We Are Moving!

[John Cook]

The key things about professions people dislike is that they tend to be well paid, require some kind of specialist training and, as a result, can be bit of a mystery.  So, to envy and lack of comprehension add today's culture of victimhood.

I've used solicitors to move house twice, write wills and, on three occasions, execute wills.  Can't say I have any complaints.

I must admit, though, that your experiences so far, do seem unreasonable.

[toxicpixie]

Most actual lawyers aren't that well paid, but the high earners in "exciting" positions at the top suck up a disproportionate amount of "screen time" and money...

I have had it said by practising solicitors that no action is taken/not taken without instruction by the client, with the implication it's the person they're acting for that's to blame. In my house buying experience that did indeed appear to be the case, but on anecdotal experience from others it suggests that every person except solicitors is deliberately screwing the whole process... which seems less likely

[John Cook]

Most actual lawyers aren't that well paid, but the high earners in "exciting" positions at the top suck up a disproportionate amount of "screen time" and money...

The average salary of a solicitor in the UK is £70K.  The average annual pay of a person in the UK is £29K, apparently.  I think £70 will sound like 'well paid' to most people in the UK.

[Leon]

We're dealing with one of the partners so in the T&C's we received he's on £235-£300 per hour...

[Ithoriel]

The average salary of a solicitor in the UK is £70K.  The average annual pay of a person in the UK is £29K, apparently.  I think £70 will sound like 'well paid' to most people in the UK.

Average, on the latest figures I could find, 29k for women and 38k for men.

I'd love to see the mean rather, than average, figures but 30 minutes googling is all I'm willing to commit to the search and in that time I couldn't find up to date figures. The google fu is weak in this one

[toxicpixie]

Yes, thats actually 'Cos the "Magic Circle" and big City corporate positions offer their top few stupendous salaries in the six figures and upwards. Who suck up a vastly disproportionate amount of the "lawyering budget", as it were.

And note that's explicitly referring to *solicitors* which is a long and ludicrously awkward training/acceptance scheme intended to keep numbers down and prices high.

The vast bulk of lawyers in the UK are not on that sort of money, and even any solicitor you or I will deal with is very unlikely to hit that money - unless you're literally dealing with the boss.

Not that most of law is a badly paid profession, but it's only great if you have the ability to get an "in" at the right level, as with so much of our economy.

Similar situation to my work in IT. Our wage budget looks decent split equally, but the  boss sucks up two, two and half shares of it, their boss sucks up five shares of it and so on.

[toxicpixie]

Tl, dr - despite being seen as well paid, law suffers from the same inequalities in wealth and income that the rest of the country does

Just from a mildly higher starting point.

Ithoriel - prospects.ac.Uk has some good info on reasonably realistic wage scenarios for the law in general and solicitors in specific. It's still a bit focused on "look at what the top 1% can get!" But at least they acknowledge you're likely to spend a decade training and then assuming you pass and can find a job you'll probably be doing either high street or corporate law at generically somewhat above average skilled professional rates until a couple decades more when if you're lucky you'll make partner and hit top ten percent earnings!

[John Cook]

Sounds a bit too conspiratorial.  Just as long as the Illuminati, the Bilderberg Group and George Soros aren't involved.

[toxicpixie]

 

John, the the "Magic Circle" is what the big five City law firms call themselves/are known as - it's been their informal group name for decades.

Edit: a fuller answer is that they're the five most prestigious and high earning firms, based in London. They just happen to almost exclusively deal in corporate law. The next five are Silver Circle buts a new term (early 2000's) and they've undergone a lot of change.

Wiki has a good precis if you find law magazines dull, with a very apt to the wages discussion bit in the "Relationship to the Silver Circle" part...

[hammurabi70]

The key things about professions people dislike is that they tend to be well paid, require some kind of specialist training and, as a result, can be bit of a mystery.  So, to envy and lack of comprehension add today's culture of victimhood.

I've used solicitors to move house twice, write wills and, on three occasions, execute wills.  Can't say I have any complaints.

I must admit, though, that your experiences so far, do seem unreasonable.

Most actual lawyers aren't that well paid, but the high earners in "exciting" positions at the top suck up a disproportionate amount of "screen time" and money...

As a generality dentists and doctors have been the best paid people because the mean is higher in those professions than that of others.  Businessmen and professional accountants do not earn the vast telephone number salaries that can be attributed to a few people in the City of London but as a general statement they do seem to earn a good salary in comparison with others.  As with lawyers and most other professions a few very wealthy income earners bias the salary statistics.  The real image damage is those in the really big business companies where senior remuneration packages are now becoming astronomical multiples compared to the income of the average member of staff.

My impression of the legal trade is that they over extend themselves by taking on more work than they can cope with, so in the end he, or she, who shouts loudest and most often, gets attention.  The whiff of currency notes does wonders.

[John Cook]

John, the the "Magic Circle" is what the big five City law firms call themselves/are known as - it's been their informal group name for decades.

You have the advantage of me.  I have never heard of The Magic Circle, except in a different context entirely.  As ever, nothing succeeds like success, and nothing like success generates envy in the less successful.

[FierceKitty]

Nothing sucks seeds like a beakless budgie.

[Leon]

This is the current timeline, obviously dependant on the solicitors and banks getting things done as planned!

- Week commencing Mar 29th: We will be away working on our new unit and no casting will be done.
- Week commencing Apr 5th: We will have some staff back at our current unit to catch up on orders.
- Week commencing Apr 12th: We will be moving all of our equipment and stock over to the new place so no casting will be done.
- Week commencing Apr 19th: Most of the machinery and equipment will have been moved and we should be able to start casting again.

If your order only contains stock items, such as bases, paints, flags, etc. then these will be shipped much quicker than the figures.  We'll have some of our staff back in the current premises every few days to package up those orders and get them out to you.

[steve_holmes_11]

The average salary of a solicitor in the UK is £70K.  The average annual pay of a person in the UK is £29K, apparently.  I think £70 will sound like 'well paid' to most people in the UK.

Never trust averages (I assume these are means).
They're easily skewed by a few high rollers.

The median is a far better indicator for earnings.

[steve_holmes_11]

Tl, dr - despite being seen as well paid, law suffers from the same inequalities in wealth and income that the rest of the country does

Just from a mildly higher starting point.

Ithoriel - prospects.ac.Uk has some good info on reasonably realistic wage scenarios for the law in general and solicitors in specific. It's still a bit focused on "look at what the top 1% can get!" But at least they acknowledge you're likely to spend a decade training and then assuming you pass and can find a job you'll probably be doing either high street or corporate law at generically somewhat above average skilled professional rates until a couple decades more when if you're lucky you'll make partner and hit top ten percent earnings!

I put it to the jury that the biggest benefit to a law career isn't the money (great for a few, but lower than expected for most).
It's the fact that you aren't constrained to living in the big Smoke, or other major city that hosts 90% of your chosen industry.