Infographic Answers: How Much Do Lawyers Make By Practice Area?

An illustrated guide to where you screwed up.

onJuly 7, 2016 at 11:00 AMOctober 23, 2016 at 6:58 PM

Financial question money We’ve had a lot of fun as Biglaw firms fell all over themselves — or not — to raise associate salaries to a $180K-$315K (or $325K) scale. It’s been several years coming and, given how many markets have matched, is probably still shortchanging the market.

But here’s where we focus on the sobering fact that only a handful of lawyers practice in Biglaw (or the higher-end boutiques). And of the few who get a Biglaw gig, most will wash out of that life before they see $315K. So what’s a law degree worth, on average, based on the practice you choose to hone?

PracticePanther put together this infographic, based on data compiled by the American Bar Association, along with Glassdoor, Salary.com, LawyerEdu, and NALP, showing attorney salaries by practice area. Here’s a preview of the image… if you want to see the whole thing, check it out here.

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Practice Area

There’s no harsher reality check on the bimodal salary distribution than knowing we live in a world of PPPs over a million and entry-level associates making $180K and seeing the average for most who practice remains below $100K.