The purpose of this series of posts is to put information out there, in the hope that some of the myths will be dispelled and you will (from the sum of responses) have an idea of how your salary compares. Obviously, the data in the survey is given to us anonymously — quite possibly by persons who have an interest in deflating the competition (or just messing with us) — and we are unable to verify any of it. Bizarrely, the firms are exceedingly tight-lipped about jumior salaries — quite unlike their UK and US counterparts, many of which openly publish details of starting, NQ and junior base salaries. To preserve anonymity, we also don’t name the firm in some cases (usually because we’ve been asked not to), but give a general idea of where it sits in the market.
Without further ado, let’s see some numbers. This week we start with the 1-year qualified lawyers (i.e. those admitted between July 2010 and June 2011). More after the break.
We had almost 500 responses to the survey this year, which is a big jump from previous years. To make things comparable, we’ve broken things down by peer band, firm and state. If anyone has a better idea about how to present the data, we’re all ears!
Also shown are the number of tipsters, so you can see if there has been any corroboration or if it’s just someone posting crap. As always, use your own judgment before complaining to your supervising partner that peer X is being paid more than you.
[Update: we saw a query about PQE terminology. This refers to the number of full years of experience post-admission. So if someone is admitted in September 2010, they're still "1 year PQE" in July 2011. Conversely, someone admitted in April 2011 is a NQ under this terminology.]
1 Year PQE: national firms
| Firm Name | Job Title | # Tips | Gross Salary | Bonus? | Billable hrs | Vibes* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allens Arthur Robinson (Sydney) | Lawyer | 2 | $86,500 | $0 | 4.25 | Good |
| Allens Arthur Robinson (Melbourne) | Lawyer | 1 | $72,000 | $0 | 4.25 | Okay |
| Blake Dawson (Sydney) | Lawyer | 2 | $92,500 | $0 | 6.5 | Good |
| Blake Dawson (Melbourne, Brisbane) | Lawyer | 2 | $85,000 | $0 | 6.5 | Stressed |
| Blake Dawson (Melbourne) | Lawyer | 1 | $87,000 | $0 | 6.5 | Stressed |
| Blake Dawson (Canberra) | Lawyer | 1 | $70,000 | $0 | 6.5 | Happy |
| Clayton Utz (Sydney) | Lawyer | 1 | $97,000 | $0 | 7 | Bad |
| Clayton Utz (Melbourne) | Lawyer | 2 | $86,000 | $0 | 5.5 | Unhappy |
| Clayton Utz (Perth) | Lawyer | 2 | $90,000 | $0 | 7.5 | Okay |
| Corrs Chambers Westgarth (Sydney) | Lawyer | 3 | $95,500 | $15,000 | 7 | Happy |
| Corrs Chambers Westgarth (Melbourne) | Lawyer | 1 | $78,000 | $0 | 7 | Happy |
| Freehills (Sydney) | Lawyer | 1 | $105,000, $88,000 | $0 | 6.5, 7 | Happy, Bored |
| Freehills (Melbourne) | Lawyer | 1 | $85,000 | $0 | ? | ? |
| Mallesons Stephen Jaques (Sydney) | Lawyer | 3 | $95,000, $93,000 | $0 | 6 | Unhappy |
| Mallesons Stephen Jaques (Melbourne) | Lawyer | 2 | $82,000, $79,000 | $0 | 6.5, 6 | Stressed |
| Mallesons Stephen Jaques (Perth) | Lawyer | 1 | $85,000 | $0 | 6 | Sad |
| Minter Ellison (Sydney) | Lawyer | 1 | $97,000 | $0 | 6 | Restless |
| Minter Ellison (Adelaide) | Lawyer | 1 | $60,000 | $0 | 6 | Unhappy |
| Minter Ellison (Melbourne) | Lawyer | 1 | $86,000 | $0 | 6.5 | Sad |
* Totally unscientific summary of the comments and ratings given by respondents about their firms. In the words of Dennis Denuto, it’s the vibe of the thing.
