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Fellow Kiwi here, 5th year at a big firm. The pay curve does get better, but I don’t think it’s any secret that we have to go offshore to get the big bucks.
Fellow antipodean based in NY. Australia and NZ are not great places to be a lawyer from a monetary perspective. If you want to make dosh, GTFO.
I think there’s quite a few factors it depends on. In Canada, entry level criminal defence lawyers can make $50k CAD in small towns and cities outside of the mega cities (Toronto, Vancouver) where they can make much more because the cost of living is higher, there are more clients. Also we have a fused legal system so criminal barristers work for law firms the same way solicitors do. It is quite different from England where barristers are self-employed in chambers and receive case files from a solicitor. Not to mention, legal aid and the government cuts play a factor as well.
I think ours net $140k from legal aid so they might be looking at 115k after expenses
I think the general impression of US Biglaw salaries is a bit distorted since everyone is graduating with MASSIVE student debt that’s growing by the minute with interest. Add that to high CoL in major markets and really while you’re “making” good money, you’re not really living like a prince.
You’d be making around ~100,000 GBP (~130K USD) in London where everything is even more expensive than in NYC, or around ~100,000 EUR in Brussels (this is a guesstimate). This is in Biglaw firms (or their equivalent there).
I think this makes me feel a lot better about my salary tbh
In Switzerland no one usually has debt when graduating (all universities are public and close to free) and in Big Law you make between 120-140KCHF out of the bar (about the same in USD). Might be around 80-110k in smaller firms.
Where is your practice and who is your client and how experienced are you — those things are most important for the income.
Seems pretty standard as long as they’re paying your profs and paying you while you do it. Google ALWU survey, pay is p bad for the first couple of years.
Sorry - might be standard in crim firms - I think in most commercial firms they pay for profs.