Search
This area does not yet contain any content.
Justinian News

Balkan intrigues ... Old coppers stagger into the Croatian Six inquiry ... 15-year jail terms in 1980 for alleged terrorism ... Miscarriage of justice under review ... Verballing ... Loading-up ... Old fashioned detective "work" ... Evidence so far ... Hamish McDonald reports ... Read more >> 

Politics Media Law Society


Cohn Man ... The ghost of Roy Cohn and the remaking of politics … Cancelling The Apprentice … Anticipatory obedience … NACC Major General’s partially apprehended … Stickler for rectitude … Meretricious sexual services ... Read on ... 

This area does not yet contain any content.
Free Newsletter
Justinian Columnists

Blue sky litigation ... Another costly Lehrmann decision ... One more spin on the never-never ... Arguable appeal discovered in the bowels of the Gazette of Law & Journalism ... Odious litigants ... Could Lee J have got it wrong on the meaning of rape? ... Calpurnia reports from the Defamatorium ... Read more >> 

Blow the whistle

 

News snips ...


Qld Bar 'n Grill announces eight new KCs for 2024 ... Details >>

Justinian's Bloggers

London Calling ... Vitamin D deficiency ... Anti-vax solicitor birched for "friendly warning" to schools ... Budget measures hit private school fee payers and their personal jets ... Robing room "humour" ... Equality and sensitivity training missing in action ... Floyd Alexander-Hunt reports from Blighty ... Read more >> 

"Calls to produce scalps publicly and promptly are unhelpful."  

Major Gen. Paul Brereton, Commissioner of the National Corruption Concealment Commission, defending his secretive and snail paced agenda ... Speaking in Adelaide at a Public Sector Governance Forum ... November 15, 2024  ... Read more flatulence ... 


Justinian Featurettes

Vale Percy Allan AM ... Obit for friend and fellow-traveller ... Prolific writer on economics and politics ... Public finance guru ... Technocrat with humanity and broad interests ... Theatre ... Animals ... Art ... Read more ... 


Justinian's archive

A triumph for Victorian morality ... Ashton v Pratt ... In the sack with Dick Pratt ... Meretricious sexual services renders contract void on public policy grounds ... Justice Paul Brereton applies curious moral standard ... A whiff of hypocrisy ... Doubtful finding ... Artemus Jones reporting ... From Justinian's Archive, January 24, 2012 ... Who knew the NACC commissioner had strong views on the sanctity of marriage ... Read more ... 


 

 

« Dinner with the editor | Main | My big fat law career »
Friday
Apr042014

The cashless society 

Living the dream ... Graduate lawyers surviving on bread and dripping ... The gap between charging money and earning money ... Barely Legal goes through her poor young lawyer routine 

The most common misconception about lawyers is that they are loaded.

The modern fairy tale of a lawyer goes something like this ...

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful lawyer who was trapped inside a fishbowl office. After only five years of hard work, she married a nice co-worker. 

Together they bought a house in Mosman and lived happily ever after.

End of fairytale." 

I did my research for this blog post (thank you Facebook) and the starting salary at top tier law firms is around $75k.

In the meantime, graduate lawyers at mid-tier and suburban law firms earn much less - at around $55k.

Don't get me wrong - $55k is not a small amount of money. An average graduate lawyer's annual salary is comparable to those of entry-level public servants ($53k), accountants ($55k) and bankers ($60k).

But the problem is that everyone thinks you earn a lot of money because you are a lawyer. And lawyers earn a lot of money? 

So you can afford expensive meals and theatre tickets and get kicked off the family medical insurance - right?

Wrong. Lawyers charge a lot of money.

But just because the firm charges out my service at $250 an hour doesn't mean I get to keep all the money.

One of the perks of living in one of the world's most expensive cities is that I get to feel poor all the time. 

After paying rent, HECS debt, College of Law debt, I have just enough money to buy toothpaste and toilet paper.

It is little wonder most lawyers live at home for the first few years of their career.

To make things worse, grad lawyers are surrounded by real lawyers who earn enough money to support their Cashed-Up Lawyer Lifestyle.

Some features of the Cashed-Up Lawyer Lifestyle include:

1. regular shopping at designer stores like Cue, Review and Veronika Maine where one dress = my weekly rent;

2. weekly dining at hatted restaurants where one main = my weekly grocery shopping;

3. annual trip to luxury destinations.

It's entirely understandable that I don't discuss my lifestyle with senior associates and partners. 

I feel like the poor scholarship girl at a rich private school.

My dress? It's from the latest Target collection. 

What are my weekend plans? Staying put. 

Does the foodcourt count as foodie dining? It certainly does. 

What am I doing this annual leave? Slumming with backpackers.

Dear real lawyers, if you're reading this, the chances are you probably earn more than grad lawyers. 

So excuse us if we walk around with stains on our (non-designer) suits, demand cabcharges at 8.01pm and play with our phones while you pay for coffee/lunch/drinks.

Between paying back our ever growing debt and putting aside some money for subsistence, we are broke most of the time.

Having explained our circumstances so persuasively my graduate friends and I think we're overdue for a bigger slice of the hourly $250 charge out rate. 

References (8)

References allow you to track sources for this article, as well as articles that were written in response to this article.
  • Response
    The cashless society - Bloggers - Justinian: Australian legal magazine. News on lawyers and the law
  • Response
    Response: rolex phoenix
    The cashless society - Bloggers - Justinian: Australian legal magazine. News on lawyers and the law
  • Response
    Response: Your Domain Name
    The cashless society - Bloggers - Justinian: Australian legal magazine. News on lawyers and the law
  • Response
    Response: Your Domain Name
    The cashless society - Bloggers - Justinian: Australian legal magazine. News on lawyers and the law
  • Response
    The cashless society - Bloggers - Justinian: Australian legal magazine. News on lawyers and the law
  • Response
    The cashless society - Bloggers - Justinian: Australian legal magazine. News on lawyers and the law
  • Response
    Diabetes treatment Treatment varies for each individual, not simply on the type of diabetes that they have, but also more individual-specific diabetic treatment differences. Successful treatment makes all the difference to long-term health, and achieving balanced diabetes treatment can be the key to living with both type 1 and type 2 ...
  • Response

Reader Comments

There are no comments for this journal entry. To create a new comment, use the form below.
Member Account Required
You must have a member account on this website in order to post comments. Log in to your account to enable posting.