The income of lawyers is enviable. According to the statistics of Beijing Lawyers Association, the income of Beijing lawyers exceeded 5 billion yuan last year, and the business income of Beijing law firms and branches of foreign law firms in Beijing has accounted for more than one third of the country. Among them, the business income of Beijing law firm and other provincial law firms in Beijing is nearly 4.2 billion yuan, and the tax paid is 454 million yuan. The business income of Beijing Representative Office of foreign and Hong Kong law firms is 8 1 100 million yuan. As soon as the news came out, the media rushed to report it. You know, there were only more than 8,000 lawyers in Beijing last year, and more than 8,000 earned 5 billion yuan. What is the per capita income? Far more than the income of white-collar workers, lawyers have moved towards the golden collar class and become a desirable high-income profession. But lawyers don't think so. They say this is just a superficial phenomenon, and there are many lawyers who don't have enough to eat. In the investigation, the reporter found that there are also lawyers in developed coastal cities such as Shenzhen, Shanghai and Guangzhou with higher overall income. Last year, the total income of 3 100 lawyers in Shenzhen was10.60 billion yuan, the tax payment reached 98 million yuan, and the per capita income was close to 350,000 yuan. Lu, president of the Shanghai Lawyers Association, said: "There are currently more than 7,000 lawyers and 650 law firms in Shanghai. Last year, the business income was 2.4 billion, which was far from Beijing and worse than that of Hong Kong lawyers. Hong Kong, which also has more than 7,000 lawyers, has an annual business income of about 20 billion, which is ten times that of Shanghai lawyers. If Shanghai wants to build an international metropolis, there is still a big gap in the legal service industry. " In contrast, the income of lawyers in the western region is much lower. The total income of 2800 lawyers in Shaanxi province last year was 90 million yuan, which was not as high as that of some law firms in Beijing. The president of the Lawyers Association in remote areas is even more worried that the publicity of Beijing lawyers' income will cause more outstanding local lawyers to lose. The expenses of lawyers are staggering. Lawyer Huang Jinli, director of Beijing Zhonghai Law Firm, said that lawyers are a high-cost profession, and the actual income is not simple after-tax income, and there are a lot of expenses unknown to outsiders. So, what is the net income of lawyers in their pockets? Gold said: "50% to 60% of all costs including taxes should be deducted. According to my personal income and expenditure in recent years, the actual after-tax income of lawyers is only 30%-40% of the turnover. " What are the lawyer's fees? In the investigation, the reporter found that many lawyers are unwilling to list their business expenses in detail and are unwilling to disclose their income. Because hidden costs and intermediary costs account for a large part. Hidden expenditure includes all kinds of activities, that is, the cost of running relationships. We need to communicate with relevant departments when handling cases, and we should also maintain relations when not handling cases. These are all expenses. The cost of non-litigation cases is sometimes higher, and it is possible to take the next job after communicating with many directors of the company's board of directors. Secondly, the agency fee, lawyers do not get the source of the case directly from the parties, but through the introduction of friends, classmates and relatives. This requires an agency fee. How much is the agency fee? This is translucent, generally not less than 20%, up to 80%. If you get the source of the case from a law firm or partner, the lawyer's commission is only 20% to 30%, and most of the income comes from the law firm or partner. How much money a lawyer can earn by taking a case from a court or relevant judicial organ may only be known to him. The comprehensive tax rate required by the law firm is 12.5%. Because the tax is lower than that of enterprises, some funds may not be generated by lawyers, but for other reasons, the running water formed by funds entering and leaving the accounts of law firms is also recorded in the lawyer's business income. The tax of partner lawyers is generally included in the law firm, and ordinary lawyers have to pay personal income tax in addition to the normal handling expenses. For partner lawyers, the office space of the law firm may be the biggest expense. Sun Zhiyong, a partner lawyer of Beijing Juntai Bohua Law Firm, said: "According to the general standard of 4 yuan/square meter per day, renting a 500-square-meter office building will cost 730,000 yuan a year. This is just renting an ordinary office building, and the location is much more expensive. Generally, the rent for larger office buildings is several million. There are nearly 1,000 law firms in Beijing, with turnover of tens of millions not exceeding 100. If the business income is not high, the partner lawyers will face the situation that they can't make money and can't afford the rent. " Other expenses of lawyers include annual inspection fees, membership fees, publicity fees and various insurance premiums. If all the above expenses are added up, for a lawyer with an annual income of 654.38+10,000 yuan, what can really be put into his pocket is about 40,000 yuan. There is inequality between the rich and the poor in the lawyer industry. The income of lawyers varies greatly in different parts of China. A lawyer's income has a lot to do with his practice place. The income of lawyers in the eastern and western regions is different. The main business of lawyers also affects their income. Lawyers in foreign-related, real estate, finance and securities industries earn much more than lawyers engaged in labor and civil affairs. The length of time and qualifications of lawyers are directly proportional to the income of lawyers, and the income of new lawyers and old lawyers varies greatly due to the number of cases. Wang, director of Beijing Wang Law Firm, said: "At present, the competition among lawyers in Beijing is very fierce, and the livelihood of the worst lawyers is in question. There are not a few lawyers with an annual salary of 30,000 to 50,000. The annual salary of 654.38+10,000 is relatively normal, and only a few are millions. The income of partners is relatively high, especially for firms with good returns. " However, according to the reporter's understanding, some trainee lawyers who just entered the business are zero cases and can't get an annual salary of 30,000. Crowding buses to handle cases is a common phenomenon. Xu Jian, former president of Shenzhen Lawyers Association, said that there are two phenomena in Shenzhen: 20% higher and 20% lower: First, 20% of lawyers belong to "rich lawyers", who take 80% of the total lawyer market a year, and the per capita annual income exceeds one million, of which the highest income is tens of millions a year; Another 20% of lawyers earn less than 50,000 yuan a year. In fact, the lawyer industry, like any other industry, has done well, done badly and lost money. In the eyes of ordinary people, the high income of the lawyer industry is enviable, but the high risk of the lawyer industry is often unknown. For example, the lawyer of Beijing Jiahua Law Firm was defrauded of 654.38+billion yuan due to work mistakes, and the court ruled that the firm returned 65.438+0 million yuan in lawyer fees and compensated the client for 8 million yuan. In addition, lawyers also have the risk of criminal punishment in Article 306 of the Criminal Law and the risk of administrative punishment by judicial administrative organs and lawyers' associations. Risk agency is also a lawyer's practice risk. As a new charging method, risk agency has not been clearly affirmed in law, so the income of lawyer risk agency is risky. Not long ago, in order to strengthen the tax supervision of high-income earners, State Taxation Administration of The People's Republic of China established a personal income tax information management system in the national tax system, which defined high-income industries and high-income individuals as key taxpayers, while lawyers were classified as high-income industries. However, considering the overall development status of lawyers and the appeals of relevant departments and industry associations, the lawyer tax will not be adjusted for the time being. It can also be seen that the income of lawyers is not as high as people think.