Feelings at the top-tier were pretty mixed, with most respondents being fairly concerned about the hours, the miserly pay rises and (with concerning regularity) relations with their supervising partners.
It’s revealing to work out what the average peer band salary is at each firm per billable hour worked. When you do the maths, it seems that the mean Sydney 1 year PQE salary-per-billable-hour is about $15,045. In Melbourne, it’s $13,490, while in Brisbane it’s $13,076 and Perth $13,083. Take this for what it’s worth – there isn’t a huge amount of data here, so statistical reliability is pretty limited.
Now for some choice quotes. In Allens Sydney:
The atmosphere in Corporate sucks. I have not received any increase, so allowing for inflation I have effectively received a pay cut! So, I will be working somewhere else when I complete this survey next year.
That’s certainly putting it bluntly. From a grumpy Mallesons first year:
Feedback? Yes, name which junior partner of the firm is the biggest wanker.
We invite speculation. Mallies juniors were certainly unhappier than most of their top-tier colleagues. One complained:
- restructured every year or so with a different “strategic plan”
- none of which result in anything
- underpaid
- lawyers are expected to be marketers as well, because “the marketing team really aren’t any good at this.”
As to this year’s pay rises, another commented:
It barley covers the increased cost of public transport to get to work, but 2k is better than a kick in the head. We work very hard for very little reward.
At Minters, there was a general sense of being over-managed. This first year commented:
I’m sad because we are now managed by large marketing, business development and IT departments, all of whom seem to have very handsome budgets but no interest in/idea about the profession and what legal staff want/how we work/our responsibilities as lawyers. Marketing/business development/IT seem to have become “the business”. They don’t support, they run the place.
Meanwhile, Blake Dawson juniors are feeling under pressure, one noting a “real push for billable hours, utilisation, productivity – not much mentoring.” Sadly, for many, work-life balance was simply impossible. One respondent surmised:
Requirements of big firm incompatible with having a marriage and family.
Did we miss out your firm office? Or are you being paid something else? Enlighten us (anonymously) in the comments below!
1 Year PQE: mid-tier and boutique
We’ve had a few requests along the lines of the following:
It would be good if you compiled boutique and mid tier data too – even if there was one tick-box for each rather than breaking it down into more detail. A lot of my friends who are still working at top tier firms would find this interesting – it’s good to know whether the grass is actually greener on the other side. (Answer is part yes, part no.)
It’s a lot of extra work to do this, partly because of the sheer number of mid-tier and boutique firms out there and the difficulty of aggregating data by hand. But we’ve done it this time around, and we hope you like. Some firm names hidden to preserve anonymity.
| Firm Name | Job Title | # Tips | Gross Salary | Bonus? | Billable hrs | Vibes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Baker & McKenzie (Sydney) | Associate | 2 | $78,000 | $0 | 6.25 | Bored |
| DLA Piper (Melbourne) | Lawyer | 2 | $81,750 | $25,000 | 6.5 | Itchy feet |
| Henry Davis York | Lawyer | 1 | $93,000 | $20,000 | 7 | Average |
| Herbert Geer | Lawyer | 1 | $85,000 | $0 | 6.25 | Good |
| Hicksons | Lawyer | 1 | $70,000, $78,000 | $0 | 6.5, 6 | Stressed |
| HWL Ebsworth (Sydney, Brisbane) | Lawyer | 2 | $75,000 | $0, $25k | 6.5 | Happy |
| Hynes Lawyers | Lawyer | 1 | $65,000 | $25,000 | 6.5 | Pessimistic |
| Maddocks (Sydney) | Lawyer | 1 | $83,500 | $0 | 6.5 | Unhappy |
| Norton Rose (Sydney) | Lawyer | 1 | $90,000 | $0 | 7.5 | Happy |
| Norton Rose (Brisbane) | Lawyer | 1 | $78,000 | $0 | 6.5 | Okay |
| Piper Alderman | Lawyer | 1 | $70,000 | TBC August | 6.5 | Okay |
| Thomsons Lawyers | Lawyer | 1 | $65,000 | $0 | 6.5 | Unhappy |
| Perth construction boutique | Lawyer | 1 | $120,000 | $0 | 5 | Ambivalent |
| Other boutique | Lawyer | 3 | $61k, $65k, $72k | $0-$1795 | 6-6.5 | Miserly |
| In-house | Lawyer | 5 | $60-$78k, $87k | $0 | 4-6.5 | Bored |
| Australian Business Lawyers | Lawyer | 2 | $82,000 | $45,000 | 5.5 | Pretentious |
| Unnamed | ? | 10+ | $50,000-$105,000 | ? | 4-7.5 | Various |
| Other mid-tier | Various | 10+ | $73k, $68k, $75, $102.5k, $62.5k | $0, $2.5k, $15k | 6.5, 5.5 | Various |
Generally speaking, mid-tier, in-house and boutique juniors seem happier. One in-houser commented simply “in-house = less pressure”, which seems to accord with general sentiment and common wisdom.
