Summer Pay vs Associate Pay (small firm) Forum

[Anonymous User]

I will be interning at a small/mid sized firm. The internship is paying, but it isn't paying that much. I was just wondering if this is the amount I can expect to be paid if I decide to join the firm after I graduate. Aside from the big law firms that pay a prorated salary for their summers, do small/mid firms do the same? Or will an associates salary be a bit more? I know this depends on the firm, but it would awesome to get a general answer or someone's experience about this.

Also, is it awkward or rude to ask what an associate can expect to make? Who should I ask?

[kalvano]

It seems like a lot of the smaller firms here pay summers around 50% starting salary. So, if the pay is $750 a week, then starting salary would be around $72K.

And I wouldn't ask until you are well into your summer job and have a good idea if you'll want to work there and if they might want to hire you.

[Cupidity]

The 50% salary matches my experience as well. $20hr --> $80k

[Anonymous User]

$16/hr = $65k offer for me.

[moandersen]

I worked at a medium sized firm 1L summer that paid 1100/week, with starting salary around $75k.

[Anonymous User]

OP here:
I sure hope the 50% pay rate applies to my firm. thank you all for giving me an idea of what to look forward to. anyone else willing to share their experiences would be great!

[Anonymous User]

$17->$79k

60 attorney firm.

[Anonymous User]

1L here, but the firm I'm working for this summer pays $18.50 an hour to summer clerks and $72k starting for associates. So yeah, the 50% rule for smaller firms seems to hold well.

[Anonymous User]

<100 attorneys, 100% of salary, pro-rated for summer.

[Norwood]

<100 attorneys, 100% of salary, pro-rated for summer.

In your case, was that a good thing? Was it something like 100k pro-rated or more like 50k pro-rated?

[cantaboot]

not necesary 50% pro-rata. A friend of mine worked at a firm in LA as a 1L. The pay wasn't much - slightly less than 50% pro-rata. She was paid the student rate. at the end of summer, she had an offer to return and the pay was a lot higher.

Another thing is that some small firms do not have a fixed pay scale. It can pay 80K to someone who worked with state gov. and a lot more to someone with biglaw experience.

[Anonymous User]

<100 attorneys, 100% of salary, pro-rated for summer.

In your case, was that a good thing? Was it something like 100k pro-rated or more like 50k pro-rated?

High 5 figures.