It pays to read the Gazette. Back in 2021, our ever-popular columnist Mother in Law came up with a rough guide to one of the things they don’t teach you about at law school – salaries. In it, she endorsed the old theory that you should be billing three or more times your salary. According to this formula, for high street practices at least, the first third is your salary, the second third is your administrative costs and the third is profit. And the formula works the other way around, too: you should be paid one third of what you bill. 

Obiter heard this week from a family practitioner somewhere in England who took this to heart. ‘It was the push I needed to ask for a pay rise,’ she said. ‘I knew I was working hard and I knew I was meeting my fees targets so, armed with MIL’s maths and my workings out, I quaffed a cup of concrete and marched, well, nervously tottered into my manager’s office for a well-needed discussion with positive outcomes.’

We didn’t like to ask for precise numbers, but we understand the uplift was a very handy 10%. Mother knows best.

Topics