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.

You are underpaid. My son is 23 and on £45k plus bonuses in another sector. Didn’t go to university so no debts. You need to go elsewhere

Yes, you are.

Not the OP's problem though.

I’m not a solicitor but I work in a role that has a lot of contact with them and that does sound quite low to me for private practice - you’d earn just as much in a government legal role.

Surely a quick look at the sits vacant will tell you if you can earn more?

62k can’t be described as ‘barely over 50k’ can it.

Finish your sentence, so what?

The whole world can't be expected to benchmark their salaries against teachers and nurses.

No you wouldn't. GLD doesn't pay £60k.

Ignore me sorry. I see 'senior' lawyers at the GLD are paid £61k

It does it you are Grade 6, which the OP could be at her level of PQE, and the pension would bring the actual value of that package higher than £60k.

The only advice worth listening to on here are the posts about talking to recruiters and looking at annual salary guides (of which there are loads online for the legal profession). You can bet men aren’t told they’re tone deaf or should count themselves lucky if they question whether they’re getting paid their market value.

Fwiw, as a solicitor around the same PQE as you and in the NW, which never seems to be too dissimilar to the Midlands in those tables, I do think you can do better if you’re prepared to move jobs.

My heart bleeds OP! Im a GP - work 4 days a week 8-8pm for £65,000. Oh, and I've been qualified for 18 years and had 5 years of student loans to repay. You're really not doing badly.

I agree that you have to move firms. Unless you are in the public sector, where payscales are more rigid and you have had a definite upward path through promotion, you aren't going to get a decent rise. (And solicitors in the public sector tend to max out because there is no hope of a partnership, obviously)

£12k more is not barely over £50k, though.

This.

I find that when it comes to relationships, Mumsnet is a good source of advice, and even for general career advice you can get some useful feedback. But when it comes to salaries, in particular if you dare to be in a higher paid profession than teaching or nursing, the responses are woeful.

To all of you saying, "Well, you should count yourself lucky, I don't earn that much doing [completely unrelated lower paid profession]", would you be saying the same thing if the OP were your husband? Or would you be encouraging him to find out what he's worth to an employer and then make sure he is getting paid that much?

Because this attitude smacks of sour grapes. Just because you aren't a high earner doesn't make it OK for you to bring down other women who earn more than you and want to be paid what they're worth in the employment market for their actual profession.

Op I highly doubt you could be doing your current job without a degree. So I wonder what post-A-level role you think you could be in that would pay £62k outside London (or even in London) after 12 years or so?

If you had started at 18 on (say) £20k do you really think your salary would have tripled?

I have 25+ yrs' experience in my (poorly paid bc desirable) industry and i dont earn anythng like your salary, as don't most teachers, nurses, admin staff, PR people, council staff... Good luck to you.

YABU really.
Teachers who have 7 years PQE are lucky to be earning £40k, similar for many nurses.

Yes Tech Recruitment over £100k not in London

She isn't a teacher so irrelevant.

She is low paid for her specialism and her region.

Totally agree @MargotBamborough

All these x earns £25k, 40k etc are all totally irrelevant when indeed the OP is underpaid for her specialism, her PQE and her region.

www.chambersstudent.co.uk/law-firms/law-firm-salaries-compared

What is the average salary of a solicitor?

To me that’s an insane amount of income but I don’t know what the average salary is for a solicitor.

If it’s £200k then £50k is very low.

If the average is £40k then it’s high.

It is obviously higher than the majority of other jobs.

Why not retrain as something else.

But you don't know what she does. She said she does 'commercial' but commercial what? Properly? Contracts? Litigation? Who knows

All solicitors knows how you get pay rises.

For your PQE yes you’re underpaid especially for Birmingham

I earn 53,000... DH earns 65,000 in our late 30s. Neither have degrees... I only have 3 GCSEs.... and have worked our way up from entry level
Positions to more senior levels. This is in London.... well we work from home now.
So it WAS do-able.... but any position that comes up these days requires a degree!

It depends on:

• practice area
• experience
• seniority i.e. associate / senior associate etc
• location in the country
• type of firm you work for

On law and accountancy you generally have to move firms for a decent pay rise. Possibly a second move about 3 years after the first one. Your mistake is staying at one firm for 7 years.