New York Attorney General's office: salaries? Forum

[Anonymous User]

Anybody have insight into the pay scale for the NY Attorney General's office, especially for experienced attorneys? The office has many active job postings but none gives any insight into salaries, although at least one references an OAG pay scale.

[nixy]

Most state salaries have to be made public. Check here? https://www.seethroughny.net/payrolls/

[Anonymous User]

Thanks, Nixy. There are a few of those government-salary sites, but this is definitely one of the better ones.

While I can infer salary ranges based on the people I know there and what they make, though, it doesn't clarify whether salaries vary by division, and exactly what number corresponds to which level of experience. There's a big split.

[Goldilox1205]

6 years experience and offer was $92k for NYC litigation bureau. Didn’t take the job so don’t know if it was negotiable.

[Anonymous User]

Salaries are based on years of experience not bureau. Go stalk people on LinkedIn and see their years of experience then check salary on seethrough. You will see people who graduated the same class year all have the same salary, unless they are in a supervisory position.

[Anonymous User]

6 years experience and offer was $92k for NYC litigation bureau. Didn’t take the job so don’t know if it was negotiable.

That's rough. I have an interview with the NYAG coming up and I would really like to take the job but if as a midlevel (coming from a firm) I am going to make well under 100K, not sure how I can swallow that in NYC.

[Anonymous User]

FWIW - This appears to have changed in the last year or so. NYAG now publishes below salary tiers. Would love to hear from any recent laterals or current AAG that have specific data points. Would be surprised if 6+ years experience doesn't get you over 100k now.

Assistant Attorney
General (AAG)
Annual Salary Range Details*
Level 1 AAG $86,700 - $121,996 2 to 10 years of post-graduate legal experience.
Level 2 AAG $130,560 - $144,901 11 to 21 years of post-graduate legal experience.
Level 3 AAG $147,075 - $163,318 21+ years of post-graduate legal experience.

[Anonymous User]

I was a state AG lawyer in a different state, large, and would be shocked if NYAG's salary is based on experience level alone. That would make no sense and not be doable at all. NYAG has to handle sophisticated and complex civil litigation, for example, going up against biglaw firms. NYAG needs to recruit law firm lawyers in order to do that, and most such lawyers are willing to take a paycut, but they're not going to leave the private sector to go live in poverty.

Meanwhile, criminal prosecutors or Assistant AGs handling parental termination cases are not coming from biglaw firms, and nor do they have the option to go back there. Therefore, NYAG can afford to pay them less. Paying them an equal salary to NYAG civil litigators would result in NYAG civil litigators getting paid shit--and that would be disastrous for the office. Unless it's okay with frequently getting sanctioned for committing malpractice, discovery violations, and in general losing every case in court.

[Anonymous User]

I was a state AG lawyer in a different state, large, and would be shocked if NYAG's salary is based on experience level alone. That would make no sense and not be doable at all. NYAG has to handle sophisticated and complex civil litigation, for example, going up against biglaw firms. NYAG needs to recruit law firm lawyers in order to do that, and most such lawyers are willing to take a paycut, but they're not going to leave the private sector to go live in poverty.

Meanwhile, criminal prosecutors or Assistant AGs handling parental termination cases are not coming from biglaw firms, and nor do they have the option to go back there. Therefore, NYAG can afford to pay them less. Paying them an equal salary to NYAG civil litigators would result in NYAG civil litigators getting paid shit--and that would be disastrous for the office. Unless it's okay with frequently getting sanctioned for committing malpractice, discovery violations, and in general losing every case in court.

This. It's such a shame. There are so many highly competent, public-service oriented attorneys who would love to work for the NYAG but understandably refuse to earn less than six figures while living in one of the most expensive cities on earth.

[Anonymous User]

I was a state AG lawyer in a different state, large, and would be shocked if NYAG's salary is based on experience level alone. That would make no sense and not be doable at all. NYAG has to handle sophisticated and complex civil litigation, for example, going up against biglaw firms. NYAG needs to recruit law firm lawyers in order to do that, and most such lawyers are willing to take a paycut, but they're not going to leave the private sector to go live in poverty.

Meanwhile, criminal prosecutors or Assistant AGs handling parental termination cases are not coming from biglaw firms, and nor do they have the option to go back there. Therefore, NYAG can afford to pay them less. Paying them an equal salary to NYAG civil litigators would result in NYAG civil litigators getting paid shit--and that would be disastrous for the office. Unless it's okay with frequently getting sanctioned for committing malpractice, discovery violations, and in general losing every case in court.

This. It's such a shame. There are so many highly competent, public-service oriented attorneys who would love to work for the NYAG but understandably refuse to earn less than six figures while living in one of the most expensive cities on earth.

I think I am saying the opposite of what you are. If you join the various divisions of NYAG that require sophisticated, civil litigation experience, your pay will be higher than in other divisions. This is the general rule across most state AG offices because of the extremely diverse and widely varying practice areas that AG offices encompass. Child support enforcement lawyers just cannot be paid the same amount as lawyers handling class action product liability litigation.

[Anonymous User]

I actually don't think this is true for NYAG. My only anecdote is someone who joined a bureau that draws from biglaw and does complex civil litigation in federal court, and I think the salaries were pretty low and largely based on experience. I'm sure there's some flexibility within those bands cited above to reward attorneys in such bureaus, but I don't think your likely to see huge pay discrepancies from one bureau to another when experience is equal.

[Anonymous User]

I actually don't think this is true for NYAG. My only anecdote is someone who joined a bureau that draws from biglaw and does complex civil litigation in federal court, and I think the salaries were pretty low and largely based on experience. I'm sure there's some flexibility within those bands cited above to reward attorneys in such bureaus, but I don't think your likely to see huge pay discrepancies from one bureau to another when experience is equal.

I worked for a state AG in complex litigation for many years, and interacted with other state AG offices all over the country in doing so. Civil litigators handling large-scale AG lawsuits filed against or by multinational corporations are not getting the same low salary as child support enforcement lawyers, in any state that I am aware of. State AGs could literally not function if that was true.

[Anonymous User]

I actually don't think this is true for NYAG. My only anecdote is someone who joined a bureau that draws from biglaw and does complex civil litigation in federal court, and I think the salaries were pretty low and largely based on experience. I'm sure there's some flexibility within those bands cited above to reward attorneys in such bureaus, but I don't think your likely to see huge pay discrepancies from one bureau to another when experience is equal.

I worked for a state AG in complex litigation for many years, and interacted with other state AG offices all over the country in doing so. Civil litigators handling large-scale AG lawsuits filed against or by multinational corporations are not getting the same low salary as child support enforcement lawyers, in any state that I am aware of. State AGs could literally not function if that was true.

I can confirm in NY, it is entirely based on YOE and AAGs in Antitrust, Charities, White Collar, Medicaid Fraud, General Crimes, etc. all make identical pay if they are the same class year. You get an extra $3k if your office is "downstate"