Florida, I'm w/ you on this one. Erapitt may think he knows what's up. Sad thing is that once he starts going to school his head will only get bigger. It's the ones who think they know everything that truly know very little. Hopefully, there will be a senior partner from some TTT to put him in his place. ("Although law school attended correlates highly with salary, it is not the entire story; some 15–18% of those working in the largest private offices in NYC and in other major metropolitan areas graduated from schools that are relatively low in selectivity."- After the JD study by NALP).
Getting back on topic. Here's some interesting info from the NALP Foundation, p. 39-43 (published in 2004), available at
http://www.nalpfoundation.org/webmodules/articles/articlefiles/87-After_JD_2004_web.pdf The median income of the full-time lawyers in the sample is $73,000.This figure appears relatively high for new lawyers, given that the Current Population Survey of 2002 indicated a nationwide median income for all lawyers of $85,000.11 These relatively high figures for new lawyers may reflect the dramatic escalation of lawyers’ starting salaries in the mid-1990s and/or some compression of salaries over time in certain practice settings.Recent studies also suggest a widening of the gap generally between high-earning lawyers and those at the lower end of the income spectrum (Heinz, Nelson, Laumann, and Sandefur, forthcoming 2005).
Consistent with that pattern, the median figure in the AJD study of $73,000 already conceals an enormous range of incomes.About 25%of the attorneys in the sample reported incomes of more than $110,000 (and 10% were over $150,000),while another 25% reported incomes below $50,000.
TABLE 5.1. Salary by Setting of AJD Respondents (full-time workers only)
Salary — Median
Salary — Percentile 25
Salary — Percentile 75
Solo $55,000 $45,000 $75,000
Office of 2-20 lawyers 60,000 48,500 78,000
Office of 21-100 lawyers 97,000 78,000 132,500
Office of 101-250 lawyers 125,000 96,000 145,000
Office of 251+ lawyers 140,000 125,000 158,000
Federal government (including judiciary) 63,000 54,275 70,000
State or local government (including judiciary) 45,000 40,000 53,500
Legal services or public defender 40,100 36,000 45,000
Public interest organization 38,500 34,000 48,000
Other nonprofit organization 51,650 42,000 69,500
Educational institution 51,800 43,000 70,000
Professional service firm (e.g., accounting or
investment banking)
77,500 61,000 110,000
Other Fortune 1000 industry/service 84,000 63,000 120,000
Other business/industry 75,500 60,000 100,000
Labor union trade association 71,200 46,200 90,000
Other (specify) 40,200 33,000 47,400
TOTAL 73,000 50,000 110,000
Note: Much of the variation between practice settings displayed in this table is also accounted for by geographic variations.
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