Lawyer Starting Salaries

"The first thing we do, let's kill all the lawyers." If you've entered law school, chances are at least one literary wag has quoted you this line from Shakespeare's Henry the Sixth, Part II. Shakespeare may not have appreciated the finer points of legal practice, but his disapproval hasn't stopped thousands of students from completing law degrees each year. In addition to all the lawyer jokes they care to hear, prospective lawyers spend their law school years learning the skills and making the connections necessary to begin their legal careers. With the current economic downturn, many people are considering law school as an opportunity for career change. Earning a Law Degree can lead to numerous employment options - working as a lawyer is just one of many potentially lucrative career choices. For busy professionals considering a career change, or anyone seeking the flexibility of an online degree program, one option is to earn an Online Law Degree. Whether enrolling in a traditional or online law degree program, aspiring lawyers can expect at least a few hours of hard work on the road to earning those high lawyer salaries. Hoping that all that hard work will pay off, law students all want to know: what are lawyer starting salaries like?

As with many careers that require a graduate degree, lawyer starting salaries are typically fairly high. The Lawyer Starting Salary chart shows that for a lawyer, average starting salary is around $57,000. Compare lawyer starting salaries with the Starting Salary of a Physical Therapist - a profession that also requires extensive training, but no degree - and you can see that there are definite benefits to spending that time in law school. However, a lawyer's average starting salary is just a jumping-off point; after 20 years of experience, the average salary for a lawyer almost doubles.

Lawyer salaries are determined by a number of factors, such as the kind of law being practiced. The Average Salary for a Lawyer by Practice Area report shows that the average annual salary of a lawyer working in corporate law, business, mergers & acquisitions is currently the highest, followed by litigation & appeals. Viewing PayScale's Salary Data by Industry for the average annual salary of a lawyer, Government and Insurance stand out as the most lucrative industries for a legal eagle. Big-city lawyers are in luck: researching Lawyer Salaries by City, we can see that the average salary for a lawyer is highest in Washington, San Francisco and New York.

Average Salary for a Lawyer

A good lawyer knows that sometimes, the question itself can be just as important as the answer. Find out why asking, "what are median lawyer salaries" is a better question than, "what is the average salary for a lawyer" in the Ask Dr. Salary article, "Why is Median Better than Mean for a Typical Salary?"