Published April 18, 2009

Trainee lawyer bags $8,500 monthly pay

Foreign law firm pays record starting salary to NUS grad

By SIOW LI SEN

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LAW firms may be trimming costs and easing up on new hires, but a freshly minted young lawyer has just snared a record starting salary. She starts her working life on a pay of $8,500 a month.

Ince & Co, an English firm which has been in Singapore since 1992, has hired its first trainee, a 23-year-old woman who is in the process of completing her pupillage in a leading local law firm. The firm specialises in marine casualty practice and the energy sector.

'She will be completing her training with us over the next 18 months, here in Singapore, not in our London office,' said Richard Lovell, Ince & Co partner. 'I can confirm that current starting salary is $8,500.'

The previous highest salary for a young associate is believed to be $7,500, paid by another foreign law firm, Baker Mckenzie.

Salaries at local firms start from $3,000, with TSMP Law Corp's $5,000 for a junior lawyer said to be the top bracket.

It's not that Ince & Co is defying the laws of gravity. Mr Lovell said that the layoffs of hundred of lawyers by some of the major international law firms in the US and UK relate to specific areas of practice.

'We're not quite the same as those firms . . . a lot of layoffs are specific to property commercial lawyers and corporate banking-related types.'

Mr Lovell said that the new hire who will start work on June 1 is the first National University of Singapore-qualified lawyer the firm has taken on as a 'trainee'.

The firm received some 20-odd inquiries for the 'trainee' vacancy, he said. Mr Lovell said that some were also interested in applying for a training slot in the firm's London office.

'We are still looking for one or even two suitable candidates to take up traineeships in this office next year,' he said.

Ince & Co has 14 fee earners and 12 support staff. Despite the recession, the firm is expanding. In addition to hiring its first local trainee, it is taking on two more lawyers.

'Growth has been very organic,' said Chris Grieveson, Ince & Co partner.

The efforts of the last three years to make Singapore a shipping hub have resulted in many shipping owners basing their operations here, he said.

'Our expansion has been fairly steady over the years, with it being pronounced over the last 18 months because of the increase in the client base and increase in work in non-shipping areas,' he said.

The recession has not left business entirely untouched.

'On the commercial contract side, people are still doing business and being more careful and reviewing contracts,' said Mr Grieveson.