Starting salaries — Year 2010 — Information on starting salaries for the segments of the 2010 vintage. What do new lawyers gain? A 15-Year Retrospective as Reported by Law School Graduates (NALP Newsletter, September 2007) — This article provides a 15-year overview of law firm starting salaries based on the NALP`s annual graduate employment survey (now Jobs & JD`s: Employment and Salaries of New Law Graduates). How much do law firms pay their employees? A look back at the results of the NALP 20-Year Partners` Salary Survey (NALP Bulletin, October 2014) — Over the past 20 years, law firms of all sizes have increased their salaries in the first year, but the percentage increase for the largest firms is double that of the smallest firms. The following salary information relates only to base salaries and does not include any guaranteed or expected additional compensation, including signing or holdback bonuses, stock-based compensation or other incentives, allowances or expenses. For more information on total compensation, please contact a CSA Personnel Advisor or info@zsa.ca. Salaries of new lawyers: how did we get here? (NALP Bulletin, January 2008) — The range of salaries earned by new law school graduates has been known and documented for many years. Although students and the media have tended to focus on the upper hand, career services offices have seen and transmitted the bigger picture. The annual Graduate Employment Survey of the NAP documents this wage portrait in several ways each year. Given the impact of the type of clientele on compensation, please contact Dominique Tardif confidentially to discuss your particular situation at 514 228-2880 ext. 320 or by email at dtardif@zsa.ca. *Law firms with fewer than 20 lawyers are not taken into account when determining the salary range, as it is difficult to set an average due to the difference in salaries of companies of this size. *Without partner.
The figures exclude practitioners with a clientele who receive additional remuneration. 2017 Associate Salary Survey Results (NAAP Bulletin, June 2017) — The 2017 NAP Associate Salary Survey report shows that the average salary for the first year totalled $135,000 as of January 1, 2017, unchanged from 2015, the year of the last survey. What about all the $180,000 for the first year announced over several months in 2016? Among the more than 500 respondents, there were not enough offices reporting a salary of $180,000 to bring the median to this level. Wage Trends—15-Year Overview (NAAP Bulletin, July 2005) — Average wages in the largest firms have remained relatively stable over the past five years, compared to the mid- and late 1990s. Starting Salaries: What New Law Graduates Earn (available in bookstores) A 1,000-word picture (Jobs & JD`s — Class of 2006) — For a broader perspective of class wages in 2006, see A 1,000-word picture that includes bimodal wage distribution. Salaries for first-year employees at large law firms have become less homogeneous, although $160,000 continues to define the peak of the market (press release of 16. April 2015) – Results from NALP`s 2015 Associate Salary Survey show that while first-year salaries of $160,000 are still common in large firms with more than 700 lawyers – particularly in large markets – the prevalence of $160,000 across these firms is lower than it was recently in 2009. Wages in the largest companies in 2009 (press release of 13 July 2009) — NALP has just launched its Associate 2009 Wage Survey Publication. With wage information collected as of April 1, 2009, this year`s report reflects what is likely to be the peak in wages for large firms for the foreseeable future and represents the highest level of increases since 2006. The total median starting salary was $130,000, ranging from $70,000 in firms with 2 to 25 lawyers to $135,000 in firms with between $501 and $1,000 in firms with more than 1,000 lawyers. Salaries shown are averages for each city.
Within each city, there can be large differences in salaries depending on the company or organization. These salary ranges are provided for informational purposes only. What do new law graduates gain when they enter private practice? Looking Back at 25 Years (NALP Bulletin, October 2018) — Just take a quick look at the chart below to see that starting salaries have increased much more in large law firms than in small firms. The difference is striking: while median salaries at the largest law firms (251+ lawyers) increased by 157%, the median at the smallest law firms didn`t even double. This gap has contributed to the development of the bimodal nature of wage distribution. Salary Trends — A 13-Year Overview (NALP Bulletin, September 2003) — a 13-year overview of law firm starting salaries, based on the NALP Annual Employment Report and Salary Survey (now Jobs & J.D.`s: Employment and Salaries of New Law Graduates). Median salaries at the largest law firms with more than 100 lawyers have remained stable in recent years, unlike in the mid to late 1990s, when starting salaries at large law firms increased dramatically. Results from the NALP Partners` Salary Survey — A Historical Perspective 1996-2001 (NAAP Bulletin, September 2001) — Changes in the way law firms determine employee eligibility for bonuses and, of course, starting salaries are evident from reports from the NALP Partners` Salary Survey from 1996 to 2001. The scale of wage increases over the past five years is also evident, with an increase of nearly 60% in the largest companies. What do new lawyers gain? A 15-Year Retrospective 1994-2008 (NALP Bulletin, August 2009) — Two results are remarkable. First, the average starting salary of the law firm more than doubled from $50,000 to $125,000 over this period.
This reflects wage growth in general, particularly in large firms, and a general increase in the share of employment in large firms where wage coverage is more comprehensive. Second, even though wage coverage for jobs in large firms is more comprehensive, comparisons between firm sizes are still valid, and it is true that wages in larger firms have increased the most in percentage terms, more than doubling over the period. Law graduate market changes with recession: Class of 2009 faces new challenges (Press release of July 22, 2010) — The national median salary for the class of 2009, based on those working full-time and reporting a salary, was $72,000, unchanged from the class of 2008, and the national average was $93,454. However, with some salaries from large law firms in the range of $160,000, while many other salaries are between $40,000 and $65,000, relatively few salaries were actually close to the median or average, according to Jobs & JDs. The national median salary in law firms, based on those who reported a salary, was $130,000, compared to $125,000 the previous year, and the national average in law firms was $115,254. Some partner salaries are declining from their peaks, but remain well above public sector lawyers` salaries (press release September 9, 2010) — A recent NALP study shows that salaries at law firms remained broadly unchanged between 2009 and 2010, although average salaries declined in some markets. Over the same period, salaries for lawyers working in the public interest have also remained broadly unchanged and the gap between private sector and public interest lawyers salaries remains wide. Partners` salaries fluctuate, but remain essentially unchanged (Press release of September 18, 2013) — Staff salaries at large law firms have remained essentially unchanged since 2007, despite some erosion of the prevalence of $160,000 as the norm.
A new NALP study shows that salaries of $160,000 in the first year are still prevalent in large law firms with more than 700 lawyers, especially in large markets. Salaries of law firms were little changed from the previous year (press release, 8. September 2011) — Recent research by NALP shows that law firm salaries remained broadly unchanged in 2011 compared to 2010, with the $160,000 salary for first-year employees still prevalent in large companies in a number of markets. Find starting salaries for top candidates for hundreds of positions in six professional fields. New Lawyers` Salaries: An Update on Where We Are and How We Got Here (NALP Bulletin, August 2012) — Starting with the Class of 2006, one of the ways NALP has documented salary information for law graduation courses is with a picture — an image that makes it very clear that the salary distribution of law graduates has two distinct peaks. one in the $40,000 to $65,000 range and the other reflects the typical salary (or salaries) for that year.