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

[Molemole]

I’m a private practise solicitor in the south west. I serve my community and have worked my way up to partner in our small firm. Aged 56 I make £60k a year.

I’ve just read that lawyers at snobby london firms like Freshfields and Linklaters are now paying their trainees more than me. They are paying newly qualified lawyers £150k plus bonus.

How can anyone be worth that with 6 months experience in that area?

You sound a bit bitter. I know from experience they put in extremely long hours and combined with their charge out rates they make back their salary several times over.

You could have gone down the MC route in the 80s and 90s if you’d chosen to and circumstances allowed. You didn’t. Don’t begrudge people who choose to do it now.

It does seem nuts, but I guess this is their payoff for going to certain universities, paying a lot of money and knowing the right people (also getting a first) but yes six months in you know very very little and have few client-related skills.
There was an interesting post on this on LinkedIn the other week. Will find it.

They can't. They get that to recruit high potential candidates and they ruthlessly weed out any that they don't think will make the grade. They also work them ridiculously hard.

They aren't worth it.

They're paying that so they get pick of the crop and then week out the ones who aren't worth it a year or two down the line.

If you pay someone that much, you own them.

My friend worked for Freshfields as a new graduate til her thirties. 100 hour weeks were a regular occurrence.

When was the last time you left work, went home to sleep for 45m, then got up to respond to a client call and started working again?

Plus she's bloody intelligent. I'd put money on her being smarter than you because she's smarter than most people.

I've run businesses. It's as simple as "if I pay this person 10k, 20k, 30k, 100k whatever, they will bring more than that money into the business". The number doesn't matter.

YABU to use the term ‘snobby London firms’.

it is possible.

My best friend works at a top london firm and has been qualified for 4 years and is on 80k already having changed roles and asked for higher salaries. 2 years ago she was on 50k

however she works 12 hrs a day and she is exhausted.

From what I’ve heard from her, you need to be constantly looking for the better paying firm.
she and her colleagues all have a similar thoughts in that they won’t stay somewhere for more than 2-3 years . They’ll look for the next position with the higher salary because the same place that they’re in now won’t give them the raise that they want.

In her last job she tried to negotiate a raise on her 50k they said no she left and is now in her 80k firm

MC firms do not recruit based on who you know.

I worked in HR at one of the magic circle firms in the 1990s. We used to do the milk round and target certain universities.

Lawyers worked very long hours, through the night sometimes, sleeping under desks when there's a deal to close. The pressure is intense.

As others have said, isn’t there a sleep in the office culture at those firms so you work every waking minute? That comes at a price.

It would also seem you’re quite lowly paid for your age and role. I’m in a sector adjacent to law and usually slightly less paid and I’m in just over £100k in the North with ten years of experience, and not yet partner.

Their transactions are worth hundreds of millions and the charge put rates and billable targets match. They serve a different community to yours and really the jobs aren’t comparable despite the common professional body. How that makes them snobby, I’m not sure. And you’ve obviously missed the latest upgrade to £180k by the Americans.

As someone who frequently instructs such firms, and used to be in such a firm, no the NQs are t worth that. But that’s what they are paying to compete with Us firms to get the top talent.

The thing is though, you simply can’t compare what they do to what you do. It is wildly different. The work is completely different and so are the expectations. But this is hardly news. I’m a little younger than you but it was very clear, when I was making career choices in the last century about where to apply to train that hours would be hugely longer in the city but it would pay massively better. And so to the city I went.

That’s quite the sizeable chip on your shoulder OP about snobby London law firms.

It sounds like you are very underpaid. A partner should be bringing in 6 figures easily. Is you law firm very small and unprofitable?

As for 150k starting salaries I don't think it's the norm for law. I'd expect a lot to start on more like £30k

Maybe the question you should ask is why, as a partner, are you only making 60k?

I was paid £50k as an NQ at one of these firms 20 years ago and that seemed a lot - so £150k seems beyond daft to me!

As pp have said it’s not really about that person’s current value. It’s about their ability, the value they will hopefully bring in the future and securing that person now before another firm does.

You've answered your question in your post - you work in a small firm which serves the community. The firms you think are snobby act for huge businesses where the legal advice relates to business transactions that are worth millions so they pay accordingly for their legal advice and the lawyers giving the advice get paid proportionate to that.

You chose your small firm and get paid accordingly. Others choose the big firms and get paid accordingly.

You're a solicitor who doesn't understand how your own industry works?

You don't understand the type or nature of work taken on by Magic Circle firms in your own industry?

What a bizarre post.

It's based on billables OP which I'm sure you know. Magic circle firms are working on massive cross border transactions that bring in millions, that's why they pay so much. Look up the PEP for those firms and contrast to your own and you have your answer. You are comparing apples and pears.

You’re quite correct, they aren’t worth it, but that’s the world we live in sadly. There is no correlation between “worthwhile” jobs which actually benefit humanity, and salary.

But it's not comparable. I used to do marketing for tech firms and earned £75k at 25, other marketers who work for charities were on £27k. You can't compare one of the biggest British law firms serving global clients to a small local office.

Exactly Bryce. Their clients are huge conglomerates its apples and pears. Also they get their pound of flesh - I speak from experience.

Given that you don't seem to know the difference between "practice" and "practise", I'm surprised you qualified as a solicitor at all.

They’re not worth that in the sense that there is no way they are billing anywhere near more than they earn.

But they do sell their soul and work absolutely insane hours.

I work in a non-fee earning role in a silver circle firm and sometimes it does piss me off that an NQ gets paid the same as me (not MC salaries!!), a highly qualified professional with decades of experience under their belt.

But then I close my laptop at 5.30 and don’t think about work until the next time I’m in and remember that they’re welcome to work those hours for that salary.

Isn't is practice?