u/No_Court_1234

A girl I know became partner at a well know US law firm in London in 2015. I think she was 31. She has since moved to another American law firm as, I assume, an equity partner. PEP at her firm was around $4m last year.

Her husband is a managing director at a bulge bracket bank but she still out earns him by a good margin.

I know there are massive salaries in a range of other fields but I don't think they come close to the sheer number of people that are making high salaries working in corporate law; there are 1000s of trainees each year joining the industry.

I went to a middling university in 1998s, with heady dreams about working in the City. It was strange because it was around this time universities started to increase their entry requirements. If I had applied 2 years earlier, I would have gotten into a solid red brick uni with my grades: Kings were taking students with BBC in the mid 90s by 98 they wanted ABB, which I failed to get. It was the same with many other subjects at uni.

I, like many students at my uni, left without a TC, and I wasted a few years trying to find a TC, before giving up. I realise now that I was aiming too high, trying large commerial firms, but maybe I could have gotten a TC with a smaller high street firm.

I am now in my mid 40s, a pleb in a large company, doing finance / admin, which I hate. I make around £72k, with a 10% employer pension contribution.

What would I have been earning if I had given law a decent crack and ended up in a 15-30 person law firm in outter London? Assuming after 20 years, I managed to make partner?