Traineeship Offer

z6vm1dobfnca3x

Hi all,

I have received an offer for a training contract from a small sized firm in Dublin.

I already have a couple of years of experience and what I have been offered is significantly less than what I am currently earning.

I have no idea what the benchmark is for a small sized Dublin firm and there is little information available online.

Could you please advise what a common salary is? Are PPC I and PPC II normally paid for fully by the firm?

Thanks in advance.

Dunne1995

Dayton Flabby Saltshaker wrote: »

Hi all,

I have received an offer for a training contract from a small sized firm in Dublin.

I already have a couple of years of experience and what I have been offered is significantly less than what I am currently earning.

I have no idea what the benchmark is for a small sized Dublin firm and there is little information available online.

Could you please advise what a common salary is? Are PPC I and PPC II normally paid for fully by the firm?

Thanks in advance.

Hi,

I am training under a sole practitioner and earn minimum wage. I paid ppc1 fees myself.

There is a scale on the law society website that a lot of small firms use as a reference guide, just Google trainee solicitor salaries and it should come up.

Smaller firms generally dont have the money to send you off to blackhall for six months and pay you 700 a week.

Hope this helps and best of luck.

randomchild

There is no benchmark when it comes to smaller firms, they will generally pay you what they can afford to and if you dont want to take the offer their will be others who will. I worked for a grand a month post tax and had to pay my fees myself (get onto the law society's bursary for assistance if you need to), but turned down an offer a few months before that to work for free for the entire traineeship. If you like the firm, feel like you would learn from them and can afford it then go for it id say, having trained in a small firm the hands on experience you get is invaluable.

Redo91

I’m just after finishing PPC-1. There were a few complaints about the fees from those of us who are on the minimum law society wage (aka the minimum wage). This resulted in the Law Society recommended firms pay trainees the living wage. However this is only a recommended wage and not binding so it’s not really worth the paper it’s written on.

My training solicitors are aware of the new recommended wage but I can’t see them being in a hurry to give it to me. It really is a struggle for those of us on the minimum wage (I’m getting slightly more than it at €352 p/w as they have been inadvertently paying me during lunch breaks). As others have said aside from top 15 or so firms most places won’t pay your fees. It is frustrating going to Blackhall and seeing those trainees being able to live so comfortably (especially trainees from the top 5 who would be on €40k+ of an annual wage) but on the plus side at least I still have my evenings and weekends! :P

It definitely is something the Law Society need to look at though. I was earning more per hour when I was working on checkouts in Dunnes Stores a few years back so it’s crazy I’m earning less as a trainee when it’s something I’ve had to spend so long working at to reach this stage.

Mr. Incognito

There was a covenant to pay that used to be in the indentures that was taken out by the law society when the minimum wage act came in

Plenty of Firms Flout it- About 60-80 of my intake were not being paid.

You wont find much sympathy I'm afraid as a trainee and the law society are not on any hurry to assist. It leads to enourmous resentment against them that many practicioners continue to harbour for many years.

You will find its even worse for trainee barristers.

z6vm1dobfnca3x

Really second guessing even becoming a solicitor at this point TBH.

It's hurdle after hurdle with absolutely no reward.

Meanwhile friends of mine who graduated college with poor grades and have little experience are making ridiculous amounts of money in other fields.

I'm aware I'm venting here and yes, I could of course change career path etc.

But isn't it a shame that there's little incentive to pursuing a legal career in this country? I feel like it's one step forward and two steps back all the time and the deeper I get, the more f*cked up I'm realising the whole system is.