LEGAL SALARY DATAPOINTS Forum

[Anonymous User]

Curious how you ended up in this role? Did you leave directly from a big firm? What was your practice area?

I started at a big firm, but I was in-house at a multinational company just before moving to this position. My practice area is IP. They were originally looking for IP counsel only but I upsold myself into the GC role because I have broad experience (and I knew that they would inevitably ask me to handle all legal stuff regardless of my official duties).

Curious what broad experience helped you land either of the in-house roles you’ve had. Asking as a Junior IP associated at a big firm whose heard it’s really hard to make the IP/in-house jump.

I was fortunate that I started at a big law firm that let me be unassigned the first two years. So I did mainly patent prosecution work but also did a healthy amount of IP transactions and litigation as well. I also pitched in with M&A, investment management, real estate, and health care work.

That range of experience helped me secure my first in-house gig. They liked my flexibility, because in-house positions are usually generalist rather than specialist. I picked up even more range in-house, such as data security/privacy and export control.

In my current position, the most important thing is to know how to spot issues. I won’t know how to solve most of them myself, but knowing enough to see I need to pull in outside counsel to help me is crucial.

My advice for you is to expand your knowledge outside of your specific practice area. That may mean moving firms to a place that allows you to try different things. Don’t let yourself be pigeonholed, and take the opportunities to learn whatever you can.

[Anonymous User]

Location: NYC
Position: Credit and equity investing
Experience: Class of 2017, K-JD.
Salary: 150k base + 225k bonus. Abnormally good year - 175k base next year, but expect bonus to be slightly under 100% and hopefully receive 100k - 200k in dollarized carry next year.
Hours: Varies, ~45 - 80+. Average around 60.

[Anonymous User]

Location: NYC
Position: Credit and equity investing
Experience: Class of 2017, K-JD.
Salary: 150k base + 225k bonus. Abnormally good year - 175k base next year, but expect bonus to be slightly under 100% and hopefully receive 100k - 200k in dollarized carry next year.
Hours: Varies, ~45 - 80+. Average around 60.

Did you leave biglaw for this job? If so, curious why (hours seem just as bad).

[Anonymous User]

Location: NYC
Position: Credit and equity investing
Experience: Class of 2017, K-JD.
Salary: 150k base + 225k bonus. Abnormally good year - 175k base next year, but expect bonus to be slightly under 100% and hopefully receive 100k - 200k in dollarized carry next year.
Hours: Varies, ~45 - 80+. Average around 60.

Did you leave biglaw for this job? If so, curious why (hours seem just as bad).

Honestly job is 10 times more interesting and exits are much better.

Hours are significantly better than my friends in New York biglaw. When I say average around 60 it looks like 13-14 M/T/W, 12/Tu, 6 Fri and maybe 1-2 on Saturday or Sunday. Deals are deals however and if we are sprinting, we are sprinting.

[Anonymous User]

Experience: 6 years
Location: 2nd tier city
Position: Corporate Counsel
Comp: 200k base
Signing Bonus: 15k
Bonus: 7.5%
Stock/Equity: none
Benefits: 4% 401k match, cheap health insurance, average PTO

[Anonymous User]

Experience: 6 years
Location: 2nd tier city
Position: Corporate Counsel
Comp: 200k base
Signing Bonus: 15k
Bonus: 7.5%
Stock/Equity: none
Benefits: 4% 401k match, cheap health insurance, average PTO

hours?

[Anonymous User]

Location: NYC
Position: Legal fellow at a nonprofit doing election law work (probably narrows that down a ton, but whatever)
Experience: Class of 2021
Salary: 77k
Hours: Basically a 40 hour work week. The most I worked was a week leading up to the filing of an amicus brief, during which I maybe worked 55 hours, including a few on a Saturday. I will say that attorneys seem to vary in the amount of hours they work. Some are very into work/life balance and work 40–45 hours, yet others seem to love to create new projects for themselves very frequently and work close to big law hours.
Benefits: 401k match, good health insurance, and unlimited Westlaw.

[Durant123]

When unlimited Westlaw gets listed as a “Benefit” in a “Legal Salary Datapoints” thread smh

[Anonymous User]

Experience: 6 years
Location: Major (non-NYC city)
Position: AGC
Comp: 225k base
Bonus: target of 20-25%
Stock/Equity: none
Benefits: 3% 401k match, other unique benefits that are worth about 12-15K a year in cash to me.
Hours: - 40-45. If things really hit the fan or we are doing a transformative transaction maybe 50-60 hours (but this basically never happens). It is an "on-call" job though so 3-5x a month I have to work at night or on the weekend, but rarely for more than 30 minutes to an hour. Also answers emails occasionally at night.

