To think that no newly qualified lawyer can be worth a salary of £150k?

Yes, it does (and I think it is fairly on topic!)

Unfortunately it’s necessary for us to have these firms with their crazy hours and crazy salaries to support London as a major financial centre. Without it this country would suffer immeasurably.

I think the City would function fine and London too without the 'crazy hours' and 'crazy salaries'.

Reminds me (in reverse) of the arguments that the UK's economy would be irrevocably damaged if a minimum wage were brought in or that civil liberties permanently eroded if compulsory seatbelt wearing brought in

If you perhaps define “normal”, we can agree, but based on that demographics summary I have just read, at least 42% come from independent schools or state selective, and I am willing to bet my salary that the independents would be the top 10 elitist schools in the country, not your average around the corner indie. I come from a “normal” background and I don’t know anyone who has a starting salary of £150k, it’s just another way for the privileged to pat themselves on the back how privileged they are, chucking into the mix some students from state (20% apparently) for diversity no doubt!

You sound very bitter. I imagine they are worked very hard for that £150k

As others have noted it’s very competitive and intellectually demanding work; it’s unsurprising a large proportion attended selective schools.

A partner in a firm of solicitors who uses the term "snobby London firms"... OK then

Thanks, this summary tells me that at least 42% came from Indies/ selective states, if I don’t include the 5% who didn’t disclose and the 20% from abroad who likely did too in some shape and form, plus only 20% are first generation to attend uni, what a shocker!

People in London get paid lots shocker. They also work ridiculously long hours and live in shoeboxes. Their lives are not to be envied.

I don’t know why we as a society value so highly some professions and not others, it’s said here that the trainees work 24/7, it’s stressful etc., but so are many other a lot less paid professions at a start level (NHS comes to mind and these people save lives, not helping the rich getting richer).

That’s good. I enjoyed working in government. The hours could be long but the work was very interesting and people behaved well to each other on the whole.
PP and inhouse much less pleasant.

I agree. It's danger money. Massively stressful and exhausting.

Yes, I have seen in house lawyers regard it as a right to make unreasonable demands of and behave rudely towards external counsel. Like it’s part of what you pay for.
often a sense of inferiority underlying this behaviour.

It's not a race to the bottom. We constantly say how people in other lines of work should be better paid for what they do. Let's focus on increasing wages across the board rather than pushing the bar down

I do agree with this part of your post though.

Me neither, DH and I very strongly recommended that our son did not do law.

My mum was annoyed with me because she thinks it's a good thing to do, but I wouldn't say it's particularly agreed with me, and I think it would agree with my son even less. Fortunately I've found roles that do agree with me but still in the legal sector.

Here’s an example

https://www.freshfields.com/494c9e/globalassets/about-us/rb/report-pdfs/uk-diversity-statistics-2023.pdf

Yes I'd say they are a lot more diverse than your average firm in Devon.

Most of the time it can wait - it's just a macho thing to demand things on a Friday evening and expect it by 9am on a Monday morning even if you can't look at it until say Wednesday.

I always asked when you are going to look at the work, and usually found that I got a deadline pushed back. Funny that. And equally I only ask for something so that I have time to look at it myself before my deadline, I don't set deadlines for the sake of it.

I don't see why other people should compensate for someone else's bad planning. But they do get paid a lot to deal with nasty clients.

Tru dis. Law can be an interesting job but so many of the environments you do it in are toxic. People do start to lose sight of what matters and sometimes behave very badly to each other.
i wouldn’t recommend it to either of my kids.

In my experience young people with tons of family money are less keen to squander their youth and life outside of work chasing a very high salary when mummy and daddy will buy them a house anyway. The people in these jobs tend to be from pretty normal backgrounds.

Everyone has already covered most of what I’d say but I will commend OP for the fact that if this is the first time they are hearing of this, they obviously spend less time inanely scrolling the comments section of legalcheek / RoF than I do.

Do you think you get good advice with that attitude towards your service providers?

Most in-house lawyers are a bit more cognisant of the fact that if you want a good job doing, people have to be well rested.

I don't believe for a minute that all these things are that urgent. Thank goodness I don't do client-facing work anymore.

So much for the legal profession taking more care in the wake of the Vanessa Ford case. I thought better of in-house lawyers.

Your bitterness aside, it would be interesting to see the demographics they hire, I bet there’s little diversity and they are all from a certain “mould”.

If you’re a partner in the south west and you’re only earning £60k a year then you’re doing something wrong.

I’m in the midlands, qualified 2.5 years on just under £50k in a legally aided practice area and have a fabulous work/life balance.

Work for someone else again and negotiate a decent salary.

The client is paying top dollar to close deals at particular time for the markets etc plus what I did was international so on one deal working with NY Singapore etc so just as you want to leave they pop up I worked round the clock sometimes.

A lovely trustafarian friend of Dh explained how I would never had experienced tiredness like I would with a new born. Err I had actually!

Shift systems don’t work as the information in people’s heads is key to doing the job quickly.