The stereotype for choosing a good career with a high income is ingrained in us all: doctor, engineer, lawyer.
But is that still true in modern times? Do criminal lawyers really earn a high salary per year? Is becoming a lawyer still a viable conventional option to ensure a secure financial future in Australia??
While it’s not as simple as it might have been in the past, lawyers are still important people who serve crucial purposes in society, which means their experience and highly-specialised skills are still in demand.
What Does a Criminal Lawyer Do?
Criminal lawyers are a specific category of lawyers who take on cases where a crime has been allegedly committed.
Defence lawyers work to try to prove the accused person innocent. Prosecution lawyers try to prove the accused person is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the eyes of the law.
As you can imagine, crimes happen quite often, whether intentional or not. So, the services of criminal lawyers are in demand constantly. The Australian legal system requires all manner of lawyers, solicitors, attorneys, and barristers to administer justice every day.
Criminal lawyers work to defend innocent people against undue punishment and work to ensure that people who are found guilty receive fair sentencing.
In a prosecution role, criminal lawyers defend the public as a whole and represent the Director of Public Prosecutions. Their goal is to put forth evidence that a person has wronged the community and needs to be brought to justice.
There are intricacies in every part of the criminal lawyer’s job, from gathering evidence to interviewing witnesses and the defendant, to carefully examining the law and ensuring a fair and just trial.
How Much Do Criminal Lawyers Typically Make?
Since criminal lawyers need a lot of education, mentoring, certification, and experience in order to become bona fide practitioners of law in Australia, plus the demanding and specialised nature of law, criminal lawyers earn a healthy income and make a decent salary.
Entry-level criminal defence lawyer positions have a typical salary of about $92,000 AUD per year, with the average pay being about $62,000 per year.
Prosecution lawyers earn about $82,000 in salary per year on average.
There is a lot of room for growth in both the criminal defence and prosecution lawyer fields as well, as lawyers with more experience get raises and are able to charge more per hour for consultation services.
According to Payscale.com, the median annual salary for criminal lawyers in these Australian cities are as follows:
- Brisbane: $78,000
- Melbourne: $71,000
- Sydney: $66,000
- Perth: $65,000
- Canberra: $62,000
- Darwin: $100,000
- Adelaide: $70,500
- Hobart: $70,500
How Much Does It Cost to Become a Criminal Lawyer?
Becoming a qualified criminal lawyer takes 6 to 8 years to complete all the required degrees, training, certifications, and mentorships.
A basic breakdown of expenses and timelines to become a lawyer in Australia looks like this:
- EITHER: 4-year Bachelor of Law (LLB) in Criminal Law Degree or 3-year Juris Doctor (JD) postgraduate degree.
- 4-year LLB
- $15,000 - $33,000 per year for tuition ($60,000 - $132,000 total)
- $8,000 - $16,000 per year for living expenses (depending on housing and lifestyle) ($32,000 - $64,000 total)
- $1,000 - $3,000 per year for additional university charges (fees, etc) ($4,000 - $12,000 total)
- $96,000 - $208,000 in total
- 3-year JD
- $32,000 - $42,000 per year for tuition ($96,000 - $126,000 total)
- $8,000 - $16,000 per year for living expenses (depending on housing and lifestyle) ($24,000 - $48,000 total)
- $1,000 - $3,000 per year for additional university charges (fees, etc) ($3,000 - $9,000 total)
- $123,000 - $183,000 in total
- 4-year LLB
- EITHER: Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice (GDLP), a ‘practical legal training’ (PLT) programme, a 'supervised legal training' (SLT) programme, or an 'articles of clerkship' programme.
- GDLP (3 to 8 months)
- $10,000 - $12,000 in total
- PLT (5 to 8 months)
- $10,000 - $12,000 in total
- SLT (1-2 years depending on state or territory)
- $0 - $100 application fee
- Clerkship (4 - 15 months)
- $0
- GDLP (3 to 8 months)
- Approval from the Admissions Authority
- $1,000 - $1,500 per year (includes additional fees)
- Supervised Legal Practice (SLP) (1 - 2 years depending on state or territory)
- $0
If you want to take your criminal law career even further, you’ll need to spend more time getting more education. Then, you can become a solicitor, barrister, counsel member, judge, or magistrate.
