Annual salary of a corporate lawyer?

Ugh. Sorry, hon, but if you want some advice, I'd run in the other direction and fast. You probably will make more money-- and be much happier! doing anything in the world EXCEPT law. Frankly, you'll make better money and have a better quality of life if you apprentice as a plumber. Unless you're at the VERY top of the class in the VERY best law school in your region, you are not going to be making very much money. Realistically, at a large firm in a decent metro area, you may make $100-$125K to start-- BUT you will be working 80 or 90 hours a week, at least. And again, the large firms only hire from the top 10% or so of students from the better schools. You are not likely to get a job as a "corporate lawyer" (i.e. in-house counsel for a company until you have several years experience. In the meantime, you have to work somewhere. If you work for a medium or small firm, expect to make somewhere between $30,000 and perhaps $60,000. The hours aren't quite as bad. I only work about 55-60 hours a week. DO NOT expect benefits from a small firm. If you're lucky, you'll get paid vacation. Bear in mind that you will also be paying off a horrible, giant, chunk of debt to the US Department of Education. I honestly have no idea why people think it's so cool to be a lawyer. I suppose there's a bit of intellectual eclat to it still. And television shows make it look glamorous (pretty people in pretty suits in gorgeous wood-paneled courtrooms trying exciting cases). This isn't the case, however. Mostly, it's not-so-pretty people with bad dress sense sitting around in offices piled high with stacks and stacks of dusty paper, slogging through the MOST BORING STUFF YOU WILL EVER READ. 99% of your time is spent staring at boring documents and keeping up with thousands of deadlines. Perhaps 1% of your time, if that much, is spent in a courtroom. It's rare for cases, other than criminal cases, to go to trial. Takes too long and costs too much. Re the "lawyers bill $200 an hour" thing. Yes, we do. But we don't get PAID $200 an hour. First, in a lot of cases, we end up lowering the total bill or resigning ourselves to never collecting the fees, because honestly, the client either can't or won't pay. Second, a lot of things we do are flat-fee cases (say $500 to handle a divorce), and we usually spend more time on that than the price justifies. Third, the money billed covers the lawyers' salaries, the salaries of the secretaries and paralegals and receptionists, office supplies, fees paid on behalf of clients (which can be pretty expensive, and who knows if you'll get paid back...), rent, advertising, utilities, phone, internet, insurance, continuing legal education, etc. So the actual BILLED amount has very little to do with what the individual attorney MAKES.

