Is 30k a good salary for a law grad? Forum

[Void]

No, it is not good. I finished in the bottom third of my class at a third tier school and made $38k out of school - ten years ago.

OTOH, my salary only inched along over time. If you think you can make more pretty quickly, or slumming it for a year or two will land you a much better paying job, than I suppose its worth it.

No offense, but this information became instantly irrelevant as soon as I read the bolded.

[A. Nony Mouse]

No, it is not good. I finished in the bottom third of my class at a third tier school and made $38k out of school - ten years ago.

OTOH, my salary only inched along over time. If you think you can make more pretty quickly, or slumming it for a year or two will land you a much better paying job, than I suppose its worth it.

No offense, but this information became instantly irrelevant as soon as I read the bolded.

I think the point was that if this person made $38K to start 10 years ago, no, $30K is not a good salary for a law grad.

[Void]

No, it is not good. I finished in the bottom third of my class at a third tier school and made $38k out of school - ten years ago.

OTOH, my salary only inched along over time. If you think you can make more pretty quickly, or slumming it for a year or two will land you a much better paying job, than I suppose its worth it.

No offense, but this information became instantly irrelevant as soon as I read the bolded.

I think the point was that if this person made $38K to start 10 years ago, no, $30K is not a good salary for a law grad.

Yeah I got that, but I also thought that he was saying that since he finished in the bottom third of his class, $38k was a shitty salary 10 years ago. Many/Most law grads coming from the bottoms of their classes nowadays make about $0. So my point was that a salary that was considered shitty 10 years ago isn't really relevant to what is considered shitty now.

That said, $30k for a full-time firm job (where you're expected to work wayyy beyond 9-5, etc.) is certainly shitty.

[A. Nony Mouse]

No, it is not good. I finished in the bottom third of my class at a third tier school and made $38k out of school - ten years ago.

OTOH, my salary only inched along over time. If you think you can make more pretty quickly, or slumming it for a year or two will land you a much better paying job, than I suppose its worth it.

No offense, but this information became instantly irrelevant as soon as I read the bolded.

I think the point was that if this person made $38K to start 10 years ago, no, $30K is not a good salary for a law grad.

Yeah I got that, but I also thought that he was saying that since he finished in the bottom third of his class, $38k was a shitty salary 10 years ago. Many/Most law grads coming from the bottoms of their classes nowadays make about $0. So my point was that a salary that was considered shitty 10 years ago isn't really relevant to what is considered shitty now.

That said, $30k for a full-time firm job (where you're expected to work wayyy beyond 9-5, etc.) is certainly shitty.

Oh, okay.

[09042014]

Eh, bottom of TTT's was never good for a job. Even in boom times, nearly 50% of grads never really practiced law at TTT's.

ITE just allowed the WSJ to write a bunch of sob stories about people at elite schools who got fucked over.

[shepdawg]

That wage is crazy. I wouldn't be able to get by on that in San Diego, let alone manhattan.

[Moves like JAGger]

update: second interview with U-Haul tomorrow.

law office is fumigating for bed bugs, I may get to work at home for a few days.

[romothesavior]

This thread should be shouted from the mountaintops in the Choosing a Law School Forum. A recent law graduate (competitive enough to land JAG) is honestly considering an hourly job at U-Haul over a job at a Manhattan law firm. What a noble and honorable profession we're in.

Sub-40k in Manhattan is a joke and your firm should be embarrassed for themselves. I would scoff at 30-35k here in STL, and my rent is like a third or a quarter of what most folks are looking at in NYC. Unfortunately, I'll bet this kind of shitgig is more common than most people realize.

Glad to hear you've got JAG on the horizon, OP. That'll be a solid job with solid pay and benefits.

[BarbellDreams]

When people are taking 10K per year in Boston anything can happen. We law grads put our foot down when that CT lawyer asked US to pay HIM. But we're still willing to work for free or below minimum wage.

[Void]

When people are taking 10K per year in Boston anything can happen. We law grads put our foot down when that CT lawyer asked US to pay HIM. But we're still willing to work for free or below minimum wage.

Do you have a link to this?

[Moves like JAGger]

This thread should be shouted from the mountaintops in the Choosing a Law School Forum. A recent law graduate (competitive enough to land JAG) is honestly considering an hourly job at U-Haul over a job at a Manhattan law firm. What a noble and honorable profession we're in.

Sub-40k in Manhattan is a joke and your firm should be embarrassed for themselves. I would scoff at 30-35k here in STL, and my rent is like a third or a quarter of what most folks are looking at in NYC. Unfortunately, I'll bet this kind of shitgig is more common than most people realize.

Glad to hear you've got JAG on the horizon, OP. That'll be a solid job with solid pay and benefits.

Thanks for the kind words. I couldn't be more thrilled and humbled by the opportunity.

Hope my experience is instructive. I went to a T2 and, once upon a time, was 18th percentile heading into OCI. EIC of secondary journal. Never even got a callback. So I worked at this firm for two years hoping to land a sustainable gig upon graduation. TBF, I probably couldn've leveraged my time "time in service" in order to get more money -- but with JAG on the horizon it wasn't worth the hassle. I'd rather be on cruise control until I get my orders than bust my ass to "justify" 40-45k. Ha.

New York Shitty, indeed.

[laxbrah420]

$38,000 is a cushy salary for a regional branch manager.

[jingosaur]

Your office's janitor is probably in a union and makes around $55k a year with health care. So you're actually worse off than the janitor. At $35k, you won't be able to afford Manhattan even with roommates and your QOL will be absolute crap. If it's your only offer, I guess you can take the job and just look for something else. Once bar results come back, your options may open up a little bit more.*

*I'm a 0L so I don't know much about legal employment, but I've worked in the city for a couple of years.

