LEGAL SALARY DATAPOINTS

[Sinoper]

ITT: share your legal salary and related information

a) what kind of legal job/firm/office do you work at
b) how long have you worked there/what year did you graduate law school
c) geographic area/market (specifically or primary/secondary/tertiary)
d) annual salary + bonus, benefits, etc

Hopefully this will help people set reasonable salary expectations for jobs, regions, and practice areas and in general provide more legal salary transparency.

Salary Data Points Spreadsheet

Once anon posting is enabled, please post your info anonymously (or not), and I will update the spreadsheet with all new data points.

[Eun]

what the fuck. LA/NYC ppl making $75K? There's only like 4 ppl in that entire spreadsheet who make over $200K. what the fuck. that shit is criminal how are ppl expected to survive?

[lolwat]

A lot of the information in that spreadsheet is from 2016 to 2018. I think 2016 was when biglaw salaries got bumped to 180k, and last year was when it got bumped to 190k. Smaller firms and in-house obviously don't have to keep up and many may not have, but I would still guess that overall attorney compensation now is probably higher than what's reflected in that spreadsheet.

That being said, ~75k for a small firm or public interest and stuff like that really isn't that rare even in big cities, nor is low 100ks for mid-level or even senior attorneys at midsized firms. It just highlights the divide between biglaw/high-end boutique compensation and the compensation at many other firms.

[Eun]

You are right that biglaw associates generally make high 100K range. Any large firm whose clients are insurance companies also start off at most 95K to 100K. I guess I expected more biglaw associates to participate in that survey. I think that might also mean there are not many biglaw forum members roaming around here.

[Danger Zone]

Yeah that's just not true dude. But there's not much point to posting it because the biglaw firm salaries are well known and publicly documented already, easily found online.

[HelloYesThisIsDog]

Yeah that's just not true dude. But there's not much point to posting it because the biglaw firm salaries are well known and publicly documented already, easily found online.

It would be nice to get more tips on that sheet from black box firms like Jones Day.

[Nebby]

Plz put my info in the spreadsheet. I'll provide all years so people can see what the progression looks like over a little time, which is helpful so people know that salaries do go up. We should probably find a way to include people's years of experience, which may be different than how many years they've been at a place (if they've been at multiple since graduating). I'm not adding in the benefits + bonus stuff.


a) Public Interest - Environmental
b) Class of 2016 - 0 years experience
c) Chicago
d) 60k

a) Public Interest - Environmental
b) Class of 2016 - 1 year experience
c) Chicago
d) 65k

a) Public Interest - Environmental
b) Class of 2016 - 2 years experience
c) Washington, DC
d) 77k

a) Public Interest - Environmental
b) Class of 2016 - 3 years experience
c) Washington, DC
d) 81k

[Sinoper]

Updated with Nebby's info. I need to add some info from our sister site, and I'll try to do that in the next few weeks. Generally, I count every experience between 0 and 1 years of experience as 1 and 1-2 as 2, etc. Given the non-quantitative inputs frequently offered on our sister site, it has historically proven to be an easier format.

[Guest]

a) ~160 attorney, regional firm.
b) Graduated 2016, been here 1 month.
c) Primary
d) 170k, unsure on bonus, good amount paid towards health/dental but I pay around 30 a month, 401k matching, small contribution to HSA, business development budget, 200k life insurance.

[Guest]

a) what kind of legal job/firm/office do you work at
Smaller firm (10ish attorneys). Public finance with a large real estate component. Very specialized and involves a ton of municipal law

b) how long have you worked there/what year did you graduate law school
2016 grad. Lateraled in 2019.

c) geographic area/market (specifically or primary/secondary/tertiary)
Texas

d) annual salary + bonus, benefits, etc
120k starting (raises yearly), 20% bonus at around 1800 hrs with additional awarded based on a few other metrics we use. 401k with match program, health insurance partly covered for family plan. Work from home frequently. Not a traditional benefit, but my daily work hours are very reliable (9-6) and I have to answer an email or work on something on a weekend maybe once a quarter at most