Lawyers are a dime a dozen. Heck, there is a shortage of pharmacists and their median wage is $98,000K well above lawyers. Dentists 180,000K median and their is a shortage. From US News, Poor careers for 2006 Attorney. If starting over, 75 percent of lawyers would choose to do something else. A similar percentage would advise their children not to become lawyers. The work is often contentious, and there's pressure to be unethical. And despite the drama portrayed on TV, real lawyers spend much of their time on painstakingly detailed research. In addition, those fat-salaried law jobs go to only the top few percent of an already high-powered lot. Many people go to law school hoping to do so-called public-interest law. (In fact, much work not officially labeled as such does serve the public interest.) What they don't teach in law school is that the competition for those jobs is intense. I know one graduate of a Top Three law school, for instance, who also edited a law journal. She applied for a low-paying job at the National Abortion Rights Action League and, despite interviewing very well, didn't get the job. From the Associated Press, MADISON, Wis. (AP) - A lawmaker who persuaded the Assembly to eliminate all state funding for the University of Wisconsin law school says his reasoning is simple: There's too many lawyers in Wisconsin. From an ABA study about malpractice claims, More Sole Practicioners: There appears to be an increasing trend toward sole practicioners, due partly to a lack of jobs for new lawyers, but also due to increasing dissatisfaction among experienced lawyers with traditional firms; leading to some claims which could have been avoided with better mentoring. New Lawyers: Most insurers have noticed that many young lawyers cannot find jobs with established firms, and so are starting their own practices without supervision or mentoring. This is likely to cause an increase in malpractice claims, although the claims may be relatively small in size due to the limited nature of a new lawyers “In a survey conducted back in 1972 by the American Bar Association, seventy percent of Americans not only didn’t have a lawyer, they didn’t know how to find one. That’s right, thirty years ago the vast majority of people didn’t have a clue on how to find a lawyer. Now it’s almost impossible not to see lawyers everywhere you turn." Growth of Legal Sector Lags Broader Economy; Law Schools Proliferate For graduates of elite law schools, prospects have never been better. Big law firms this year boosted their starting salaries to as high as $160,000. But the majority of law-school graduates are suffering from a supply-and-demand imbalance that's suppressing pay and job growth. The result: Graduates who don't score at the top of their class are struggling to find well-paying jobs to make payments on law-school debts that can exceed $100,000. Some are taking temporary contract work, reviewing documents for as little as $20 an hour, without benefits. And many are blaming their law schools for failing to warn them about the dark side of the job market. The law degree that Scott Bullock gained in 2005 from Seton Hall University -- where he says he ranked in the top third of his class -- is a "waste," he says. Some former high-school friends are earning considerably more as plumbers and electricians than the $50,000-a-year Mr. Bullock is making as a personal-injury attorney in Manhattan. To boot, he is paying off $118,000 in law-school debt. A slack in demand appears to be part of the problem. The legal sector, after more than tripling in inflation-adjusted growth between 1970 and 1987, has grown at an average annual inflation-adjusted rate of 1.2% since 1988, or less than half as fast as the broader economy, according to Commerce Department data. On the supply end, more lawyers are entering the work force, thanks in part to the accreditation of new law schools and an influx of applicants after the dot-com implosion earlier this decade. In the 2005-06 academic year, 43,883 Juris Doctor degrees were awarded, up from 37,909 for 2001-02, according to the American Bar Association. Universities are starting up more law schools in part for prestige but also because they are money makers. Costs are low compared with other graduate schools and classrooms can be large. Since 1995, the number of ABA-accredited schools increased by 11%, to 196. According to the Internal Revenue Service, the inflation-adjusted average income of sole practitioners has been flat since the mid-1980s. A recent survey showed that out of nearly 600 lawyers at firms of 10 lawyers or fewer in Indiana, wages for the majority only kept pace with inflation or dropped in real terms over the past five years. Many students "simply cannot earn enough income after graduation to support the debt they incur," wrote Richard Matasar, dean of New York Law School, in 2005, concluding that, "We may be reaching the end of a golden era for law schools." Now, debate is intensifying among law-school academics over the integrity of law schools' marketing campaigns. David Burcham, dean of Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, considered second-tier, says the school makes no guarantees to students that they will obtain jobs. OK, I have to interject right here. Did a dean of a law school basically say you could go through all the nonsense of getting into law school, law school, ethics exam, bar exam and you should not expect some sort of gainful employment after you are through? You might as well go to Las Vegas and put your tuition money on the rouelette table and let it ride, you may have better odds of making money than going to his school and getting a decent paying law job. This guy is a jerk. Yet economic data suggest that prospects have grown bleaker for all but the top students, and now a number of law-school professors are calling for the distribution of more-accurate employment information. Incoming students are "mesmerized by what's happening in big firms, but clueless about what's going on in the bottom half of the profession," says Richard Sander, a law professor at the University of California-Los Angeles who has studied the legal job market. But in law schools' self-published employment data, "private practice" doesn't necessarily mean jobs that improve long-term career prospects, for that category can include lawyers working under contract without benefits, such as Israel Meth. A 2005 graduate of Brooklyn Law School, he earns about $30 an hour as a contract attorney reviewing legal documents for big firms. He says he uses 60% of his paycheck to pay off student loans -- $100,000 for law school on top of $100,000 for the bachelor's degree he received from Columbia University. "Most people graduating from law school," he says, "are not going to be earning big salaries." Adding to the burden for young lawyers: Tuition growth at law schools has almost tripled the rate of inflation over the past 20 years, leading to higher debt for students and making starting salaries for most graduates less manageable, especially in expensive cities. Graduates in 2006 of public and private law schools had borrowed an average of $54,509 and $83,181, up 17% and 18.6%, respectively, from the amount borrowed by 2002 graduates, according to the American Bar Association. But just as common -- and much less publicized -- are experiences such as that of Sue Clark, who this year received her degree from second-tier Chicago-Kent College of Law, one of six law schools in the Chicago area. Despite graduating near the top half of her class, she has been unable to find a job and is doing temp work "essentially as a paralegal," she says. "A lot of people, including myself, feel frustrated about the lack of jobs," she says. The market is particularly tough in big cities that boast numerous law schools. Mike Altmann, 29, a graduate of New York University who went to Brooklyn Law School, says he accumulated $130,000 in student-loan debt and graduated in 2002 with no meaningful employment opportunities -- one offer was a $33,000 job with no benefits. So Mr. Altmann became a contract attorney, reviewing electronic documents for big firms for around $20 to $30 an hour, and hasn't been able to find higher-paying work since. Some new lawyers try to hang their own shingle. Matthew Fox Curl graduated in 2004 from second-tier University of Houston in the bottom quarter of his class. After months of job hunting, he took his first job working for a sole practitioner focused on personal injury in the Houston area and made $32,000 in his first year. He quickly found that tort-reform legislation has been "brutal" to Texas plaintiffs' lawyers and last year left the firm to open up his own criminal-defense private practice. He's making less money than at his last job and has thought about moving back to his parents' house. "I didn't think three years out I'd be uninsured, thinking it's a great day when a crackhead brings me $500." Here is an example ad in Massachusetts for an experienced attorney, that mentions salary, it was posted this week. Most jobs don't state salary in the ad cause the pay is pretty low. Office of the District Attorney, criminal attorney, for the Bristol County District seeks staff attorney for the Appellate Division. Excellent writing skills and a passion for appellate advocacy are a must. Salary $37,500. Preference given to candidates who live in or will relocate to Bristol County. LOL, secretaries with no college can make more. What is even more sad is there will probably be like 50-100 lawyers that send in their resume for this ad. Here is another attorney ad. They pay 35K-40K, yet they want someone with experie

