" Elite Lawyer " Stills
Recently, the popular urban legal drama "Elite Lawyer" made many viewers envious of the lawyer profession, thinking that they have a good working environment, high income, and quality of life, and their personalities are particularly "high-end". So, in real life, is the profession of lawyer really like what is expressed in TV series?
In fact, some of the plots and lines of this drama have really aroused a lot of "complaints" by real lawyers. The reporter interviewed some lawyers in Hangzhou on this and asked them to restore the true status of the lawyer's profession.
Many lawyers in the play who changed their careers due to low income in the first three years of their careers were all dressed brightly, had extraordinary taste, and had a good income. "Money" is probably what most people envy. So, what about reality?
On December 30, 2019, 23-year-old intern lawyer Wen Ze received a salary deposit message: 3,450 yuan. He said that deducting 1,800 yuan of rent, his monthly disposable income is only a little over one thousand, which is "too difficult." On such days, he had to persist for more than 100 days - because after one year of training and assessment by the law firm, he could only practice independently with a license, obtain his own case source, and have the hope of increasing his income.
Zhao Ninglu, full-time lawyer at Zhejiang Handing Law Firm, introduced that when she first became an intern lawyer in 2013, she only earned several thousand yuan a month. Zhou Jianping, director and partner of Zhejiang Liulu Law Firm, said that for young lawyers, they were only apprentices and assistants at first, and had no source of their own case, so their income was not higher than that of other industries, especially in the first few years of their careers. "In the first three years of practice, the proportion of career changes was very high."
Therefore, in order to support young lawyers, on May 14, 2019, the Zhejiang Lawyers Association also issued relevant regulations requiring that for young lawyers under 35 years of practice, the salary paid by law firms shall not be lower than 1.5 times the local minimum wage standard.
However, after surviving the initial hard days and having their own source of cases, the income level of lawyers will also increase significantly. Industry insiders revealed that lawyers have annual income of hundreds of thousands or even millions of yuan, but all of this requires time accumulation and professional skills.
consultation fee of 100,000 per hour? Completely out of reality
In "Elite Lawyer", lawyer Luo Bin, played by Jin Dong , said: "As a senior lawyer, my one-hour fee is between 6,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan." Is the lawyer's consultation fee really so high?
Zhao Ninglu said that her team provides legal counseling services to many companies, with a yearly charge of about 100,000 to 300,000 yuan, and it is often served 24 hours a day, and it is common to receive calls at three or four in the morning. It is impossible to convert it into hourly income.
Zhou Jianping said that in the past 20 years of practice, the highest consultation fee he has received is 6,000 yuan/hour, but this is rare, "the charging standards in TV series are completely out of reality."
Industry insiders introduced that according to relevant regulations, in our province, except for criminal cases, labor dispute cases, safety accidents, environmental pollution and other cases, all legal service charges are liberalized and market regulation is implemented. Therefore, in theory, the lawyer's consulting service fee is possible no matter how high it is. But in reality, if it is a timekeeping business, the consultation fees for most lawyers range from a few hundred yuan to one or two thousand yuan per hour, and the consultation fees for senior lawyers are also thousands of yuan per hour, but I have hardly heard of tens of thousands of yuan, let alone 100,000 yuan per hour.
Win or loses a lawsuit is not the key. The agency fee is charged according to the contract. There is a line in the TV series: "The biggest advantage of our lawyer profession is that no matter the winning or losing a lawsuit, the lawyer fee will be charged as much as possible. Sometimes, if you lose a lawsuit, you will earn more than you win." Luo Bin, the "Ace Lawyer" played by Jin Dong, is unwilling to cooperate with others because he has never lost a lawsuit. In reality, have there really been lawyers who lost the lawsuit? What does winning or losing a lawsuit have to do with fees?
Zhou Jianping said that any lawsuit or arbitration has the risk of losing or partially losing the case. The final result is not only related to the work of the lawyer, but also to many factors such as case facts and evidence acceptance.Therefore, lawyers who are absolutely not inferior to lawsuits should not exist in reality.
An industry insider introduced that the value of a lawyer lies in the facts and legal framework of the case, and strive for the most favorable result for the client as much as possible. Therefore, in many cases, "loss" and "win" are not so clear, and there will be no lawyers pursuing "not losing a lawsuit" in the absolute sense. As for the case agency fee, the lawyer will sign an agency contract with the parties based on the complexity of the case and make an agreement on the relevant situation. Generally speaking, the higher the subject amount of the case, the higher the agency fee. "Lawyers rely on providing professional services to obtain corresponding returns. Therefore, no matter whether the lawsuit is winning or losing, they will charge according to the contract agreement." Hou Zhi, senior partner of Zhejiang Jindao Law Firm, said that the lawyer's profession seems glamorous, but in fact it is difficult and annoying to do. "A case is a mountain, a problem is a river. It is not only time-consuming but also brain-burning, and the profit is not that easy."
