Skaddenfreude: A Peek at Paralegal Pay
Associates, curious about how much your paralegal handmaidens earn? Paralegals, curious about how much your colleagues around the country make? We've collected some data points for you.
We asked you for information about paralegal salaries. We received these responses (all class years are undergraduate rather than law school years):
(1) intellectual property manager ("essentially a high-level paralegal position"), in-house position, Boston's South Shore, class of 2001: $80,000 (plus bonus and stock options; "straight 9 to 5 workday"; also attending law school in the evening);(2) paralegal / case assistant, complex litigation defense, in the San Francisco office of a large law firm, class of 2004: $38,000 (plus bonus; last year's bonus was ~$1,000; roughly 45 hours/week, but if in trial, 50-60 hours/week);
(3) paralegal, real estate and tax, in the Washington, D.C. office of a large law firm, class of 2005: $41,000 (plus bonus of ~$1,500, and overtime pay of ~$15,000; 45-50 hours/week);and
(4) paralegal, litigation, at a large New York law firm, class of 2004: $38,000 ("plus lots of and lots of overtime; I haven't completed a year, but expect to make about $60K-$65K").
Our last respondent, who expects to earn about $60K-$65K this year, had these additional comments:
That won't be at the high-end among our paralegals -- I know of at least a couple people here who have made over $90K in a year as a paralegal.Workload varies depending on case demand, but I personally vacillate between 50 - 60 hour weeks and 100+ hour weeks, when I feel like I can stand to bank some extra cash or am caught up in the middle of a big production. The highest earning paralegals are basically working 17 hour days every day and making double time the whole time.
Interesting stuff. If you're a paralegal willing to share your salary information, feel provide it in an anonymous comment to this post.
We are always looking for more income info for future installments of Skaddenfreude, our legal professional salary survey. If you're willing to contribute, please see the submission guidelines provided here. Thanks!
Earlier: Skaddenfreude: Paralegal Salaries, Please
(51) Comments
What about paralegals for the government, like paralegals at U.S. attorney and district attorney offices? How much do they make?
USAO-- decent around 50s. Large city.
Not sure if this is urban legend, but I heard about a paralegal at Wachtell Lipton who made $100K (and this was a few years ago). She supposedly worked like a dog: crazy overtime, for a crazy partner. But she did well for herself.
I also hear it is not unusual for Wachtell paras to make $75K, due to the overtime.
I was offered a position at the Manhattan DA's office after graduating: 30,000 flat.
I was a transactional paralegal for a Newport Beach, CA Vault 100 firm. $46,500/yr the first year. I'm now a law student.
1:56 AM: Was $46.5K your base, or did it include overtime (and any bonus)?
$46,500 was base w/o bonus or overtime.
I paralegaled in new jersey. Made $33K. NO overtime.
100+ hour weeks? excuse my english - but that's bull***t
any lawyer or paralegal making these claims is full of it. 50% of time time is chatting and having meals.
i don't know why clients fall for this nonsense.
I made $38k working for a solo practitioner in family law in city (even had celeb clients). Got smart and went to law school. Worked 45 hours per week. Boss was a screamer. Bad job but learned a lot.
100+ hours weeks is well within reason for a litigation paralegal in trial or in some heavy duty discovery period.
Paralegal clerking for a Tennessee state trial court- $30k, lousy bennies, no OT pay but still work long hours on occasion. Considering chucking the legal field altogether. Private practice pays far better.
the bls has statistics on this... In the San Francsico area, the mean hourly wage for paralegals is $26.88, the mean federal rate is $28.37
$100k, incl. overtime and bonuses isn't unusual for experienced paralegals. I know a couple others who make ~$80,000 with a 55 hr. work week. But they've been at it for at least 7 years.
New grad paralegals at my former firm started at $36,000 but with health coverage fully paid by the firm and 5 weeks paid time off.
I worked for 7 years at a 3 attorney bankruptcy/consumer law firm and made $45,000 plus a $7,000 bonus my last year. (Starting pay was only $12/hour, but it went up quickly) I generally worked 43 hours or so per week. I am now in law school.
Skadden '03. Base was 35K, OT was time and a half past 40. I ended up making about 65K a year.
We've had a few emails on this on the lawjobscenter blog and the 'feel' for average paralegal pay on the west coast is circa $35-$40,000 base - with one contributor saying they made $110,000 last year with bonuses etc - however they also indicated they got on "very well" with one of the partners, so who knows?
Gov't Agency, Class of 2006, GS-7 + COL = ~36,500
All you NYC paralegal are apparently SUCKAS. I know number of paralegals in Chicago who have definitely made over $100k several years in a row without being at the highest pay grade in their firm. I know many who make $80k before any overtime. If these numbers actually reflect reality, y'all are getting screwed.
I'd like to know what temporary attorneys in DC and New York are earning an on annual basis. By this I mean, what they put on their tax returns NOT their annual salary on a single project lasting only 3 months!
I'll start the ball rolling... My current project working 58 hours a week (max hours allowed is 66) I make about 145K annually (3 months and counting). My previous project working 72 hours a week (mandatory) I made about 185K annually but the project only lasted 6 months. So if I stopped working now my annual salary would be 145K/12mos x 3 mos(36,250.) plus 185K/12mos x 6mos (92,500) equals 128,750 for 9 months work.
Before you decide YOU now want to temp to pay off your student loans, go to WWW.TEMPATTY.COM to find out
what "temping" is really like.
USAO, NYC. Earned approx. $54k first year and $65k in the second with a lot of overtime. Benefits are good. Would have been on track to earn $80k in third year but drank the kool aid and went to law school.
As for schedule--100 hour weeks are not lies. I definitely worked more than most of the Assistants because paras go from one trial to the next, all year long. Let me put it this way: I paid off my first year of law school.
