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"I will be surprised if she is paid more than £28K p.a. yet she is expected to gross £200K p.a. and so are her colleagues."

Yes, I've heard many similar tales, and it's yet another symptom of what used to be a profession having become a nasty, cuthroat, dodgy business.

When I qualified over 30 years ago, the rule of thumb was that one third of the fees were overhead, one third went to the fee-earner and one third was profit.

This allowed a fair return for the partners and gave a fair salary to the fee-earner. But over the years the greed of the partners has increased exponentially, meaning that they have (1) ratcheted up charging rates; (2) put pressure on fee-earners to increase their billings (which inevitably leads to fictitious time-recording and over-charging); and (3) cut wages as a proportion of fee income.

The net result is that a qualified solicitor is now earning under £30k - less than many unskilled or semi-skilled employees are being paid. But they daren't complain, as they will be told that there are plenty of other young solicitors who will quite happily take the job, so if they don't like it they can lump it.

This is nothing less than exploitation, and it disgusts me.

Many years ago I was proud to say that I was a solicitor. Nowadays I mentally wince when I tell people, as I know what they're thinking, even if they're too polite to say it. Those of us who still maintain professional standards are in a small and shrinking minority.