On 29 November 2016, WLA ACT, in conjunction with the ACT Young Lawyers Committee, held its annual ‘Junior Lawyers Pay and Conditions Survey Launch’.
Each year, WLA ACT, in collaboration with the Act Young Lawyers Committee, runs a survey targeted at early-career lawyers in the ACT to collect data about pay and conditions.
The Survey aims to collate information no only about the income of early-career lawyers, but also asks participants to provide their thoughts on what influences pay increases, whether they felt comfortable asking their employer for flexible working arrangements and their overall satisfaction of the legal profession.
This year we received 126 responses. The Survey was open to all early-career lawyers in the ACT jurisdiction, including lawyers working in the government sector lawyers. As with previous years, the Survey was conducted on an anonymous basis so as to encourage honest and forthright feedback.
Our Findings Report, analysing and presenting the results from the Survey, was released at our launch event on 29 November 2016. We were delighted to have Katrina Musgrove, Barrister at Blackburn Chambers, as our guest speaker. Katrina provided useful advice for early-career lawyers, including:
- When negotiating pay and conditions, you should advocate for yourself. Gather the evidence and prepare your submissions.
- Ask yourself, ‘what is your dream job? Where do you want to be?’ Have a plan and a goal.
- Seek out mentors – are there those in the profession that you admire?
- Learn from your experiences, especially the painful ones.
- Be confident (‘get some swagger!’).
- Finally, have fun.
We would like to extend a special thank you to Minter Ellison who kindly sponsored this event.
Please click HERE to read the full Findings Report.