I made 45K base in 1998-1999 at STB as a senior paralegal. Had previously worked for two years in a small firm in another state but got great experence there which led to STB. There were quite a few of us seniors and overtime easily doubled such base salaries if so desired. Some of the more senior of the seniors made in the high 50s /low 60s. There are always a few seniors who are career paralegals and who make good money as they are needed for consistency and continuity for litigation support and also in specialized areas.
They soooo deserve the money - as do great legal secretaries.
now i am an attorney at an international/ white-shoe and am so glad i get paid well to do what I do which is not much different than what I did before for much less money, despite the overtime.
Been a SF big firm paralegal for 4 years. Starting base was $57, 500 now base is $73,000. With bonuses and OT I always come out around $85-90k a year.
i'm pulling 47K base plus OT. 60-70K a year sounds about right.
Base $80,00, with overtime and bonus equalled $126,000.00. Crazy hours. Great firm.
Base $80,00, with overtime and bonus equalled $126,000.00. Crazy hours. Great firm.
Base $80,00, with overtime and bonus equaled $126,000.00. Crazy hours. Great firm.
So.Fla. - 72.5 base salary, plus overtime and bonus. Senior litigation paralegal. Hours fluctuate, I like that sometimes I'm not too busy to take a day off.
Litigation case manager with too years of experience. Work at a large firm in Midtown: base of 85K plus overtime and bonus equals 155K, tho I did have 4 trials last year.
I was briefly a paralegal at a v30 firm in DC. Got paid $35K + time and a half for overtime fresh out of a top-15 undergrad.
This may be a bit old, but I worked as a paralegal at a major (top 10) NY firm for two years before law school (which I am now about half way thru, so this data is about 2 years old now) and started making $40,500 base (but this was a step above the $35K that recent grads made - I had two years of other work under my belt by then) plus time-and-a-half OT. I usually made around 60K with the OT. Hours went, as noted in the post above, b/w 50-60 hour weeks and the really crazy 100-hour ones when I was working on a closing (I was in corporate/transactional).
These are great. As a sec. with no college make $60 at big law firm
As a 7+ year exp. para, I made 108K last year in New York at top 50 firm. This includes my overtime obviously which was about 15 to 20 hours a week. If only it didn't cost a fortune to live around here.....
Skadden DC, with law school experience, $47K + yearly bonus, tons of opportunities for OT. Some hav def been known to make over 80K/year.
Big litigation firm, West Coast, base $50 K plus OT and bonus, made about $72 K. Been at the same firm for 5 years, 1 year at a different but similar firm previously. I've been told I'm underpaid but reading this, it seems about right.
Do you guys recommend paralegal work for unemployed tier 2 students?
No, I don't recommend paralegal work for unemployed tier 2 students. Do anything else but that...if you start doing para work no one will ever want to hire you as an associate.
I absolutely recommend paralegal work. Then maybe you'll quit whining about not having a job and infecting what are usually interesting blog entries with your garbage posts.
And, to be clear, I only recommend it to you -- not to any other unemployed tier 2 student. For the rest of that group I agree with 3:34.
I'm interested in paralegaling - can you make a career out of it?
Raise a family?
Advancement over 5, 10 years, or is there a cap on salaries?
What if all your friends tell you you should have been a lawyer?
any idea what an expected paralegal clerk/case assistant annual salary should be for a houston big 3? i was thinking 35-40k
I work at Jones Day in Cleveland. I am a conflict clearance assistant. Starting salary in '05 was $32,000. Last year they started new hires in our department at $33,000. I will be starting law school this fall!
cleveland salaries are lower than most... im guessing?
4:53, make sure you don't go to a tier 2 school. If you do you will make about the same salary (around $50,000), except you will have to wait three years to make it, and you will also have huge loan payments.
I was a CSM paralegal (just ouf of college) with base of about $40,000 during my second year and made mid-sixties in a year that was busy for only about six months.
And you can absolutely work 100 hour weeks if you are at the Printer, working on an M&A deal, etc. You learn a lot though, and the fly-on-the wall scene you get to witness are priceless. Oh, the stories I could tell...flying chairs, flying pens, paralegal scandals, partners in rehab, a deal with an $800,000 food bill...so juicy, but no one cares.
Career paralegals obviously have an opportunity to make more, but CSM doesn't have too many--one in London, one in Real Estate, if memory serves. I have no idea about Litigation--that wasn't my bag.
What can a legal Project Assistant in Chicago expect to earn as a starting salary (currenty in Paralegal studies program at Loyola
Hey I just got a job offer for entry level paralegal in nyc. 30k and slim benefits. '07 liberal arts BA. Does that sound right or too low?
Starting was $62,000 base. Received raise to $72,000 base after 6 months. Bonuses so far this year have been $6,000 and OT has been $16,000. On pace to hit $112,000.
Last year total including base, OT and bonuses was $86,000.
I have 15 years experience
What about the Boston/New England area? I'm a Paralegal grad with a 4.0 and I'm moving from the Cleveland area to New England in the spring. Wages here are a joke - they think that 35 K is "big money". My sister's baby-sitter makes more than that in Beantown.
In January 2008 i will finish my paralegal cert. program which im currently enrolled in at York College, what do i do from here? Apparently they have no job placement programs for continuing education students. anyway....I have been working in a well known law firm as an Receptionist for about 6 yrs now.but im sure they will not hire me with my cert alone. How do i go about getting a decent paying entry level job with my paralegal certificate? and should i go to law school or continue my education in paralegal studies? feel confused and not sure what avenues to venture at this point.
My base salary is $90K plus o/t and bonus. This past year (2007) I made $164,000 not including bonus. I billed 2480 hours.