Salary for Industry: Law Firm / Law Office

Law Firm Salaries - Information

In addition to learning the vast intricacies of our legal system, most law students devote hours upon hours of their time to jockeying for position to be hired on with a law firm. Once hired on, they will spend years working their way up the ladder, hoping to one day be made a partner with the firm. In contrast to the shenanigans of TV lawyers such as those on Ally McBeal or Boston Legal, being made a partner in a real-life law firm means grueling hours, tougher cases, and loads of new responsibilities. Of course, within a law firm, it's not just the lawyers who work hard - paralegals and legal secretaries play vital roles in assisting lawyers and making sure that an office is running smoothly. Using PayScale's law firm salary information, you can research law firm salaries for various jobs based on location, practice area, and more.

Law Firm Salary Survey Data

A lawyer's day-to-day tasks will differ depending on the kind of law he or she practices, and law firm salaries vary in the same way. The chart showing Law Firm Salaries by Practice Area reveals that litigation and corporate law currently offer the highest law firm salaries. Looking at median Law Firm Salaries by State, you can see that law firm salaries are highest in California, New York and the District of Columbia. Comparing Law Firm Salary Information by City yields similar results - the law firm salaries in Los Angeles, New York and D.C. are all at the top of the list. Wherever the firm, however, a large law firm tends to offer much higher salaries than a small one, as shown in the report on Law Firm Salaries by Company Size.

For more information on law firm salaries, visit the Paralegal Job Description and Lawyer Job Description pages.