Biglaw, Small Law Firms

How Much Are You Getting Paid Next Year?

A new survey shows just how much lawyers are making across the country.

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It’s nice to say that you’re not in the legal game for the money, but at a certain point that’s all hokum. Even with the best of intentions, the level of student debt foisted upon young lawyers guarantees that unless you’re Little Lord Fauntleroy, Esq., you’ve got to keep one eye on what you’re getting paid just to keep your head above water.

The 2016 Salary Wars made everything just a little bit better for lawyers out there, either by driving up their salaries directly or putting the pressure on the rest of the market to cough up more cash to maintain their access to talent. That said, first-year matches didn’t always translate into full Cravath scale matches up the ladder, with senior associates getting smaller raises on a “scrunched” scale. And because law firms are generally not stupid, the firms offering these skimpier raises usually hid behind a black box compensation structure making it impossible to tell just what’s going on across the industry as a whole.

Thankfully, the good people at Special Counsel have some insights. They’ve just released their 2018 Salary Guide for Legal Professionals, the result of over 5,000 survey responses from various law firms in 38 American major cities. The responses were evenly distributed between small (“50 or fewer attorneys”), medium (“51-250 attorneys”) and large firms (“more than 251 attorneys”). I don’t know what happens if you have exactly 251 attorneys, maybe if your firm has exactly 251 attorneys you are completely off the grid! You could, say, represent the New York Times while simultaneously undermining their reporting and no one would even notice.

The legal industry infamously boasts a bimodal salary distribution curve — the fancy way of saying a lot of lawyers make a lot and a lot more make a little and there’s not too many in-between — making the mean numbers reported here are an imperfect guide. Even breaking down the numbers by size of firm can’t fully capture the phenomenon, with high-end boutiques driving up the small law numbers with salaries that often match (or exceed) Biglaw. Still, it’s a valuable estimate:

Hey, the average has clawed its way into the six-figure range — even for the staff attorneys out there. That’s probably good news if, like me, you’re concerned that law firms are going to transition to a staff attorney heavy model and pull back on the more expensive associate jobs. With clients refusing to pay for associates and technology replacing the most common junior tasks, associates aren’t the investment they once were. Especially with a glut of experienced attorneys laid off in the financial crisis floating like lost souls through the legal landscape. Hire a class of 2007 lawyer at a discount and thrill the client by charging (relative) peanuts for an attorney with that background. At least it’s not terrible money.

Check out the full report from Special Counsel to see their insights on non-attorney positions and legal technology jobs. That’s all part of the overhead, after all.

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But it’ll also make you wonder why you didn’t just become an IT Director and skip the law school debt.

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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