[Will_m]

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 if that is your main concern.

Compiled Spreadsheet

Original OP:

I'll start:

*Smallish PI plaintiff firm in Southern California

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

Regional firm in the SE. 100 or so attorneys. I mainly handle defense of PI (usually auto or truck) and some first party insurance defense stuff. Rates are pretty low.

95k for six year attorney. 15k bonus if you bill 2200.

[Anonymous User]

Experience: 8ish years
Location: Non-SF west coast city
Position: investigations counsel at a non-FAANG tech company
Comp: Just over $300k base/bonus
Stock: Around $40k RSUs annually
Benefits: 5% 401(k) match and some family planning benefits that will be worth about $25,000. Fully remote and no more than 1-2 days in-office once we do go back.

[powerwhee]

Experience: 2021 Grad - T20
Location: Los Angeles
Employer: Boutique lit. firm
Comp: $115,000 base salary, with discretionary bonuses (from $5k-40k), and guaranteed piece-rate bonuses for every hour billed after the required amount per month ($35 per hour after 150 hours billed a month, paid per pay check—higher hourly pay in line with the base salary with the bonus paid annually was an option, but I chose this instead). 15% origination credit.
Billables/Hours: 1800 hours expected. 150 hours of marketing/business development (e.g. lunches with professionals and writing legal articles) count towards the 1800 requirement. So, effectively, the actual legal billable work requirement is 1650, assuming one engages in marketing/business development. I probably work 40-50 hours a week, and have weekends to myself.
Benefits: Paid Medical, Paid Dental, Paid Life Insurance, accruing PTO (week and a half a year), Paid Parking, 401K—the standard stuff firms provide.

Wanted to post this to show that there are ways to earn six figures as a junior lawyer in a major market doing complex work without necessarily billing 2000+ hours (of course, no firm will be mad at you for doing that) and having no life outside the office.

Personally, I couldn’t imagine being expected to bill 2400+ hours consistently, like some of my friends in BigLaw do…I’ve done it (extrapolating monthly to an annualized basis) on one off occasions and you don’t feel human during the ordeal. 2400 hour requirements coupled with six figure student loans effectively subjugate you to the role of indentured servant of the firm. Having graduated essentially debt free (scholarship+savings), and having other income-producing ventures, I couldn’t put myself through that.

Of course, as the compensation differential between my BigLaw peers and I grows, and if I can’t maintain the current quality of life I enjoy, perhaps I’ll strap those BigLaw golden handcuffs on (if given another opportunity to do so) or more likely just start my own plaintiff’s firm.

Successful plaintiff firms, in fact, have the richest attorneys in them—the key is becoming a “successful” one. All one needs to do is look at Joe Jamail. No BigLaw partner can match the wealth Jamail accumulated on his own in the Texaco case. Let alone his legal career. Although we can’t all be Joe Jamails, of course, I also have a hard time believing that a solo can’t clear a million dollars a year if you take on the right case(s) and work it (them) up appropriately. I’ve seen six and seven figure settlement checks issued to solos who don’t seem to be any where close to Joe Jamail’s stature.

[Anonymous User]

Experience: >10 years, but first 5 in litigation/unrelated area of law.
Location: Large Metro
Employer: Fortune 500, financial services (non-banking)
Comp: $152,000 base salary, 35% bonus, 5% stock, 5% profit sharing
Billables/Hours: 40 hours maximum. No late nights no weekends.
Benefits: Paid Medical, Paid Dental, Paid Life Insurance, Lots of PTO, 4% 401k match.

I do a little bit of everything- governance, contracts, compliance, etc.

I am under-market but lucked into this job with no prior experience and have phenomenal work/life balance.

[Anonymous User]

Industry: Tech
Experience: 2018 grad - 3 years corporate big law prior to move
Location: NYC
Position: Commercial Counsel
Comp: $200k base, 15% bonus
Stock: $100k vesting over 4 years (potential for additional stock grants during reviews/promotions)
Benefits: 50% 401(k) match, free health insurance, free breakfast/coffee/lunch, hybrid office/WFH, great culture, and true 9-5 (if that) with zero weekend work

Incredibly happy with the move. Hard to imagine ever returning to law firm life after working in this environment for a few months.