[haus]

Your office's janitor is probably in a union and makes around $55k a year with health care. So you're actually worse off than the janitor. At $35k, you won't be able to afford Manhattan even with roommates and your QOL will be absolute crap. If it's your only offer, I guess you can take the job and just look for something else. Once bar results come back, your options may open up a little bit more.*

*I'm a 0L so I don't know much about legal employment, but I've worked in the city for a couple of years.

In defense of the janitor, at many firms a really good janitor is probably more of a diffrence maker than yet another attorney who has just stepped out of law school.

[nelaw2010]

Doorman in NY makes at least $80k/year.

[Void]

Doorman in NY makes at least $80k/year.

"At least?" So the lowest paid doorman in the entire city makes $80k? I know this is TLS but that's a pretty ridiculous exaggeration.

[Void]

"Doormen add cachet, but they don't cash in. "I think it stinks," says a 25-year-old doorman at a West Village high-rise, referring to the piddling pay. A union doorman -- and they are all in the union -- must log 30 months on the job at $25,680 before he tops out at $32,000 (the same wages apply to front-desk workers and porters, regardless of the building's size or neighborhood). According to Bill Meyerson, of the Service Employees International Union, Local 32B-32J, which represents the city's building-service employees, the only way to move up is to become a super, for an average salary of $39,000. Add the $5,000 in Christmas-bonus money that's common in a big building, and it still isn't enough to keep the young doorman nostalgic about logging and lugging packages and guarding tenants against jilted lovers and stalkers: "This is definitely not a career.""

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/bizfinanc ... ures/4086/

[Gorki]

"Doormen add cachet, but they don't cash in. "I think it stinks," says a 25-year-old doorman at a West Village high-rise, referring to the piddling pay. A union doorman -- and they are all in the union -- must log 30 months on the job at $25,680 before he tops out at $32,000 (the same wages apply to front-desk workers and porters, regardless of the building's size or neighborhood). According to Bill Meyerson, of the Service Employees International Union, Local 32B-32J, which represents the city's building-service employees, the only way to move up is to become a super, for an average salary of $39,000. Add the $5,000 in Christmas-bonus money that's common in a big building, and it still isn't enough to keep the young doorman nostalgic about logging and lugging packages and guarding tenants against jilted lovers and stalkers: "This is definitely not a career.""

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/bizfinanc ... ures/4086/

Shit, there goes that plan.

[Bronx Bum]

Your office's janitor is probably in a union and makes around $55k a year with health care. So you're actually worse off than the janitor. At $35k, you won't be able to afford Manhattan even with roommates and your QOL will be absolute crap. If it's your only offer, I guess you can take the job and just look for something else. Once bar results come back, your options may open up a little bit more.*

*I'm a 0L so I don't know much about legal employment, but I've worked in the city for a couple of years.

Then why are you even commenting?

Good luck getting into your local janitor's union. It's a lot easier to become a lawyer than a janitor in a union. Look at reality--$35k is pretty good for a lawyer just starting, even in Manhattan.

[romothesavior]

Your office's janitor is probably in a union and makes around $55k a year with health care. So you're actually worse off than the janitor. At $35k, you won't be able to afford Manhattan even with roommates and your QOL will be absolute crap. If it's your only offer, I guess you can take the job and just look for something else. Once bar results come back, your options may open up a little bit more.*

*I'm a 0L so I don't know much about legal employment, but I've worked in the city for a couple of years.

Then why are you even commenting?

Good luck getting into your local janitor's union. It's a lot easier to become a lawyer than a janitor in a union. Look at reality--$35k is pretty good for a lawyer just starting, even in Manhattan.

No. Pretty common and pretty good are not the same thing. 35k is a low starting salary for a lawyer, especially in Manhattan.

[Gorki]

Maybe syria leads to massive allout war and we can all idle our time in intelligence posts until the end.

[timbs4339]

30K is doable in MFH (or Queens/Bklyn) with roommates and IBR. If you're willing to live in a shitty walkup and sleep in a closet sized room (lay a mattress on a floor and put it up against the wall when you aren't asleep) you can get a room for as cheap as $900 in a hood' south of 125th west side or 96th east. Don't go out to eat and drink cheap beer at home.

But these jobs are really tailor made for outer borough kids who can live at home.

Source: Lived as broke student for 3 years in NYC. Am now not quite broke but close lawyer.

[Scotusnerd]

Once you get that new job, out that jerkhole firm and make sure other people from your law school know about the shit they're pulling. I think that's the most effective defense against this sort of stuff.

That and leaving right before something important you're working on is due. They need to learn that paying people shit means you're treated like shit.

[newyorker88]

Your office's janitor is probably in a union and makes around $55k a year with health care. So you're actually worse off than the janitor. At $35k, you won't be able to afford Manhattan even with roommates and your QOL will be absolute crap. If it's your only offer, I guess you can take the job and just look for something else. Once bar results come back, your options may open up a little bit more.*

*I'm a 0L so I don't know much about legal employment, but I've worked in the city for a couple of years.

Then why are you even commenting?

Good luck getting into your local janitor's union. It's a lot easier to become a lawyer than a janitor in a union. Look at reality--$35k is pretty good for a lawyer just starting, even in Manhattan.

Wow, if 35k is pretty good for manhattan I'd hate to see what bad is.

[Blessedassurance]

why do people keep repeating the "if you really want to be a lawyer" bullshit? What does that even mean?