More Raises Ahead For The Legal Profession In 2017

Show me the money High off of this summer’s MoneyLaw raises, you might not think things could get better for the legal profession — at least not in terms of compensation. But there may be more good news in 2017.

According to Time, staffing company Robert Half has identified 10 jobs poised for salary bumps in 2017, and of that list, six are in or related to the legal industry:

Litigation support / e-Discovery professionals: 7.3% (junior level) to 8.9% (senior level)
Lawyers: 5.8% (senior level) to 6.9% (midlevel)
Compliance professionals: 6.4% (senior level) to 6.9% (midlevel)
First-year legal associates (large law firm): 6.2%
Contract managers: 5.4%
Compliance analysts: 5.4%

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My guess is the the “First-year legal associates (large law firm)” entry will just be the market ripple effect as firms catch up to the Cravath scale, or make other, smaller adjustments to their compensation based on that bump. But it is encouraging for others outside of Biglaw associate ranks, like ediscovery and compliance professionals, to see their sliver of the market is improving as well.

The Time article pays particular attention to the salary increase expected in compliance:

Most legal workers, for instance, can expect a salary bump in line with the national average, according to the firm’s data. But for compliance managers — a role that [senior executive director Paul] McDonald says has grown steadily since the introduction of Dodd-Frank and other financial reforms — salaries will climb 6.9%.

This is certainly good news for the industry overall.