# Newly Qualified Solicitor - Expected Salary



## Ralphie (4 Dec 2006)

Hi,

going to qualify next year and just wondering what's the going salary for assistant solicitors?


----------



## Bazoo (4 Dec 2006)

*Re: Newly Qualified Solciitor - Expected Salary*

Depends on the area of work/level of expertise gained in your apprenticeship/type of firm as you probably already know but I'd say outside Dublin I would say 35k to 45k. In Dublin I would say 40k to 53k. Bear in mind that you should get a good pay rise after your first year and then a pretty good one the following year and once you have some pqe and maybe if you look to move firms once you have your pqe you will get a good salary.


----------



## dats_right (5 Dec 2006)

*Re: Newly Qualified Solciitor - Expected Salary*

[broken link removed]


----------



## Trafford (5 Dec 2006)

*Re: Newly Qualified Solciitor - Expected Salary*



Bazoo said:


> Depends on the area of work/level of expertise gained in your apprenticeship/type of firm as you probably already know but I'd say outside Dublin I would say 35k to 45k. In Dublin I would say 40k to 53k. Bear in mind that you should get a good pay rise after your first year and then a pretty good one the following year and once you have some pqe and maybe if you look to move firms once you have your pqe you will get a good salary.


 
I'm a paralegal in Dublin and am at the top end of the 40 -53K bracket. I would hope that if I qualify I would see an increase.


----------



## LizaM (2 Jan 2007)

*Re: Newly Qualified Solciitor - Expected Salary*



Trafford said:


> I'm a paralegal in Dublin and am at the top end of the 40 -53K bracket. I would hope that if I qualify I would see an increase.


 
can i ask what exactly is a paralegal?

did you have to sit all the irish exams aswell??


----------



## Trafford (2 Jan 2007)

*Re: Newly Qualified Solciitor - Expected Salary*

No, it is the Law Society who require the Irish exam and paralegals, or legal executives, are not entitled to be members of the Law Society. There is the Insitiute of Irish Legal Executives (ILEX)which acts as a governing body for paralegals, but it is an optional thing for people to join, and not a precondition like the Law Society is for solicitors. The ILEX recognises the Diploma in Professional Legal Studies in Griffith College, and as far as I know it is the only such course with this recognition. Employers now tend to look for people with this qualification over others because of this professional recognition. As regards the job, it is essentially the same as a solicitor's in many ways. Certainly where I work, in-house in the legal department of a bank, the 2 of us paralegals do the same work as the lawyers. In a practice there might be differences, such as in bringing a case to court. I think paras tend to do more of the District Court work than that which carries more responsibility. This is fair enough as a) the solicitors are the ones with the full qualification and b) they are being paid accordingly for that responsibility. Paralegals can be well paid, and certainly in my area (banking), the salary potential is very attractive. However, I will never be rewarded on the same scale as the lawyers, despite doing the same work and having the same responsibility, so I am therefore attempting to qualify as a solicitor.


----------



## LizaM (4 Jan 2007)

*Re: Newly Qualified Solciitor - Expected Salary*



Trafford said:


> No, it is the Law Society who require the Irish exam and paralegals, or legal executives, are not entitled to be members of the Law Society. There is the Insitiute of Irish Legal Executives (ILEX)which acts as a governing body for paralegals, but it is an optional thing for people to join, and not a precondition like the Law Society is for solicitors. The ILEX recognises the Diploma in Professional Legal Studies in Griffith College, and as far as I know it is the only such course with this recognition. Employers now tend to look for people with this qualification over others because of this professional recognition. As regards the job, it is essentially the same as a solicitor's in many ways. Certainly where I work, in-house in the legal department of a bank, the 2 of us paralegals do the same work as the lawyers. In a practice there might be differences, such as in bringing a case to court. I think paras tend to do more of the District Court work than that which carries more responsibility. This is fair enough as a) the solicitors are the ones with the full qualification and b) they are being paid accordingly for that responsibility. Paralegals can be well paid, and certainly in my area (banking), the salary potential is very attractive. However, I will never be rewarded on the same scale as the lawyers, despite doing the same work and having the same responsibility, so I am therefore attempting to qualify as a solicitor.


 

Thanks for that trafford.

how long did it take you to quallify to be a para?

Did you do griffith yourself and how long for the course?

thanks a million in advance.


----------



## Trafford (4 Jan 2007)

*Re: Newly Qualified Solciitor - Expected Salary*

The Griffith course took me 2 academic years, part-time, from Jan to June. I was already working as a legal secretary for 1 year when I started the course. Once I qualified from it I got my current job as a paralegal.


----------



## LizaM (7 Jan 2007)

*Re: Newly Qualified Solciitor - Expected Salary*



Trafford said:


> The Griffith course took me 2 academic years, part-time, from Jan to June. I was already working as a legal secretary for 1 year when I started the course. Once I qualified from it I got my current job as a paralegal.


 
im doing a legal secretary course myself the moment. Do you think i should wait and do a years work experience in legal secretary first?

ive been a senior secretary/ PA for ten years. 

So you can qualify after two years part time course?

Im thinking of attempting the perliminary exam but dont know.........


----------



## Trafford (8 Jan 2007)

If  you are considering the solicitor route then maybe skip the secretary course and do the legal exec one instead, as it will be more relevant. The subjects covered are mostly the same as the FE-1s so it will give you a good head start.


----------

