A&O’s hard facts of life

"Such ventures allow firms to access a well-educated labour pool in regions in which they will be standout employers"

Not if the salaries offered by Herbert Smith are anything to go by.

IHateBPP -07 Feb 2011 | 12:58

I guess that depends on what the going rate for Northern Ireland is and what the living costs are, which I confess I'm not that up on. What would be a decent rate?

Alex Novarese -07 Feb 2011 | 13:59

I have heard figures around £9 per hour mentioned in relation to Herbert Smith document review lawyers. If true, it seems an extremely hard bargain and I doubt that any of these employees will stay for too long.

LimeStreet -08 Feb 2011 | 12:21

So what would that be equivalent to in London living costs? Getting paid £15 an hour, I suppose. £18 maybe.

Alex Novarese -08 Feb 2011 | 13:35

The banks that have outsourced/offshored/onshored/whatever to NI pay their legal staff a minimum of eighteen thousand per annum.

General NI legal sector wages differ dramatically with a huge number of trainees and NQs being unpaid. Herbert Smith's average offering brings them into line with a conveyancing paralegal in one of the NI sausage factories.

IHateBPP -08 Feb 2011 | 16:36

Since we're talking about it, let's put a number on it. Do any readers with knowledge of the Belfast market have a view on what A&O and Herbert Smith should realistically be paying for paralegals or PSLs?

Alex Novarese -09 Feb 2011 | 10:12

A&O and Herbert Smith are aware of the high level of law graduates and that many qualified solicitors, if they're working at all, are filling the paralegal roles. The salaries are generally the national minimum wage, however, one of the contributing factors for these being so poorly paid is that the roles are based in residential conveyancing sausage factories.

Herbert Smith and A&O should be offering a realistic salary commensurate with the value of the role and the work being handled. A minimum of eighteen thousand per annum would be reasonable and might encourage people to stay for longer rather than always have one eye on the exit.

It'll also be interesting to see if any training contracts are offered at the new sausage factories. Many of the paralegals will have completed the LPC and the banks are able to offer some training contracts each year.

IHateBPP -09 Feb 2011 | 12:27

The national minimum wage is currently £5.93 an hour for workers aged 21 or over. Are City law firms paying paralegals these kind of rates? I hadn't heard that but I'd be very interested to know.

Alex Novarese -09 Feb 2011 | 12:41

My comment was about NI's salaries, although Herbert Smith seems to be offering in the region of the minimum wage for the new paralegal roles and I would imagine A&O will too.

IHateBPP -09 Feb 2011 | 13:36

Overheads

The most important factor people seem to miss is that it's not just about how much you pay the paralegals. You also have to take into account overheads involved with accommodating them within your office premises, whether its Belfast or London. And if you take that into account, LPO (offshoring to the Phillipines/India) is the cheapest option by far. Have any of the LPOs set up units in Belfast?

Roger -09 Feb 2011 | 17:50

Disrespect / Ill-informed

Might I just say how objectionable I find IhateBPPs persistent whittering about "sausage factories". Quite apart from the fact that these firms are presumably already producing "sausages" to have such a need, it is hugely disrespectful to Northern Ireland. What you have is a quality labour-pool being seriously underutilised (or not utilised at all), hopefully establishing a symbiotic relationship with robust, sustainable private sector employers at a time when public sector funding is drying up. The work may not be what an A&O/Herbies trainee or associate wants, but in the context of the local market this is still good quality, interesting work and perhaps a route to bigger and better things.

And as for the salaries, what sort of commercially aware organisation wants to pay substantially over the going rate? My guess is that paralegal salaries will start around £14-15k - which might make IhateBPP angry, but it's a measure of how London has started to price itself out of the market rather than a sign of exploitation! Has anyone considered the detrimental effect of wage inflation on local firms if big organisations start parachuting in and offering inflated wages out of some sense of altruism?

Ulsterman in London -10 Feb 2011 | 10:52

No one doubts that there are cheaper places to operate from than Belfast. But being cheaper isn't the primary thing large City firms are selling. Mainly, they are selling quality and the expectation that they will get it right. On that basis, I doubt that the cheapest options is necessarily going to be the right option.

Alex -10 Feb 2011 | 11:13

What about business services salaries?

Very little mention of business services salaries - doc production, proofreaders, creative services. Many will be on well over £30k, as they are highly skilled in what they do. Probably very little hope of getting anywhere near that in Belfast - in fact, are there even comparative roles there on which to benchmark them?

Fireboi -01 Mar 2011 | 11:21

Joke

Herbert Smith Belfast recently advertised for a Solicitor/Paralegal + 3 years PQE in an international firm, with advanced legal Spanish skills. Salary - £15k.
Its simply insulting to offer such paltry wages to well qualified staff and does absolutely nothing to motivate people. Even at the bottom line surely offering such incredibly low wages will merely result in high staff turnover and extremely low morale.

Tbop -17 Oct 2011 | 08:32