Any solicitors out there making a fortune?!

[chocolateisnotsleep]

I'm a qualified solicitor. I now work in house for a smallish company. My job is stressful but I enjoy it - it's extremely varied, I have management input and (I think anyway!) we are an ethical company in our treatment of colleagues and customers. I earn good, but not spectacular money, enough for us to be very comfortable with our joint income.

DP has always been convinced (even when I worked in private practice for a top 50 firm) that I'm totally missing a trick, and if only I worked for a high street firm, or preferably set up on my own, I'd be making a killing. Doing conveyancing and wills.

He cites the sister of a friend who is apparently a millionaire - on paper at least - from conveyancing...

This is driving me insane!

So - am I wrong or is he??!!

The Conveyancing I just organised for my Mums business are charging 1% of the property values. That is their flat rate. So for what is essentially several days work they will earn almost £5000 at the current value of the properties. You'd be minted

No you wouldn't. When I was 3 years PQE, I charged £200 per hour. Quids in right? Not at all. I was on 32k pa despite billing around £200,000 per year. Indemnity insurance is very expensive for property work. Where I trained, our total insurance for the whole firm was half a million pounds a year. At that firm they shut the resi conveyancing department down because it was not profitable. They also charged 1% of the value and struggled to bring work in. Lots of other places operate a factory-style outfit and offer cheaper fixed fees. Why would you go with a place charging 1% when you can get a freehold sale done for £750 plus search fees (even at a high street firm)?

Trust me, residential conveyancing is NOT one of the lucrative areas of law. Most of the work is undertaken by non-solicitors anyway. Will-writing is also non-profitable until you get instructed on the probate. If you set up on your own, it could be many years before that got established. Probate is not that lucrative either, but definitely better than writing wills.

I know a guy who runs the conveyances by arm (concession?) for a bank.

He makes a truck load of cash but he has armies of paralegals/legal execs working for him.

It sounds like very dull work; sausage factory stuff.

DH earns a lot of cash as a partner in a US law firm ( the London office). He's a commercial contracts lawyer.

The hours are not too bad as he is very senior and it's not transactional work.

My dp is a partner in a firm, he charges just under £300 ph for civil litigation and commercial contracts and without any bonus' takes home approx £150k year. He has never considered going it alone as the risks and the amount of hours to put in only seem to put out an average pay. He's also said although his area of law is higher pressured and stressful convayencing is insane.

I'm a partner in a small high street firm. Love the job but, seriously, you don't do it for the money. I have watched firm after firm fold in the last few years, as no one wants to take on partnership, and there is no money in it.

Don't know anyone earning over £70k, and most are lucky to be on £35-40k. In the last recession I was making less than the min wage.