Question for the Legal Eagles out there....
Discussion
I don't understand the student debt thing, if you start on a city NQ rate of 66k, then you pay back around £300 per month(only whilst you are working). I don't think £300 per month is too bad, considering your predicted career salary projections. I also think it gets written off eventually if you never pay it back.
Doing a quick poll of trainees around my department they all have first class degrees from good universities so this would be a good start.
Doing a quick poll of trainees around my department they all have first class degrees from good universities so this would be a good start.
Do you know what area of law you want to get into ?
I have a law degree, but dual hons rather than LLP. However, I am now doing work for a fairly small firm and my law degree has no bearing at all, it's the experience that counts. I do the same work as Solicitors and others who have worked there way up.
looking back, I would not bother with uni and would get into a firm at a young age, let them pay for any training, try different areas and gain experience which the average graduate will never have.
I have a law degree, but dual hons rather than LLP. However, I am now doing work for a fairly small firm and my law degree has no bearing at all, it's the experience that counts. I do the same work as Solicitors and others who have worked there way up.
looking back, I would not bother with uni and would get into a firm at a young age, let them pay for any training, try different areas and gain experience which the average graduate will never have.
[quote=Slinkype]
I plan on moving to Aus because the pay is better, the life is better, and I feel like there is more for me personally out there. A promise of better things is indeed alluring for the youth of today who have very little waiting for them in their UK future.
[quote]
I think you have to do a bit more research into this. The issue of the cost of living, not the salary. In law, Sydney and Melbourne are the two primary markets. The cost of living is horrific. Sydney is amongst the most expensive cities on the planet in which to live.
Unless you are going to Sydney (or Melbourne) with a first class degree from a top UK university, you will have nothing to stand above the thousands (yes, thousands) of Australian law graduates looking for an increasingly smaller number of jobs.
I do find it quite funny as to the perception of Australia as being 'easier' - the "top tier" firms (the Magic Circle in UK terms) will work you into the ground; you will need near perfect marks and a host of extra activities and experience to get past HR and have your CV land on the desk of Bazza (the Down Under version of Tonker).
Get past that, and you will be on a good (not brilliant) salary working at least 12 hours a day on the treadmill of attrition with a few decades in front of you that may, just, see you get partnership if you are willing to sacrifice everything. All the time watching the cost of living erode your income.
Don't make the mistake of thinking Australia is an easier option - in many ways, it is far harder as an overall 'package'.
[lived and worked as a solicitor in both the UK and Australia]
I plan on moving to Aus because the pay is better, the life is better, and I feel like there is more for me personally out there. A promise of better things is indeed alluring for the youth of today who have very little waiting for them in their UK future.
[quote]
I think you have to do a bit more research into this. The issue of the cost of living, not the salary. In law, Sydney and Melbourne are the two primary markets. The cost of living is horrific. Sydney is amongst the most expensive cities on the planet in which to live.
Unless you are going to Sydney (or Melbourne) with a first class degree from a top UK university, you will have nothing to stand above the thousands (yes, thousands) of Australian law graduates looking for an increasingly smaller number of jobs.
I do find it quite funny as to the perception of Australia as being 'easier' - the "top tier" firms (the Magic Circle in UK terms) will work you into the ground; you will need near perfect marks and a host of extra activities and experience to get past HR and have your CV land on the desk of Bazza (the Down Under version of Tonker).
Get past that, and you will be on a good (not brilliant) salary working at least 12 hours a day on the treadmill of attrition with a few decades in front of you that may, just, see you get partnership if you are willing to sacrifice everything. All the time watching the cost of living erode your income.
Don't make the mistake of thinking Australia is an easier option - in many ways, it is far harder as an overall 'package'.
[lived and worked as a solicitor in both the UK and Australia]
Edited by XB70 on Wednesday 22 April 19:56
Edited by XB70 on Wednesday 22 April 19:57
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