LEGAL SALARY DATAPOINTS Forum

[BigLawer]

OP being quoted. It's more real estate related, but I can't go into more specific detail because there are very few firms that do this type of work. It's very niche. Not M&A / securities work.

Congratulations, ya outed yaself.

He was being sarcastic, and honestly, the mods should out them.
(and I have never called for an anonymous outing)

If you want to discuss further, I can PM you.

That would be awesome! Curious to hear how you got into it/your experience so far.

[Anonymous User]

Federal attorney (not at a regulator)
D.C.
53k (embarrassingly low)
Good work life balance, but too early in my career. I want a job where I have the opportunity to hustle. My current position is ideal for a lawyer looking to start a family. Looking for an out - but it is not easy.

[zot1]

Federal attorney (not at a regulator)
D.C.
53k (embarrassingly low)
Good work life balance, but too early in my career. I want a job where I have the opportunity to hustle. My current position is ideal for a lawyer looking to start a family. Looking for an out - but it is not easy.

That is low for DC. Can you go to another agency?

[goodoldmacintosh]

a) Attorney at a federal financial regulatory agency
b) 2 years
c) Washington DC
d) $130K plus $10K per year towards my student loan payment.

Can you PM me?

[Anonymous User]

Small firm, Florida major market.
$60,000 a year.
c/o 2015
No benefits.
No mandatory hours but 1800 hours "suggested" M-F 9-6
Ambiguous/nonexistent bonus.

The hours are cool but if you're reading this and deciding between po-dunk law and whatever "work-life balance" they're selling, just take the $110K at the midsize firm and call it a day. I did get immediate experience out of LS including solo motions and evidentiary hearings but I don't think what I gave up in salary has been worth it.

Looking to move to a midsize firm.

[FuturePanhandler]

Small firm, Florida major market.
$60,000 a year.
c/o 2015
No benefits.
No mandatory hours but 1800 hours "suggested" M-F 9-6
Ambiguous/nonexistent bonus.

The hours are cool but if you're reading this and deciding between po-dunk law and whatever "work-life balance" they're selling, just take the $110K at the midsize firm and call it a day. I did get immediate experience out of LS including solo motions and evidentiary hearings but I don't think what I gave up in salary has been worth it.

Looking to move to a midsize firm.

Thanks for this. Also in Florida, and I would have orginally thought smaller firm = work-life balance, but you and others have made me realize that the smaller firms don't necessarily have better work-life balance. Would you mind PM'ing me? I have a couple questions.

[Anonymous User]

The point of this thread is for people to post

a) what kind of legal job/firm/office they work at, and
b) how long they've been working there, and
c) geographic area, and
d) yearly salary

This is helpful because when applying to jobs or at interviews you may be asked what your salary expectations are.

It's good to have an idea of what different kinds of gigs are paying. Also you can figure out which fields to go into or avoid that is your main concern.

I'll start:

*Smallish PI plaintiff firm in Southern California

*Salary: $75K/year (first year at this office, second year as an attorney)

Robert Half does a survey that's public that has this info...prolly a lil more reliable sample size than a random TLS post. Just saying.

[Anonymous User]

- General practice firm / lots of estate planning + quite a bit of civil litigation and crim defense with some family law and other stuff thrown in
- Six years, four as an associate and two as partner
- Small (<50k people) midwest city that is otherwise in a rural setting
- Profits vary by year but last year partner pay was $230k (realistic range would be $175k - $280k any given year, tops at $350k if we hit a big plaintiff's judgment). Benefits package is fair to average.
- Billed 1325 hours last year plus fairly substantial flat-rate fee work, probably equivalent to 1600 billable hour workload

[Abbie Doobie]

- General practice firm / lots of estate planning + quite a bit of civil litigation and crim defense with some family law and other stuff thrown in

how much time do you estimate spending on business development (if any)

[BigLawer]

- General practice firm / lots of estate planning + quite a bit of civil litigation and crim defense with some family law and other stuff thrown in
- Six years, four as an associate and two as partner
- Small (<50k people) midwest city that is otherwise in a rural setting
- Profits vary by year but last year partner pay was $230k (realistic range would be $175k - $280k any given year, tops at $350k if we hit a big plaintiff's judgment). Benefits package is fair to average.
- Billed 1325 hours last year plus fairly substantial flat-rate fee work, probably equivalent to 1600 billable hour workload

That is really good money for a small town and those types of hours. Congrats!

[Anonymous User]

[quote="zot1"][quote="Anonymous User"]Federal attorney (not at a regulator)
D.C.
53k (embarrassingly low)
Good work life balance, but too early in my career. I want a job where I have the opportunity to hustle. My current position is ideal for a lawyer looking to start a family. Looking for an out - but it is not easy.[/quote]

That is low for DC. Can you go to another agency?[/quote]

I am trying - or alternatively leave for the private sector. Unfortunately, many of the 'lesser' Fed Gov't jobs in DC start lawyers at GS-9 (53k).

[Giddy-Up]

Is it a ladder position though, what is the full performance level?

