to ask if you think this salary is reasonable or am I being greedy?

[bkyegres]

I qualified as a solicitor in 2016, so I’m around 7 years pqe. I’m paid 62k in Bham, commercial rather than private client work. I’ve only just paid off my student loan last year and honestly I feel like the firm are taking the piss… all the studying and expense feels ridiculous to be seven years on and barely over 50k. Obviously I know what some other firms pay and I can look into it further with recruiters but I am starting to wonder if you have to join a new company for any decent pay these days?! I could have skipped uni and worked my way up to this salary by now so it all seems a bit pointless.

I assumed it was in house - no mention of bonuses, structured progression through the grades to Partner

@hereiamagainn my brother is a teacher. He’s never worked through the night. I have as a lawyer. Both jobs are hard work but I have worked many more hours than him over the years. For that, I expect more pay. Nursing is a difficult one to compare with. I don’t dispute that nurses work hard and that they deserve more pay, but a more usual comparison would be between doctors and lawyers.

@drinkeatsmile I get a much bigger bonus in-house than I did when I worked for a law firm. And better pay too!

I can well believe it - we can really only rely on general trends and the reality can be very different - the op needs to go for a few interviews and test the market, some people seem very reluctant to do this.

Eh?? There’s been no hint of that. If she worked in house, she’d say in house. Commercial would generally be understood to be a commercial lawyer in private practice.
private client is executives, trusts etc

Executries!!! Not executives 🤦‍♀️

I think you need to take the culture of your firm into account. If you aren’t working 80 hour weeks you can’t compare to city/American firms. Also you aren’t getting a London weighing as your cost of living isn’t as high.

£12K is what some people earn a year, so it is not 'barely' over £50K really is it.

Nurses, police, doctors, fire persons, soldiers, etc., aren't usually paid even near this amount.
And we would be up the proverbial without them.

Just my op.

Hmm. A lot of training involved.
So I’d say no, if you looked around you should get far more.
it’s all relative and everyone can say it’s good compared to some, but, as a highly trained qualified person; you can command more.
I’m based in London, but unskilled would get that kind of salary.
like others have said, you do have to move around for rises. 😬

I mean I think it is a good salary generally compared to other professions but for a solicitor with 7 years qualified experience, depending where you live and what company you work for, I don't think it is great. I think you could definitely earn more if you went elsewhere!

For example there is a 27 year old manager in my pension company who has only 5 years work experience earning 43k. She didn't start on a post grad role as a degree wasn't required for the role she has had in the past or presently. Yet my friend in the teaching industry has a degree, a post grad degree, 10 years experience in her industry and has only just got a job paying 27k.

The only way someone earns £12k a year is if they don’t work full time or if they are under 18, so hardly a relevant comparison. And yes doctors earn more than this, as do majors in the army and upwards, and fire
service area managers, and police inspectors and upwards, etc.

Also, someone who earns £12k a year isn't paying little or even no income tax, whereas someone earning £62k a year and still paying off their student loan (i.e. the OP of that thread) is having 49% of that £12k deducted at source.

To pay teachers' and nurses' salaries and pensions (the latter of which are far more generous than her own) among other things.

62k, I can only wish for that sort of wage as nurse with a bety stressful job. You dont know how lucky you are.

I agree with you OP, I think it’s rubbish and I have people in my organisation that are earning more than that and don’t have your qualifications. You may need to seek a position with another firm. Be prepared for loads of shaming on this post, you aren’t allowed to earn over £25k on here and complain. Good luck with your job search.

I think it’s rubbish OP. I’d be doing some comparisons and looking to move.

I never understand people in entirely different industries saying “well I never earned that so YABU”.
Magic circle grads earn more than that. that’s also not comparing LFL but more of a comparison than teaching!

Yes, join a new company.

I Have voted you are being unreasonable - for posting this question here!

you will get nonsense responses about teachers and nurses and people’s own salaries in unrelated fields.

none of those comments are relevant but everyone will give you a hard for earning more them!

As others have pointed out, you're paid far more than other and equally or better qualified professionals. 7 years post PhD as an academic with far more (and more difficult) qualifications, and you'd be on maybe just £50k.

It's supply & demand.

So test the demand for your work, knowledge & skills. Ask for a pay rise, or start looking for another job.

My husband's a soldier (not an officer) and earns near to 50k once all his allowances are added in. He also spends a lot of time pottering about drinking tea and going skiing.

But, more importantly, noone made him be a soldier. He could have joined the corporate world like his lovely wife and brought home the big bucks. But then he'd have less time to potter and drink tea.

Not all doctors earn £62Kpa.
Nurses, no where near.

I wouldn't be complaining earning that much.

Like I said, just my op.

This.

Love how all the teachers are out with the "well try being a teacher" rubbish but when it's a thread about teachers wages and someone says this teachers don't like it.

Trainee lawyers in top London firms get around £50k and qualify as NQ around the £100k mark…. US firms in London pay even more (a sickening amount actually). That being said these are the magic and silver circle firms and there are lots of solicitors working in different types of law in London earning much less than that.

The level of bitterness on MN is absolutely amazing these days.

Until aspiration stops being crushed in the UK, I see no real way out for the country. Just more managed decline.

Complaining about £62k being too high....

Just wow.

Guess who subsidises the NHS and public services?

Its that person making £62k

Many of you seem unable to understand this.

The legal profession in the UK has a bimodal pay distribution.

Magic Circle/US firms are at the top end

The rest are far, far below.

This tends to give the population an impression that solicitors in general are well paid, but this is simply not the case.