De Minimis
  • Home
  • ABOUT US
  • Podcast
  • Your Learned Friend
  • Anonymous Feedback
  • Art
  • Get published!
  • Constitution
  • Archive
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2017 >
      • Semester 2 (Volume 12) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (election issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
    • 2016 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 9) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 10) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (Election Issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
        • Issue 13 (test)
    • 2015 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 7) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
      • Semester 2 (Volume 8) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
    • 2014 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 5) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
      • Semester 2 (Volume 6) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 12
    • 2013 >
      • Issue 1
      • Issue 2
      • Issue 3
      • Issue 4
      • Issue 5
      • Issue 6
    • 2012 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 1) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 2) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12

Pruning the Root of All Evil

4/4/2017

 
NICK PARRY-JONES

Vol 11, Issue 6

​Recently a friend of mine, when discussing his recent non law grad job salary lackadaisically told me, “no one gets into law for the money.” This was news to me, as my own journey to MLS began when I spoke with the head of my Arts discipline school about job prospects. It was not a happy conversation, so I decided to aim for the top. By “top” I meant both intellectually and fiscally. I was, and still am, about getting paid.
Law is still one of, if not the, highest paid profession on average. This is because of a number of factors, one being that we have very stringent definitions on what a profession is. A top tier lawyer here may earn close to 2 million a year. By contrast, a neurosurgeon makes around 600k. However, the stock trader makes near one million at work and can double it leveraging his professional expertise to a private portfolio, which goes beyond what we understand as a profession.

And yet, comparing Melbourne Law School to its academic peers in the United States and the UK, it would seem we as students, get a raw deal. A top tier lawyer in the US makes 160k as a grad, their equivalent to clerkships pay near 30 thousand for the Summer so why stay here? Ask partners at Aussie firms and they'll tell you the Yanks work you to the bone.

But by that logic, why work in law at all? These same partners have urged me not to do law as it took their lives. Yet they live in ornate houses and never think about money. They are tired, but financially secure. I'm forced to ask myself: don't I want that too?

In actuality, lawyers are three times more depressed than the general population. I don't need to tell you that the work life balance is fucked. A 2008-2009 Gallup survey of over 400,000 Americans found that a salary of $75,000 a year was where happiness peaked, no extra dollars added to happiness. Transferring this to an Australian context and adjusting for inflation and purchasing power, I calculate this to be about $110,000 in AUD or Dollarydoos. All those zeroes, it looks like a fairly large number, certainly out of reach of lot of people, but not necessarily rare in the economy. There are lots of places that will pay an adequately skilled person this amount of money, including plenty of non corporate law jobs and certainly plenty of smaller firms. With a good deal of work, you can make that at the ATO, which recently rallied against the notion of having to work past 4:51PM. Your lecturer would be earning near that amount, senior lectures certainly do in Undergrad.

I now hear calls of mortgages, rising childcare costs and an all ords that have stagnated over the last few years. Students, barely into the working world are already sweating at the idea that their parents had a house at this age. I can empathise with this view, I certainly feel that myself. But let me offer a counter argument: what good is a house if you spend no time in it? Why send your child to private schools when literature suggests they don't add much value. Going by Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs you can afford food, shelter, a social life and maybe even tuck something away for self actualisation once you hit that $110,000 dollar mark.

Certainly, you can't expect to get there straight away. Short of being drafted into the NBA, I won't start on six figures. But once you achieve and surpass that pay packet, science suggests you won't necessarily feel happier. There are other avenues to happiness, respect in one's community, or to success. Feel free to pick your poison.

That's not to say corporate law is all bad. If you like finance, if you're interested in  being an essential link in the economy, then it may be for you. The stringent entry requirements based largely on grades weighted by institution also lead to a particular type of person getting to those positions. Disregarding correlations of upbringing, politics, race or gender, one can be assured this person in smart. I for one, like to be around smart people. The point of this article isn't to dissuade you from the corporate grind, but rather to reassure all students not to sweat the small stuff, including, but not limited to, the zeroes in your bank account.

Nick Parry-Jones is a third-year JD student


More articles by this author
  • Go8 Speaks; Calls Kettle Black
  • In Remembering Harrambe You Invoke the Spectre of Racism
  • The Art of Computer Programming Without Really Trying

The rest of this issue
  • Should Law Students Care About UMSU
  • Youth Crime: The Children of Our Future
  • Equity Uncle - Typed Exams​
  • (Not So) Fresh Off the Boat
Picture

Comments are closed.
    Picture

    Archives

    October 2022
    September 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • Home
  • ABOUT US
  • Podcast
  • Your Learned Friend
  • Anonymous Feedback
  • Art
  • Get published!
  • Constitution
  • Archive
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2017 >
      • Semester 2 (Volume 12) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (election issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
    • 2016 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 9) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 10) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8 (Election Issue)
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
        • Issue 13 (test)
    • 2015 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 7) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
      • Semester 2 (Volume 8) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
    • 2014 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 5) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
      • Semester 2 (Volume 6) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 12
    • 2013 >
      • Issue 1
      • Issue 2
      • Issue 3
      • Issue 4
      • Issue 5
      • Issue 6
    • 2012 >
      • Semester 1 (Volume 1) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12
      • Semester 2 (Volume 2) >
        • Issue 1
        • Issue 2
        • Issue 3
        • Issue 4
        • Issue 5
        • Issue 6
        • Issue 7
        • Issue 8
        • Issue 9
        • Issue 10
        • Issue 11
        • Issue 12