One die-hard Neighbours fan and boutique solicitor broke things down nice and simply for us:
Happy: Being home in time for Neighbours. The fact that I’m no longer working my previous top tier firm.
Salary: ok. Pretty happy considering that it comes with a side of “Neighbours”. Bonus options reasonable.
Sad: The fact my boss is a tool.
Being home in time for Neighbours every night: priceless.
But it looks like one Hicksons first year is earning $8k more than his friend for billing 0.5 fewer hours. As to future directions, an ex-Hicksons escapee noted the s/he left “straight to Centrelink”. Probably an upgrade.
Conclusion
In true Firmspy style, we suspect that this survey will ruffle a few feathers. One has to pity the first year at Freehills who’s being paid a full $17,000 less than his colleagues for an extra billable hour each day, though that’s probably just a grad who (bless them) has failed to fill in the form correctly. Judging by the rest of the data, it looks like some high-performing first-years at the top-tiers are earning more than 2-3 year PQEs down the road. We’ll be posting details of the other peer bands over the coming weeks. It takes time to review and collate all the data, so please do be patient! Many tipsters have written in asking us not to post the raw data, fearing that it might compromise their identity. Fear not: we’ve kept the information above to a minimum and, in small cohorts (particularly at suburban firms) have redacted the firm name.
What do you think of the survey results? Is your salary missing? Let us know in the comments below! We will update the table periodically as we receive more submissions in the comments.
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Comments on the Corrs numbers above. I work at Corrs and have always been happy with my pay (the firm pays above all the big 6 in my experience) but it’s simply not possible to get a 15% bonus as a first year lawyer, under the bonus plan rules. So someone has either got a partner with enough clout to break all the salary rules (and to be honest I refuse to believe that a partner would do that for a first year lawyer) or the relevant figures are dud. The base salary does look a but high as well, FWIW.
Again, I am really happy with Corrs’ rem history – I have always got a good base salary and good bonuses and I think Corrs tries to pay at the top of the market – but I don’t like seeing figures which are frankly just wrong being put out there.
How are those that are admitted in july 2009 still 1 PQE, to my understanding, industry usage of the ‘pqe’ term is that someone admitted on eg. 1 / 7 / 2009 would be 1 PQE from the date of admission until one year after, upon 1 / 7 / 2010 (or 2 / 7 / 2010) they would be termed 2 PQE.
Even if you take the alternative definition that someone admitted on 1/7/2009 is not 1 PQE until 1 or 2 july 2010, then surely, by august 2011, they would still be 2 PQE.
@ Hiyo
Re: 2009 – 2010, clearly a typo in article, now corrected to 2010-2011
For the inhouse person who tipped inhouse = less pressure – feel like coming to work in our team? Under resourced, ‘interesting’ GC and long hours (10-11 hour days and have forgotten what a lunch break is) and matters per year in the (four) hundreds.
No bonuses….
mallies perth – the “sad” rating doesn’t even begin to describe how bad morale has sunk. they have pushed out all the senior partners and now the cut throat junior partners run the show.
Very little info from Brisbane. Are people all too busy knocking off early?
FS, when are the graduate salaries for mid tier/boutiques getting posted?