to some trade treaty obligations recently. It's really moving three steps forward then two (or more) steps back.

Really hope Minlaw puts more thought into policies in this area.. in the meantime, i can only wish law students the best of luck!

Well at least construction and oil & gas disputes are booming. We've been flat out for the last 2 years.

Not a lawyer, but that's the feed back we're getting from the construction lawyers we work with too.

Just saying.

Understand that some of the big fours are not equal in terms of working hours. Have been offered by 3 out of 4 of the big fours. Which has a better culture. I know that life as a junior associate at WongP isn't rosy.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

It's about getting the right balance. Having said that i will give slightly more weight to interest in the area of study over demands by the job market.

Can I check something with you?

I read recently that 8 UK universities have been out of the list of approved foreign unversities from which a graduate can practice law in Singapore. Namely, University of Manchester is now on the list.

On the Ministry of Law website, see the Admission to the Bar section, then Omitted Universities.

But it also quotes:

"Singapore citizens and permanent residents who obtain approved law degrees from these 8 omitted universities will remain eligible for admission to the Singapore Bar, provided they were:

(a) admitted before 1 October 2015 as a candidate for that degree; and "

My question is supposed I graduate from University of Manchester with a LL.B. in mid 2014, may I able to practice law in Singapore? Further, would I need to or would I be advised to study LL.M. or J.D. as the school has been placed on the omitted list.