Well, to start with, there is a huge discrepancy between the “sought-after” graduate jobs at major law firms and the number of graduates vying for those jobs. As firms deleverage in the next few years – something several firms have acknowledged is a short-term business imperative – this disparity will grow. Make no mistake about it. But the real cause for concern is that the House of Representatives is currently debating a Bill that will see the university sector move next year to a “demand-driven” system in which the CTH will provide funding for any course that is offered by a university, removing the cap on the number of Commonwealth Supported Positions. For the novices among us, this is a peculiarly frightening prospect in the area of law, where there is high demand for places and a willingness for universities to provide those places because (anecdotally, at least) profit margins are higher than in other faculties. Think even more law graduates vying for even fewer graduate jobs.
We asked ALSA what it thought of the prospect of a higher intake of law student. A spokesperson responded to us with the following comment:
Presently ALSA holds the firm view that law schools should act cautiously and exercise restraint before making the decision to increase student numbers. In any given Australian law school the negative impact of uncapping student places will have varied negative ramifications — for students, legal education and the profession alike.
While we think there is clearly policymaking merit in availing a law degree to those wishing to study it, we think more must be done at a macro level to safeguard junior lawyer welfare. Given the likelihood of an implausibly heightened level of graduate recruitment competition in the near future, we worry that grads may wind up with (even more) exploitative employers who place work first and mental health a very distant second.
And let’s not forget about pay! A grad’s packet can only be at best a very distant third, and will possibly sink even further once deleverage takes hold, if the statistics are any indication. On average, according to the Graduate Careers Australia report, law graduate salaries dropped to 11th place in 2010, despite law grads spending the third highest average number of hours (42) in the office each week.
Mahlab Recruitment manager of private practice Mary Horniblow told The Australian on Friday that for the past three years salaries for law graduates at top-tier law firms in Sydney had ranged from $70,000 to $75,000, but those firms employed only a small proportion of graduates. Ms Horniblow said at mid-tier commercial law firms the average starting salary was about $67,000, while at small commercial firms the average was about $50,000. These salary ranges are broadly consistent with the results from the 2010 Firm Spy Salary Survey which revealed the following grad pay-packets:
Sydney
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques – $72,500
- Freehills – $76,000
- Allens Arthur Robinson – $73,000
- Clayton Utz – $73,000
- Minter Ellison – $70,000
- Blake Dawson – $70,000
- Baker & McKenzie – 70,000
- Piper Alderman – 58,000
- Corrs Chambers Wesgarth – 72,000
Brisbane
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques – $61,000
- Freehills – $68,000
- Blake Dawson- $63,000
- HWL Ebsworth – 50,000
Perth
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques – $67,000
Melbourne
- Mallesons Stephen Jaques – $66,000
- Freehills – $65,000
- Allens Arthur Robinson – $65,000
- Clayton Utz – $66,000
- Blake Dawson – $65,000
- Minter Ellison – $60,000
- Norton Rose – 65,000
- Herbert Geer – 58,000
According to The Australian, the GCA report revealed that law graduates starting work for the federal government earned a median of $51,400, while those working for state governments earned a median of $55,000. The median salary for graduates in private practice was $47,500. Male law graduates earned a median of $50,000 — $2600 more than their female counterparts. Across all fields, the median starting salary for females was 96 per cent of male salaries. Females made up 71 per cent of all law graduates.
Australian Law Students Association president Matthew Floro said law students were forced to contribute a disproportionate amount for their tuition compared with other fields such as dentistry:
“We think the poor funding of legal education is based on the premise that law students go on to have lucrative careers and earn the big bucks… But I think what this report shows is that the picture isn’t as rosy as some might suggest.”
Indeed, the future for grads does not look as rosy as it does for grads today, which, to begin with, isn’t all that rosy anyhow.
Send the Firm Spy your news and views!
Loading...
interesting seeing the difference in pay between cities…. are freehills brisbane grads of superior quality than their melb counterparts, whilst sydney is apparently better still?
11k difference for mallesons
8k freehills
7k blakes
i understand that the cost of living is higher in some cities, but jeez, thats a big difference
@different city
It has nothing to do with cost of living, and everything to do with the relevant competitive market forces in that specific market determining the price for a grad’s services.
Supply and demand kids. The same thing that notionally keeps the clients being able to pay the bills (if they survived the GFC).
and a spell check might not hurt FS?
Hat
At least you aren’t a Tassie first year lawyer. $39.000 pa and about 5 jobs going. And they wonder why Tas Graduates move to the mainland…
Grad pay is never all that flash, but the figures quoted above are as much as $30K higher than what my grad year was paid about 6 years ago. But even if starting salaries aren’t great, they do tend to jump up rather quickly. I pretty much doubled my starting pay wtihin 3 years and tripled it in 6 years (and those six years included a GFC salary freeze). And bonuses etc are on top of that.
Sorry, if this posts makes me sound a bit wankerish. I’m just trying to assure grads that it does get better!
I would like to point out to FirmSpy and your readership that whilst commercial law firms quote their salaries inclusive of 9% super, government jobs are usually advertised excluding super at a rate of 15.4%
When you also factor in the 37.5 hour week, and concepts completely foreign to commercial firms such as flex time, any rational law graduate would have to be giving this “alternative” career pathway a second look.
Departments like ASIC, Treasury and Prime Minister and Cabinet surely tick the “prestige” box, and at $54,500 + 15.4% you’re looking at a $63,000 job that has you home by 6pm every night. And if things do get busier than that, you’re banking flex time and taking long weekends.
If the commercial firm juniors are working another 20 hours per week on top of that, surely the extra $3000 (for Melbourne graduates, for example) isn’t worth it!
Why did I accept this job offer from a “top tier” firm?
@student
true that government does pay better at first (my first gov job started at $64k before super at 17%, I got a position higher than a grad because I’d worked as a paralegal), but it stalls with no chance of bonuses, and minimal increases year to year. also the work gets boring and repetitive fairly quickly – having not worked in a firm, i can’t say that it wouldn’t also get boring there. Right now i’m sitting in my plush gov job with plenty of flex time up my sleeve and a decent pay each fortnight, but wondering if i’d rather be doing 60 hour weeks on less money just to be kept busy & mentally stimulated!
You can always go from private practice to government. It doesn’t work the same in reverse.
Start in private practice for 3-5 years then move across to government at a comparable salary.
Kelly you must have no life if you’d rather do 60 hours a week. But hey, then again, you are in Canberra, so fair point!
I work in State Government and my salary is 55913 per year with a 3.75% increase from 24 July 2011. It ain’t bad for a Grad but I agree with Kelly. The work is boring, repetitive and at times there is very little discretion on your part. Everything you do is red taped and becomes very tedious.
If you had/have the pleasure of working in a Government Department where you need to conjure up a Ministerial in 4 days (very easy), work with people who are non university educated or people who are out the door by 4pm, you quickly realise that you’re not that special law student who graduated from a top tier uni. You’re just a public servant. You may quickly see yourself becoming lazy and doing the most minimal amount of work just to pass the line.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with this perception and I know a few of my legal colleagues who are happy with the core 7.5 hr days and doing the same repetitive work everyday. I for one, however quickly find that my mental stimulation goes from eager straight-out-of-college grad to mentally benign public servant in just 6 months. I need something more than just good salary. I need mental stimulation and a challenge.
This is purely my opinion and experiences here so no need to be critical of my views. All I can say (looking forward) is that I am applying back to private sector, which I intend to work in for a few years. I’ll make a reassessment in a few years time once I get some experiences under my belt.