Pro Rated Salary Forum

[Anonymous User]

I recently accepted an offer to work at a mid-sized firm for my 2L summer. They offered to pay 1k per week. I'm content with this for the summer but I find that to be low if it is a prorated salary. In other peoples experience, do mid-sized-non NALP-do their own thing-firms, often give 2L SA a salary that is different than first year associate salaries or is this likely what I would make as a first year? I know for biglaw then norm is for prorated salaries, not sure about more off the grid firms.

Also, when would be a good time to ask this question to the firm?

Thanks!

[hephaestus]

I had an SA in a tertiary market that did not pay a pro rata salary. This was an NLJ250 but non-Vault firm.

Eta: the difference between the amount SAs got and first years got was significant, around 25k.

[Anonymous User]

Thoughts on how to actually find out my answer? Is this something I just just wait till the end of summer and see if I actually get an offer. I just really want to know because the curiosity is killing me.


Also, anyone else have some anecdotal evidence they could share?

[BarbellDreams]

If this is truly a midsize firm and not a 15 attorney firm that people wanna call "midsize" for ego purposes you will be able to find this info online with 20 mins of creative googling most likely.

[Anonymous User]

I'm also curious as to how to figure out salaries of first-year lawyers with smaller firms.

Also, is there a stigma against calling your firm a "small firm?"

From what I understand, anything below 50 lawyers is a "small" firm. Yet these small firms still have an impressive list of clients, and pay well.

[Anonymous User]

The firm is right around 20. I don't really care about whether or not it is "small" or "mid". I will keep calling it mid because in this market this is considered mid. Those terms might be market specific.


Anyway, I did some digging and I found salary info from 2002. I'm not sure if this website is credited as it is one of those generic salary websites. But, hopefully it is good news because the salary there was 25k more than what my prorated salary would be.

[BarbellDreams]

If you can't find anything online you really have tow options: 1.) Do the S, hope to get real close with one of the younger associates who won't think its weird if you asked and, well, ask. or 2.) Just wait for them to make you the official offer. Unless you have better options right now I'm not sure what you have to lose. You can always reject.

[Anonymous User]

If you can't find anything online you really have tow options: 1.) Do the S, hope to get real close with one of the younger associates who won't think its weird if you asked and, well, ask. or 2.) Just wait for them to make you the official offer. Unless you have better options right now I'm not sure what you have to lose. You can always reject.

I already accepted because I really liked the firm. So I'm hoping option 1 plays out. They have 4-5 really young associates that I hope to hit it off with. So I should probably avoid asking the hiring partner if this is the prorated salary? I don't want to get things started on bad foot.

Also, like I said, I found salary info from 2002 on one of those salary websites like indeed.com / salarylist.com / simplyhired.com. Are these websites flames or do you think the data is accurate?

[BarbellDreams]

If you can't find anything online you really have tow options: 1.) Do the S, hope to get real close with one of the younger associates who won't think its weird if you asked and, well, ask. or 2.) Just wait for them to make you the official offer. Unless you have better options right now I'm not sure what you have to lose. You can always reject.

I already accepted because I really liked the firm. So I'm hoping option 1 plays out. They have 4-5 really young associates that I hope to hit it off with. So I should probably avoid asking the hiring partner if this is the prorated salary? I don't want to get things started on bad foot.

Also, like I said, I found salary info from 2002 on one of those salary websites like indeed.com / salarylist.com / simplyhired.com. Are these websites flames or do you think the data is accurate?

1. I wouldn't ask the hiring partner. I would just do the summer and get close with someone young who did their own SA a few years back and likely understands your need to know and is cool enough to just tell you.

2. I largely don't think those sites are flames, however 2002 was a boom time so I doubt that data from there is anything more than a very very large ballpark number given the economy.

[hephaestus]

If you can't find anything online you really have tow options: 1.) Do the S, hope to get real close with one of the younger associates who won't think its weird if you asked and, well, ask. or 2.) Just wait for them to make you the official offer. Unless you have better options right now I'm not sure what you have to lose. You can always reject.

I already accepted because I really liked the firm. So I'm hoping option 1 plays out. They have 4-5 really young associates that I hope to hit it off with. So I should probably avoid asking the hiring partner if this is the prorated salary? I don't want to get things started on bad foot.

Also, like I said, I found salary info from 2002 on one of those salary websites like indeed.com / salarylist.com / simplyhired.com. Are these websites flames or do you think the data is accurate?

1. I wouldn't ask the hiring partner. I would just do the summer and get close with someone young who did their own SA a few years back and likely understands your need to know and is cool enough to just tell you.

2. I largely don't think those sites are flames, however 2002 was a boom time so I doubt that data from there is anything more than a very very large ballpark number given the economy.

Yeah 20 is pretty small so I don't think you can find reliable info on sites like that. I remember looking for a firm about that size in a Midwest secondary market and there was one salary reported on Glassdoor, and it was totally wrong. Barbelldreams is right. Wait until you actually develop a relationship with an associate and ask. Is there any other pressing reason besides curiosity to find out? I would not ask the hiring partner unless there is a truly important reason.

[Anonymous User]

If you can't find anything online you really have tow options: 1.) Do the S, hope to get real close with one of the younger associates who won't think its weird if you asked and, well, ask. or 2.) Just wait for them to make you the official offer. Unless you have better options right now I'm not sure what you have to lose. You can always reject.

I already accepted because I really liked the firm. So I'm hoping option 1 plays out. They have 4-5 really young associates that I hope to hit it off with. So I should probably avoid asking the hiring partner if this is the prorated salary? I don't want to get things started on bad foot.

Also, like I said, I found salary info from 2002 on one of those salary websites like indeed.com / salarylist.com / simplyhired.com. Are these websites flames or do you think the data is accurate?

1. I wouldn't ask the hiring partner. I would just do the summer and get close with someone young who did their own SA a few years back and likely understands your need to know and is cool enough to just tell you.

2. I largely don't think those sites are flames, however 2002 was a boom time so I doubt that data from there is anything more than a very very large ballpark number given the economy.

Yeah 20 is pretty small so I don't think you can find reliable info on sites like that. I remember looking for a firm about that size in a Midwest secondary market and there was one salary reported on Glassdoor, and it was totally wrong. Barbelldreams is right. Wait until you actually develop a relationship with an associate and ask. Is there any other pressing reason besides curiosity to find out? I would not ask the hiring partner unless there is a truly important reason.

No reason at all besides curiosity. Thanks for the advice guys.