Criminal lawyers gain experience from being on the job with other qualified lawyers, working on criminal cases, and getting used to the legal processes.
After you complete your SLP training, you can practice as a full lawyer in Australia! You can join with a firm, a corporate firm, a boutique firm, or start your own solo consultation services and meet with clients directly.
From Undergraduate school to completing SLP, the total cost of schooling and training is about $110,000 - $220,000 depending on your educational route to becoming a criminal lawyer. Then, the cost of approval from the Admissions Authority each year to renew your license for practising law.
Enrolling in law school is definitely a big decision with financial repercussions, so be sure you really want to invest this time and money into a career as a criminal lawyer!
With financial responsibility, the typical salary of a lawyer is healthy enough to support you. Once you become a full lawyer, you will be able to earn enough to pay your loans down effectively.
Scholarships and Grants
Many universities in Australia offer scholarships and grant programmes to law students based on academic and/or extra-curricular performance, either in secondary school or in the university itself.
You can also apply for a HELP loan for tuition if needed.
There are also international and universal scholarships and grants you can find that you may be eligible to apply for. If you are interested in becoming a lawyer, it would serve you well to look for financial aid opportunities because law school is quite expensive.
Job Satisfaction Among Criminal Lawyers
As you may have guessed, being a lawyer is demanding.
Long hours, complicated information, devising litigation strategies, reviewing policies, interpreting the law and using past case studies as references… being a lawyer can all be very hard and relentless work.
If you’re not passionate about helping people, being part of the justice system, or otherwise dedicated to the aspects that come along with being a criminal lawyer, then you will likely feel burnt out and unhappy with this career path.
However, if you do enjoy these things, you will likely love your job as a criminal lawyer! You’ll help people defend themselves in innocence or ensure that appropriate justice is administered. You’ll investigate crime scenes, do some detective work, collaborate with investigators, interview people, piece together stories, and gather all sorts of data.
With your findings, you’ll come up with a legal plan and presentation to give to the court, including the judge and jury. You'll work with other lawyers to present your case. Each day is an opportunity for an exciting new case and legal strategy.
Career and Pay Potential for Criminal Lawyers
Australian law degrees are recognized in many places in the world, so you aren’t bounded to live and work in Australia for the rest of your life if you don’t want to! You have the option to take your degree with you to practice elsewhere. You might need to take some additional education and training to ensure you know the new local laws, but you will have an easier time getting into the law field than if you were starting from scratch. So, you can easily become a lawyer in another country!
Every position in the law industry favours seniority. The longer you are a lawyer, the more you should be getting paid due to your years of experience and dedication.
Senior criminal lawyers can earn upwards of $110,000 per year in Australia.
Some extremely successful lawyers may earn as much as $10,000 per day for consultation services. These people are generally Senior Counselors (“Silks”) and have been in their career for more than 15 years.
Are Criminal Lawyers in Demand in Australia?
Lawyers are always required for one reason or another. According to research, the demand for lawyers and other law services in Australia has grown 6% since the first half of the 2022 fiscal year. Additionally, the pay rate for lawyers has increased about 6.4% in that same time.
Also in Australia, there is currently a large population of recent grads who are having a hard time finding work in the law field since there are so many grads.
It has become a very competitive field for this reason. That is not to say that there are no jobs available, only that it is extremely difficult to find open lawyer positions and beat other candidates in a saturated market. Even though the demand for jobs has increased, the demand for remarkable skills has also increased as has the supply of graduates.
Of course, if you’re willing to pivot and work in a different area of law, you may find more opportunities to be a lawyer. Or you could always travel abroad!
No matter what, ensure you make the most of your clerkship and supervised legal practice. Networking is extremely important in this career. If you can lock down a job with the firm you are a clerk for, you’ll have a much easier time getting a permanent position!
Becoming a lawyer isn’t fast, or easy, or cheap. It takes a lot of time, dedication and hard work.
However, if you’re passionate about justice, law, and helping people, being a criminal lawyer can be a great way to fulfil your dreams and make a pretty penny at the same time.
While there are other professions that make more than lawyers do these days, you can’t deny that law still pays quite well. Remember that you can always take your criminal law degree with you to another country if you feel the call to move abroad!
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