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Employer Quarterly Newsletter
Volume 2 | Summer 2016

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Our goal with the Baylor Law School Career Development Office (CDO) Employer Quarterly Newsletter is to serve as a resource for you as you make decisions related to recruitment and hiring, and in that spirit I encourage you to email me with topics and questions for future newsletters. - Daniel Hare, Director of Employer Relations 

What is the Going Rate for a New Lawyer These Days?

Compensation is one of the topics I am most frequently asked about by employers. It's typically phrased this way: “How much does a new graduate cost these days? I’m not talking about what big law firms in the big cities pay, but smaller firms like ours?” Often the question comes from a small or mid-size firm that hasn’t hired in a few years, and is worried they cannot afford what they truly want. In this article my goal is to share some data that will be helpful to your hiring strategy and decision making, regardless of what type of legal employer you are.

At this point there really are two separate and distinct legal markets operating at once when it comes to compensation: the big law firms and everyone else. The divide has grown over the past twenty years or so, and the result is best understood by viewing the graph below. It shows what percentage of the Class of 2014 earned each salary figure. For example, roughly 17% of the class earned the big law firm standard $160,000 (of course, as I have been writing this a number of big law firms have increased their pay to $180,000, and the dominos are quickly falling such that most will make the jump soon if they haven’t already).

2014 NALP Salary Curve

What you probably notice is the inverse bell curve, where there are two distinct peaks of entry-level lawyer salaries, and a vast chasm in between where relatively few salaries are earned. Before addressing the peaks where most salaries are earned, let’s talk briefly about what makes up the chasm. After all, that is where you might find yourself.

The categories where I see entry-level lawyers earning between $80,000 and $150,000 are: 1) top firms in small/mid-size markets (think Waco, Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, etc.); 2) firms specializing in a niche but in-demand practice area such as intellectual property, and 3) small firms that are offshoots of a big law firm and still serve the same sophisticated and institutional clients. There are a few other employers hiring lawyers for non-lawyer jobs such as business consulting or compliance who also pay in this range, but those are more of an outlier than even the three I mentioned.

For those of you not in the big law camp nor in the salary valley, where does that leave you? It leaves you somewhere on the left-hand portion of the salary curve between $35k and $80k. While knowing that might be somewhat helpful, it is still a large range. So, let’s dig a bit deeper.

Most of the lawyers earning the $35k to $60k on the left-hand side of this curve are in government or public interest. A few private firms pay this salary, but they tend to be in very small towns, and/or pay a base salary in that range but supplement it with bonuses. There are a number of firms representing individual clients (i.e. personal injury, family, criminal defense) that will pay a low base salary along with a percentage of collections or billings. Of course the actual earnings of these lawyers may wind up in the $65k-$80k range (or more).

The $65k to $80k group range is where a large number of you ultimately land. A small or mid-size law firm in a major city can get quality talent paying in this range. You may not be able to snag someone from the top 10% or 20% of the class, but all other things being equal, you should have no problem attracting the next level of candidate at that salary.

Perhaps most important for those of you in this range, however, is to take note of the tremendous advantage you can gain by increasing your salary by just $5,000 or $10,000. When you consider the high number of employers paying $60,000, for example, a bump to $65,000 puts you on a different level where fewer firms are operating. Go to $70,000 and you’ve cut your competition in half, paying what only 5% of employers in the market are paying!

The last item I want to touch on is compensation for current students as interns or clerks. Again we have the two systems, big law and non-big law. The big law firms typically pay summer clerks a prorated schedule of a first-year lawyer salary, around $3,000 per week. For everyone else, we see everything from $20/hour on up. While I will occasionally see clerkships under $20/hour, that level of pay raises a yellow flag for me, and we will advise the student to really do their homework on the opportunity before committing.

Those of you in the government, public interest or non-profit world, unpaid internships or externships (for class credit) are still very common. We encourage our students to consider those opportunities, particularly during the 1L summer or the academic year.

I hope this overview of entry-level and current student compensation structures has been helpful, but please feel free to reach out if you have a specific question you would like us to address. We are here to be a resource for you!

Around the Legal World
Around Baylor Law
Baylor Law School Establishes Legal Writing Center
Baylor Law School has devoted significant time and resources to expand its legal-writing program and develop a new Legal Writing Center. Click here for more.


Baylor Law School Achieves Highest Employment Rate Among Texas Law Schools
Counter to news of the difficult legal market, the Baylor Law Class of 2015 realized the strongest employment numbers of any class since 2006. Click here for more.


Inaugural Business Law Boot Camp Course Teaches Students Essentials of Business Transactions
The inaugural Business Law Boot Camp, an intensive intersession course between the spring and summer quarters, offered a practical perspective on multiple aspects of business and its legal requirements and implications, including forming a business, commercial borrowing, raising capital, trademark and advertising issues, succession planning, selling a business, basic accounting, contract drafting, and negotiation skills. Click here for more.
Career Development
Office Events
July 11-19

Summer Quarter Final Exams
Another fantastic group of graduates will soon be available! Refer to the corresponding article in this email, and you'll recognize Baylor graduates don't stay on the market very long! If you're in need of a recent or soon-to-be Baylor graduate, click here to post a position today!

Ongoing

Fall On-Campus Interviews Registration Underway
Click here to register today for one of our Fall On-Campus Interview sessions. We offer both August (12th-19th) and October (3rd-7th) sessions, and both include a free hotel night, hot lunch and 100% pre-selection of the candidates.

Looking for more CDO? Visit our website or contact Daniel Hare, Director of Employer Relations, at Daniel_Hare@Baylor.edu or 254.710.7617 to get more information on how Baylor Law School's Career Development Office can assist you with all your hiring needs.

Employer Quarterly is an e-newsletter created by Baylor Law School's Career Development Office. Designed for the benefit of you, the employer, we welcome story ideas and comments. Please contact Daniel Hare to submit suggestions or for any hiring questions or needs.

Baylor Law School, Career Development Office, One Bear Place #97288, Waco, Texas 76798
254.710.1210 | baylor.edu/law/cd
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