Report: NYC law salaries on rise to $190K

A new report predicts that starting salaries for associates at top Manhattan law firms could reach $190,000 by December, and one expert says they have no signs of stopping.

The 2007 Salary Guide - published by Robert Half Legal, a recruitment firm based in Menlo Park, Calif. - anticipates compensation increases to the tune of $30,000 over current peak first-year salaries by the end of the year.

And the guide's expectations for a nearly 20-percent salary increase for first-year associates is not merely an optimistic guess, says Maura Mann, training and development manager at Robert Half Legal.

Students who earn their J.D., Mann explained, are far from constrained to the typical "partner track."

Today's law graduates have greater opportunities than ever to pursue other avenues outside of the traditional high-powered firms - becoming staff attorneys and in-house legal consultants, working in an "of-council" capacity or entering nontraditional or public-interest careers.

She added that, as more options become available for law-school graduates, firms will increasingly be competing for "a very select group of candidates."

"Firms will do what they think it takes to retain top talent because they don't want that top talent working for competitors," Mann said.

Increasing competition for a shrinking pool of talent among firms has thus turned newsworthy salary gains into a trend that Mann says may continue far into the future.

Salaries took their latest jump just in the last two weeks, said Penn Law career counselor Christine Fritton, with several New York firms moving their peak compensation from $145,000 to $160,000.

Fritton explained that, once a New York firm makes these kinds of salary increases, other major firms tend to follow suit rather quickly. When firm salaries begin to even out once again, an audacious firm will up the ante with another starting salary raise, beginning the process all over again.

But this pattern isn't specific to New York firms - Fritton said Philadelphia firms follow these trends too, although most "will not go as high [with salaries] as the New York firms have gone."

She added that a starting salary deficit of $25,000 or more versus top New York firms hasn't driven all Penn Law grads to Manhattan -10 to 20 percent still stay in Philadelphia after graduation.

Penn Law student Aram Muradyan said the current trend of increasing salaries is obviously nice for potential graduates, but it's not the cash that drives students to pursue a law degree.

"I don't think I've met anyone who went to law school just for the money," he said.

Comments (5)

Either Ms. Mann and Robert Half Legal are deluding themselves and their readers in an effort to sell books that contain unfounded good news or this is an example of shoddy reporting that doesn't attempt to get to the truth of the matter and confuses base salary with total compensation. As a gracious recipient of the most recent raise in base salary among NYC firms, I find it highly unlikely that salaries will increase again this year, as Ms. Mann apparently believes (or Mr. Cohen understood her to say). It is true that this is the second consecutive year when base salaries have risen, but prior to that salaries were static for five years. Rather than Ms. Mann being deluded, though, I think that Mr. Cohen didn't take the time to parse Ms. Mann's statements and separate base salary (currently $160K for first years at top NYC firms) and total compensation (base + bonus). Based on recent trends, bonus for first years will likely be in the $30K-$40K range, getting to the $190K that Robert Half Legal predicts. Either way it looks as though someone is mistaken (of course I won't be upset if they're not).

I don't think the Robert Half report is necessarily nonsense. Law firms are making record profits, while at the same time investment banks are competing for a similar pool of talent. Increased compensation should be expected if law firms want to attract and retain talent. Moreover, the increase from 125k starting salary in 2001 to a 170k starting salary in 2007 amounts to a 5% adjustment per year, well in line with the growth in profitability of these law firms, perhaps lagging behind cost of living increases in larger cities. A 190k starting salary within a few years is not a radical idea.

facts: lawyers are sheep. bankers are sheep. the only people who aren't sheep are those who either do what they love doing and don't get paid, or have the balls to go out in the world, build a business, and sell it.

Aram Muradyan is an idiot. Why do you think I went to law school?

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