The reason that many solicitors rise to the top doesn’t have anything to do with ability but with connections. I have a background in the legal field and many friends who were/are lawyers. The lawyers that stay are often the ones with family money propping them up. Not always - but a lot.
These peoole can afford to be paid insultingly low because they have trust funds and parents who gift them large sums of money throughout the year or during major life events (moving cities, engagements, weddings, house purchase etc).
My cousin was average at her private school. She did end up going to a good university but she couldn’t get a job. So, after a very long period of unemployment her father paid for another degree at a university that isn’t competitive to get into - you just need to pay up front.
On the outside some people assumed she earned her place. But those of us who know don’t share that view. She hasn’t advanced to where she should be at her career and is likely not being paid very well. But she can keep up the illusion because of family money.
It’s not fair. It’s nowhere near a level playing field. She never had to work for her first car, or pay for living expenses, she never had to take out student loans or look for second hand copies of books. She never had to put of dental work or worry about having enough money to see a GP. She could travel and take greater risks in her career because she always had family money to fall back on.
I knew a guy who got a job as a solicitor at a really good firm straight out of university. He accepted the very low paying job because he figured he would work his way up to senior associate. He had to get a second job as he couldn’t afford to live and support his girlfriend (don’t ask). He earned more money per hour driving forklifts at his weekend job than he did working as a lawyer. Eventually he was offered full-time work driving a forklift and was later given a health and safety position after the owner realised he had a law degree. He never went back to work as a solicitor. He couldn’t afford it and he wanted to buy a house one day.
I do know people who earn quite well in law. If you set up your own firm and bill a lot of hours and hire staff - you can absolutely get ahead. You can also get ahead if you choose a very niche area of law.
But a lot of really good solicitors leave because they simply can’t afford to live on the money they pay junior solicitors and associates. I couldn’t afford to live on it. When I left the law firm I was working at I got a job that paid higher than the solicitor I was working for (and my new job wasn’t even highly paid).
Your salary would be one third of the costs of your billable hours. The remaining third or your billable hours are to pay for support staff (paralegals, secretaries, reception & law clerk) and finally the cost of rent and utilities and consumables in the office. Generally, if you consistently bill above your billables you can be eligible for bonuses or advancement to the next salary tier. That is how it works. Over time you get better at your job. You don’t have to do as much work (a lot of some work is using templates) - so you can bill the hours it realistically would have taken someone to do the work. That’s generally how peoole get ahead. They bill for every single minute, then they bill for reading case law they have read a thousand times, they draft paperwork based on work performed for a previous client. Every time they open a client file they charge to review it.
Anyway, it’s not fair.