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They’re the very very highest tier and in the most lucrative corner of commercial law, the average new commercial barrister makes nothing close to that, and for those in crime, chancery, family they make much less still, often even at the height of their career. It reminds me of that funny story going round a few weeks ago about Oxbridge grads laughing Goldman Sachs out the door because they were getting offers at quant firms for £500k or whatever out of the gate, but of course it wasn’t “Oxford grads”, it was a tiny handful of senior researcher PhDs at the tiny quant finance institute moving into industry after a decade plus of academia, a handful a year of them. The base graduate salary in front office in the City is probably still like £50k, and at the Bar it’s similar too. Even so, a mid career highest tier commercial barrister (even at OEC) is making perhaps a million, 1.5 a year; even a top commercial KC tops out at 2.5/3 unless he’s uniquely lucky or mercenary, the cap at top American law firms for a partner is much higher.
But yes, while we can quibble about exact comp it’s extremely good per hour and better than almost anything in finance on an hourly basis unless you’re extremely good, senior or lucky.
Maybe, I tend to think it’s all connections really, although of course they say otherwise. It’s a cartel and they do very well for themselves, but it’s important to say that they are an extractive profession of the kind that was largely abolished with the end of the guild system (again, notable exceptions like the AMA notwithstanding). If I had been born in Britain I would probably try to have become a barrister, it seems to be what all the relatively smart people with good verbal ability from reasonable backgrounds do. I’d probably do something a little more exciting, like crime or divorce, though. Still, one can’t complain too much.
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