Do corporate lawyers in London really make that much money?

There will be some outliers. Beresfords of Doncaster had the two highest earning solicitors in the country before they were struck off. I don't know whether Sir Nigel Knowles still works out of Dibbs' Sheffield office. Goodness knows what Maurice Watkins at Brabners earns.There are also one or two very high earning criminal solicitors

The 2009 figures for private practice were just over 85,000 of which over 37,000 worked in London. 12,450 of those London solicitors were salaried or equity partners. 400 is still only a little over 3% of London partners.

For around net 60k income in your 30's lol. It's not worth it. Yes you get to work with some of the most influential people in the world on some of the most historical deals if you get promoted to a decent level, but then what?

I'm a little confused by you. Do you want to go into Law or what?

On some threads you proclaim you and Law don't mix. In others you say being a lawyer isn't all that great and they earn average salaries. Then you say you're going to get into a MC firm? None of your posts are making any sense to me. It seems you've come from asking a question about how much corporate lawyers earn to believing you're some kind of expert on the subject? I don't understand why'd you want to go into Law if you don't like it?

You have extraordinarily high ambitions.

Let me put it this way. You can get very happily middle class wealthy as a city lawyer and that's enough for most people to be content.

Don't expect to be driving luxury cars and having a property empire and living in a penthouse. I know which people get to live that lifestyle - we interact with them as our clients. We see them at signings. I've been sent to their houses before to get documents signed. Do I want to be like them? No. I'm happy to be upper middle class because I don't think I need to make more than the very substantial salaries offered by City law firms.

I didn't do my research well enough. And when I did, I didn't like what I found out.

Are you a barrister in London?

No. I'm a trainee at a magic circle firm. I was talking about my own career path, which on its current trajectory is unlikely to lead to enormous financial wealth but it will be more than enough for me to lead the life I want.

No. I'm a trainee at a magic circle firm. I was talking about my own career path, which on its current trajectory is unlikely to lead to enormous financial wealth but it will be more than enough for me to lead the life I want.

Well done. You're a Cam grad I believe, did you get a first?

This is the crux of what i'm really saying tbh, i have big ambitions. But i need to start to exert more effort and get the first class grade I know I can get. I need to go out there and get extraordinary work experience, networks, basically stuff on my C.V. that marks me out as exceptional.

I believe I am unfortunate to have come from a very successful family, because if i didn't i wouldn't have pride issues and i wouldn't be worrying over whether i live up to their standards. But hey, such is life. It's more a personal thing for me.

My point was that people are governed by money, we are all governed by it whether we like it or not so the suggestions that its not that important are flawed. Firms have a right to call me out on this and that , that i feel a sense of entitlement etc because they have... you guessed it money and i am trying to get hired because they have that money. Without the money what would they be? Not much i would think.

Yes there will be a couple of outliers, but not really enough to influence the statistics hugely.



Are those figures for the City or including Greater London as well? Still a lot higher than the original estimate. The vast majority of those 400 will be working at the top city firms or US firms. So when you then look at it as a percentage of partners at these firms, it will again be much higher. I also imagine that if we lowered the salary to say £700,000 or £800,000 the percentage of lawyers earning these sums would be quite a bit higher.

edit: Knowles is now the CEO of DLA Piper I believe

Not sure why the OP is getting so much stick for being driven by money. The only difference between him and everyone else is that he's being honest to himself. Accountants at PwC didn't try desperately hard in A-Levels to get into a good university, fight for an internship and struggle for a position for any other reason than for the money. This is the same for law grads aiming at MC firms. Why don't they aim at smaller firms to be accountants and lawyers? Money, which in turn comes respect and power (or a sense thereof).

Sure, enjoying your career would be nice, but is it always realistic and necessary? And why can't you enjoy your career simply because it's paid well? You'll probably have a spring in your step, more enthusiasm and more eagerness if you knew that at the end of that long day, you just added £300 to your bank balance. Does anyone in front office of an IB genuinely enjoy their 80 hour weeks? Same goes for solicitors working 12 hour days, and everyone else getting up at 5am to get on the tube and go off to their big firm and get their big salary. If they got a pay cut to the UK average salary, would they still enjoy their work?

Come on, it's all for the money. But let's not confuse this motivation for money as just being materialistic. Earning a lot of money gives you a sense of pride and respect - it also opens up opportunities, e.g. charity and travelling. It's not simply so that you can buy expensive clothes or have a villa in Spain - it's the feeling you get from wearing nice clothes and the enjoyment of spending your summer in Spain with your family. From all of this enjoyment is derived.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are many people who genuinely enjoy their job and the satisfaction they get from this is much greater to them than what they would get from travelling, wearing nice clothes, eating out, driving their dream car, etc. etc. However, I don't think you find these people aiming for perfect academics and applying to big firms in London.

Just trying to add some perspective.

Yes I got a first but it's hardly the be all and end all of getting a TC as I'm sure you know (I think of it more as a way to get through the door).

I think from your perspective you need to decide what you want to do first of all. If you do the law thing you will have to invest another 3 years of your life in it. Given the hours there will be times when you will make near enough minimum wage. I only worked two weekends and a bank holiday in the last 3 months, but there are people who have worked most of their weekends.

If you pick the law route you will be in it for the long haul, put aside the money considerations and decide if the content of the work is something that appeals to you because it will be a living hell otherwise.

wow, magic circle? i dont see how being on that sort of career path could NOT lead you to enormous financial wealth (unless of course you and I have vastly differing opinions on what qualifies as "enormous wealth")

without seeming rude, how much roughly does that career path offer financially?
and also, in your opinion, is it worth the massive work load and great effort?
or does that not bother you because you enjoy your work?

i think these are the sort of questions the OP should be asking himself too, because he shouldnt be going into law if he doesnt think the effort is worth the income.

Yes.

A more pertinent question is 'could I be a corporate lawyer in London?'.

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