Law Schools

Historic Salary Highs For Recent Law School Graduates

But will all this cash be able to survive COVID?

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[S]tarting salaries have continued to rise. The mean salary for the Class of 2019 rose 2.4% from the previous year, to $100,540, an historic high, eclipsing for the third year in a row the pre-recession high mean salary of $93,000 measured for the Class of 2009. The median salary for the Class of 2019 also rose to an historic high, to $72,500, finally eclipsing the pre-recession high of $72,000 measured for the Class of 2009. Also, for the third year in a row, the mean law firm salary eclipsed the pre-recession high measured in 2009, rising 2.6% to $127,180, another historic high, reflecting the prevalence of the new modal starting salary of $190,000 for many offices of the largest law firms. The median law firm salary rose by 4.2%, to $125,000, but is still shy of the median law firm starting salary of $130,000 measured for the Class of 2009, reflecting the fact that despite a rise in law firm starting salaries since then, there are still fewer jobs at the highest paying firms than there were before the recession.

— James Leipold, executive director of the National Association for Law Placement (NALP), commenting on the historic salary data for the law school class of 2019. Will these salary highs remain for the class of 2020 and beyond? Unfortunately, as Leipold goes on to note, COVID-19 is “likely to change the legal sector … in ways that are hard to foresee or predict with any accuracy.”

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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