[Anonymous User]

Industry: Finance
Experience: 7 yrs
Location: secondary market
Position: Corporate Counsel
Comp: 150k base, 200k bonus, with annual increases
Stock: private company shares that pay quarterly distributions amounting to a min of 40k/year
Hours: 40/week
Benefits: 100% 401(k) match, free health/dental insurance, free breakfast/coffee/lunch, hybrid office with generous PTO and zero weekend work, 16 weeks parental leave

[bobbyflayed]

(a) General Counsel of a VC fund
(b) 3 years; Class of 2016; 2.5 years in biglaw (pe m&a at V10); 1 year inhouse at a startup
(c) California
(d) $350K + carried interest

[Anonymous User]

(a) General Counsel of a VC fund
(b) 3 years; Class of 2016; 2.5 years in biglaw (pe m&a at V10); 1 year inhouse at a startup
(c) California
(d) $350K + carried interest

What do your hours look like? Similar background thinking of making a similar move...

[Anonymous User]

Mid law firm (150 lawyers) in third tier city in Midwest, think Cleveland, Detroit, Milwaukee,

270K+65k signing bonus+ tbd year end

Class of 2017, Made the move mostly to be home with family but also because much better shot at long term partnership.

Expected to bill around 1800-2000

[tyroneslothrop1]

(a) General Counsel of a VC fund
(b) 3 years; Class of 2016; 2.5 years in biglaw (pe m&a at V10); 1 year inhouse at a startup
(c) California
(d) $350K + carried interest

Some people are just good, but I don't really understand how a 6th year attorney could function at a high level as the GC.

[Anonymous User]

(a) General Counsel of a VC fund
(b) 3 years; Class of 2016; 2.5 years in biglaw (pe m&a at V10); 1 year inhouse at a startup
(c) California
(d) $350K + carried interest

Some people are just good, but I don't really understand how a 6th year attorney could function at a high level as the GC.

There are thousands of private funds out there. It’s not too uncommon for a 6th year to be a GC at a smaller AUM shop. I’m deputy GC for a ~5B fund at my 8th year. Looking to make a lateral move to a mega fund or GC of a similar size funds and the opportunities are definitely out there.

[Anonymous User]

Experience: 10 years+
Location: Large Metro
Employer: Fortune 500, Insurance
Comp: $180K base, 35% bonus, 5% stock, 5% profit sharing (Total Comp.~$260K)
Hours: 40 hours maximum. No late nights or weekends. Great work/life balance.
Benefits: Paid Medical, Dental, Life Insurance, 4% 401k match. Lots of PTO

[Anonymous User]

Class of 2018, Corp. Counsel:

Base: 230k
Bonus: 20%
401k: 4%
Initial RSUs: 180k (4 yr. vest)
Long Term RSUs: $100k per year (3 yr. vest)
Industry: Life Sciences

[Anonymous User]

200k, 7th year corporate, NY, no bonus or equity, one of the MLB/NFL/MLS/NHL/NBA sort of things, very low turnover within the company. Thoughts?

[Anonymous User]

Location: NYC
Position: Credit and equity investing
Experience: Class of 2017, K-JD.
Salary: 150k base + 225k bonus. Abnormally good year - 175k base next year, but expect bonus to be slightly under 100% and hopefully receive 100k - 200k in dollarized carry next year.
Hours: Varies, ~45 - 80+. Average around 60.

Changed jobs to an event driven HF, focus on activism, distressed credit, merger arbitrage, and litigation finance.
Salary: 160k base target bonus 400k, lots of variability.
Experience: Class of 2017, K-JD, special situations investing 3 years, lawyer 2 years.
Hours: Average 55.
Stress: High AF.

[aspiringlaw]

Location: NYC
Position: Credit and equity investing
Experience: Class of 2017, K-JD.
Salary: 150k base + 225k bonus. Abnormally good year - 175k base next year, but expect bonus to be slightly under 100% and hopefully receive 100k - 200k in dollarized carry next year.
Hours: Varies, ~45 - 80+. Average around 60.

Changed jobs to an event driven HF, focus on activism, distressed credit, merger arbitrage, and litigation finance.
Salary: 160k base target bonus 400k, lots of variability.
Experience: Class of 2017, K-JD, special situations investing 3 years, lawyer 2 years.
Hours: Average 55.
Stress: High AF.

How does one break into this sort of role? Off the bat I figured they'd look for a finance associate, but the mix of work you mentioned can't be had at any firm so it got me thinking... are these places open to train? I'm an in-house lawyer with a biglaw background wondering if a switch is possible