What is considered a ‘competitive’ salary these days?

I think it very much depends on what they are doing and how effective they are. When I went to court I had my solicitor get me to court and then she recommended a barrister. He was probably mid to late 20s, self employed and cost me £900 per day to attend court for about an hour. I can't imagine that's a particularly astronomical fee as my case was very clearly in my favour to begin with, but he tore the other side to pieces. The other side was probably the most famous nationwide firm of solicitors. They sent two young women. There was talk of the case taking more than one hearing to get the facts in order and then decide on the outcome but he destroyed their case so quickly that the judge found in my favour there and then and ordered the other side to propose an offer so that we could begin negotiations on the settlement. I wish I'd got their faces on video as they sheepishly admitted to the judge that they had never considered losing the case so needed an adjournment in order to discuss options with their client. They went from smug wankers to begging for half an hour out of the courtroom in 2 seconds flat. I'd pay my barrister double if I ever found myself in a similar situation.