Earnings at the Bar: great expectations?

Ah, it's a barrister's life for me: the wigs, the pink ribbon, the chambers tea, the smart suits, the fine wines, the freedom of self-employment, short working days and long, expensive holidays. It is amazing how many students think of a career at the Bar in stereotypical and unrealistic terms like these, which don't reflect the nitty-gritty of what life for barristers is really like. While you may still find the odd fat cat here and there, these days the cream's gone sour and most of us are more like alley cats than pampered pussies.

This brings me to the question that everyone wants to know the answer to, but no one dares ask: how much money will I earn? Every aspiring barrister should give this serious consideration. Most of you will start your careers heavily in debt, repaying university tuition fees, BPTC fees and other costs. According to the latest Bar Barometer, around 75% of all pupils had debts, with over 50% bearing debts in excess of £10,000 and more than 30% with debts greater than £20,000. These are massive burdens and you will need to plan a strategy to make sure that they can be repaid.

Fortunately, every pupil benefits from the minimum pupillage award of £12,000, although £1,000 a month will not stretch very far if you're living and working in Central London. For the more fortunate, many chambers offer pupillage awards. These range from between £15,000 to £24,000 in criminal chambers (often including guaranteed earnings) to between £50,000 to £60,000 at the most prestigious commercial sets (with any earnings usually in addition).

This economic divergence between commercial and criminal practice continues after pupilllage. Life for criminal practitioners is tough and getting tougher. For publicly-funded practitioners in other areas (such as family, which has seen 10% cuts across the board), life is no easier.

Fees paid to criminal practitioners have remained static since the mid-1990s. Criminal defence fees were subject to a 13.5% cut in 2010 and there were further substantial reductions in 2011. Criminal prosecution fees were cut in 2012. Continuing pressure on public finances means that we must be vigilant against even further cuts and the irreparable damage which they may cause to effective access to justice.

Whole areas of practice will shortly cease to be eligible for legal aid as a result of the Legal Aid, Punishment and Sentencing of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO). This will have a devastating effect on vulnerable people who will have to conduct their own litigation - adversely disadvantaging those most in need. For the Bar, many barristers will have to develop new practice areas and there will be much less work in civil and family legal aid for young barristers.

To give some guidance on likely earnings in your first few years in practice, the Young Barristers' Committee (YBC) was asked to take part in a short, informal and wholly unscientific survey on remuneration.  Below are the results.

Many young barristers at the criminal Bar earn less than £20,000 in the first few years post-pupillage. This is pre-tax and pre-expenses. Expenses vary from chambers to chambers, but are usually around 20% of earnings. Allowing for travel and other overheads the total deductions will, more realistically, reach between 25%-30%.

Magistrates' Court defence work - the typical fare for rookie criminal barristers - pays around £50 to £100 a day. Of course, you'll have to pay for your own travel and you can expect to wait quite some time before the cheque arrives. And it doesn't necessarily get any better in the Crown Court: as a result of changes introduced by LASPO, one recent case ended with each advocate being paid £39.20 gross. Others might see their earnings reach up to £30,000pa (again subject to deductions) and a lucky few may see their earnings increase more substantially. However, the vast majority do not.

As one respondent commented: "If you think criminal barristers today can pay for their children to be privately educated, can afford second homes and can take expensive foreign holidays every year, then think again."

In comparison, the salaries paid by the CPS and government can seem very attractive. A crown prosecutor in London earns between £29,296 and £33,531 - and there are no expenses to be deducted. The treasury solicitor pays employed barristers between £35,000 to £47,000 during their first three years in practice, and if you're employed you will get other benefits which self-employed barristers do not get; such as pensions, sick pay and holiday pay.

Those with family or mixed common law practices are likely to receive incomes around twice those of their colleagues at the criminal Bar. One family set's suggested earnings ranged from £60,000 in the first year to £120,000 after seven years, gross per annum. A wider survey of family barristers, conducted by King's College, London in 2008, found that the median comparable salary of barristers practising family law was approximately £66,000 a year. In 2012 family legal aid fees were cut by 10%, so those average figures may now be optimistic.

An even higher range of potential income is possible at the commercial Bar, with initial earnings approaching six figures and the most successful achieving over £250,000 after seven years.

The differences are stark, but all students considering a career at the Bar should be aware of them and why they exist. Life for many barristers is far from the rosy image of popular perception and it is important that you make the right decision for your future career, based on knowing what it's really like. But remember, there are huge attractions to a career at the Bar. If you truly love this profession and are committed to its principles, then being a barrister is never about how much money you can earn or how much holiday you can take; it's about being a persuasive advocate, demonstrating personal integrity, acting in the public interest and being committed to the rule of law and justice for all. These are the real earnings of the Bar.

David Nicholls is the chairman of the YBC until the end of 2012 and the vice-president of the European Young Bar Association for 2012-13. He is a commercial chancery practitioner at 11 Stone Buildings in Lincoln's Inn.