[Anonymous User]

Commercial Real Estate/Real Estate Finance Firm (boutique firm)
Downtown D.C.
1st year associate
$68,000 ($80,000 once successful waive-in to DC bar)
No billable hour requirement, work +/- 9-6pm M-F
Annual bonus (not sure what it is yet. Seems rather arbitrary)

[zot1]

Federal attorney (not at a regulator)
D.C.
53k (embarrassingly low)
Good work life balance, but too early in my career. I want a job where I have the opportunity to hustle. My current position is ideal for a lawyer looking to start a family. Looking for an out - but it is not easy.

That is low for DC. Can you go to another agency?

I am trying - or alternatively leave for the private sector. Unfortunately, many of the 'lesser' Fed Gov't jobs in DC start lawyers at GS-9 (53k).

Sorry to hear that. I hope it works out.

[reasonable_man]

- NYC Area Firm - Full Service - 125 Attorneys in 10 offices

- Practicing between 5 to 7 years

- Salary - $150,000

- Bonus - $10,000 to $20,000

- Hours - 2100 to 2400

- I keep 10% of all of the billable hours collected for the business I personally generate (irrespective of whether I actually do the work on the matter).

- Raises are reasonable and regular (yearly review)

- Litigation / Appeals

- And the funniest part .... FOURTH TIER LAW SCHOOL.

[Abbie Doobie]

why is that funny?

[Danger Zone]

why is that funny?

It's not

[Anonymous User]

- General practice firm / lots of estate planning + quite a bit of civil litigation and crim defense with some family law and other stuff thrown in

how much time do you estimate spending on business development (if any)

Good question. It's hard to tell since in this small of an area it's honestly hard to separate "business development from "personal life." In other words, a lot of stuff I do that could be considered business development are things my family and I would (or at least might) be doing anyway, like the county fair, local pancake dinners, HS and college FB games on occasion, going to various festivals, etc. The corporate lunch / golf course model of business development certainly exists here to some extent, but it's not as time-consuming here as in other places I've lived. Nobody expects me to schmooze individual clients on evenings and weekends.

Not sure whether I would be sitting on boards if not for this career. I spend about 100 hours per year on board of director crap. I've never been fond of it. Other than that it's not too bad.

[reasonable_man]

why is that funny?

Conventional wisdom on TLS is that anyone that attends a school ranked out of the top 5 will end up on the streets begging for money. So I guess I intended that as a nod to the fact that such conventional wisdom, while often accurate, isn't absolute. It's a bid of hope for the special snow flakes out there choosing to attend the bottom of the barrel law schools. A bit of irony because even I acknowledge that earning a real living after graduating from a 4th tier school is a long shot, at best.

[Anonymous User]

Posted in another thread, so I"ll share here:

a) Associate for Insurance Defense, Mid Size Firm
b) 1 year
c) Major California Metro Area
d) $75,000. Discretionary year-end bonus of $3000 - $6000, plus the occasional performance bonuses for strong accomplishments. ~1900 hours [post cuts] to keep your job, but $0-to-low end bonus potential and no/questionable advancement potential. ~2100 hours [post cuts] to advance a salary level and get a higher end bonus.

[Anonymous User]

- In house, SF/SV
- 6 yrs out
- Cash: $150k base, up to $15k bonus
- Equity: Can vary quite a bit. Had $50k of RSUs vest in 2015 (was granted $100k ish in RSUs in 2015).
- No nights/weekends

[anon sequitur]

- In house, SF/SV
- 6 yrs out
- Cash: $150k base, up to $15k bonus
- Equity: Can vary quite a bit. Had $50k of RSUs vest in 2015 (was granted $100k ish in RSUs in 2015).
- No nights/weekends

By no nights/weekend do you mean 40ish hours a week? If so that's awesome for Bay area and having a life.

[Anonymous User]

- In house, SF/SV
- 6 yrs out
- Cash: $150k base, up to $15k bonus
- Equity: Can vary quite a bit. Had $50k of RSUs vest in 2015 (was granted $100k ish in RSUs in 2015).
- No nights/weekends

By no nights/weekend do you mean 40ish hours a week? If so that's awesome for Bay area and having a life.

Yep, I typically work 40-45 hours per week but to be honest there's maybe one night per quarter where I need to work until 8. The last time that happened, my boss told me not to come in the next day. Very different from my biglaw days.

[El Pollito]

why is that funny?

Conventional wisdom on TLS is that anyone that attends a school ranked out of the top 5 will end up on the streets begging for money. So I guess I intended that as a nod to the fact that such conventional wisdom, while often accurate, isn't absolute. It's a bid of hope for the special snow flakes out there choosing to attend the bottom of the barrel law schools. A bit of irony because even I acknowledge that earning a real living after graduating from a 4th tier school is a long shot, at best.

you have the biggest chip on your shoulder. just because you had a decent outcome doesn't mean going to a shit school wasn't and isn't a horrible idea.

[Danger Zone]

why is that funny?

Conventional wisdom on TLS is that anyone that attends a school ranked out of the top 5 will end up on the streets begging for money. So I guess I intended that as a nod to the fact that such conventional wisdom, while often accurate, isn't absolute. It's a bid of hope for the special snow flakes out there choosing to attend the bottom of the barrel law schools. A bit of irony because even I acknowledge that earning a real living after graduating from a 4th tier school is a long shot, at best.

you have the biggest chip on your shoulder. just because you had a decent outcome doesn't mean going to a shit school wasn't and isn't a horrible idea.

As someone who went to a shit school and had a decent outcome, this is absolutely correct