First year lawyers at large law firms are now being paid around $150,000 in base salary. To command that salary, you would need to be a top graduate at a respected law school, and you would be expected to work well in excess of the standard 40 hour work week. The salary for an in-house corporate lawyer varies based on many factors, including years of relevant practice experience, areas of specialization, region of the country, size and industry of the company. Companies generally don't hire lawyers who are fresh out of law school. In-house lawyers typically receive a few years of training at law firms. In-house lawyers act as executives who have legal training - so they ARE businessmen. The top inside lawyer at a company commonly receives total compensation similar to what the other top business executives are paid. $300K in salary is not uncommon at large companies - and salary is not the only element of compensation. You should consider salary, bonus, stock compensation, retirement pay, insurance, other benefits and perquisites provided by the employer. When you roll all of that together, top in-house lawyers can make far more than $300K. In-house lawyers' hours tend to be more predictable than law firm lawyers' hours, but it is not a 9-to-5 job. Some in-house lawyers trade off a lower salary for fewer hours, no billable time pressure, no client marketing, closer working relationships with the client, a sense of more integration into the business, and more balance in their lives. Top in-house lawyers do not necessarily work fewer hours than do lawyers in law firms.

I'm an Australian lawyer, so I can only advise what is likely in Australia, but I suspect the same 'trends' would apply in most western countries. $40,000 - $50,000 is a starting salary. Most lawyers can expecta payrise anually, and in the beginning, these can be quite large ($10k - $20k). Large firms pay more than small firms, but large firms expect more pounds of flesh - you will work longer hours in these places. Depending on what you specialise in and whether you become a partner or not, you can expect a salary of between $100,000 and $200,000 once you are well experienced. I'm not sure why people are impressed when you say you are a lawyer (because they think you are smart?) but I know that what I actually do, and what most people THINK I do have nothing in common, so people's impressions are necessarily meaningful.

A lot depends on how good you are at your work. The best corporate laws make more , average lawyers make less money

i worked for 2 attorneys once . . . one charged $165 per hour and the other $200 per hour. . . it just depends on what kind of law you practice and if you are partners or owner of the firm. best of luck!

Your $50-90k is about right, if you can find it. You also have to consider how hard that attorney's work load is. It's a 9 to 5'er most of the time. Very little stress, unless something special is at stake. If you want to make a lot of money as attorney. Get an Ivy League education. Win some really hard to win cases and get into a magnate size law firm and make partner in 10 years. You will be rolling in money then.

According to PayScale.com, median starting salaries for a corporate lawyer are pretty close to $100,000: http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Corporate_Attorney/Salary/by_Years_Experience&src=yahooA However, it's true that a lawyer's salary will depend on many factors, including location, qualifications, employment setting, etc. You mentioned that you love law. If that is the case, this could be a rewarding career for you that also offers a relatively high salary. You can do more salary research by taking PayScale's free salary survey. http://www.payscale.com/?src=yahooA Hope that helps, Assistant to Dr. Salary

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