young Aussie lawyers want the Big Citie$

The face of legal aid in Australia is sporting a grey beard these days.  The same is true in Canada, where " research suggests that those lawyers who are committed to providing legal aid services are older, with an average age of 49." ("Legal aid shortfall threatens justice," Lawyers Weekly [AU], Dec. 3, 2004)  The head of Ontario Legal Aid says:

“On one hand it is encouraging that senior lawyers are doing legal aid work, but on the other we are faced with a continuous balancing act as we try to recruit new lawyers to ensure we are able to provide services into the future.""

While legal aid and public defender offices in the United States face layoffs and bloated workloads because of budget restraints (examples), the brain drain from bush and outback to the cities in Australia has caused a crisis for organizations like Legal Aid of Queensland (which handles civil and criminal matters), which can't fill job slots outside of major cities.  [Law in the Bush, Radio National]  LAQ has responded with a Regional Solicitor Program, under which newbie lawyes can earn "competitive" salaries of $40,000, and "The program matches law graduates with a regional private law firm. Legal Aid Queensland pays the graduate’s practical legal training course fee as well as 75 per cent of their wage, while the firm pays the remaining 25 per cent."  ["Law graduates to go bush," Lawyers Weekly [AU], Nov. 26, 2004)

Lawyers Weekly [AU] notes:

One graduate who has taken part in the program, Sue Johnston, said she had no regrets about taking up a position in a small Charleville law firm over a Brisbane mega firm.

“A lot of my friends who are working in major law firms spent their first couple of months just reading and analysing files whereas on my first day I was interviewing a client,” she said.

I bet $40,000 can yield a pretty nice lifestyle in rural Australia, and the legal aid positions can offer a diverse caseload and a sense of public service impossible in a "mega firm."  Do you think that's enough for today's law graduate? (see "Money and Ethics: the Young Lawyer's Conundrum," Patrick J. Schiltz)