Typical Starting Salary of DC Metro Attorneys

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know the starting salary of attorneys in the DC Metro area for those who are in private practice at a smaller firm?

[Anonymous]

Don't you know that DCUM only knows about Biglaw?

[Anonymous]

This is impossible to answer. It's still a rough market. Entry level? You could get $40k or $120k, depending on the firm. Most will say you're lucky to have a job.

[Anonymous]

It really depends. Downtown small patent firm? 175K. Small outer suburb family practice? Could be $40K. Depends on location, specialties, how well the firm is doing, your qualifications, etc. Huge range.

[Anonymous]

Echo what the PPs have said. There's enormous variation from one firm to another. The $175K does exist but it's the exception rather than the rule. Most small firms are probably paying less than half of that for first year associates. In this economy, a new law school grad who gets offered over $75K should be THRILLED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Echo what the PPs have said. There's enormous variation from one firm to another. The $175K does exist but it's the exception rather than the rule. Most small firms are probably paying less than half of that for first year associates. In this economy, a new law school grad who gets offered over $75K should be THRILLED.

THRILLED? come on, for the new grad, a lot depends on which law school they graduated from...I don't think an HLS grad is going to be thrilled at $75k associate firm salary, and almost none would need to take that even in this market

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Echo what the PPs have said. There's enormous variation from one firm to another. The $175K does exist but it's the exception rather than the rule. Most small firms are probably paying less than half of that for first year associates. In this economy, a new law school grad who gets offered over $75K should be THRILLED.

THRILLED? come on, for the new grad, a lot depends on which law school they graduated from...I don't think an HLS grad is going to be thrilled at $75k associate firm salary, and almost none would need to take that even in this market

PP here. I don't disagree. If you have absolutely stellar credentials--top 5 law school, fantastic GPA, and specialized work experience--it may not be unreasonable to expect a higher salary, even in this market. But that's a very tiny minority of students. And it's more than just a big-name school on a resume, it's the grades and experience to back it up.

[Anonymous]

I guarantee you there are plenty of recent HLS grads who are not starting at 75k. The market is really rough - lots of people from top schools cannot get any job. The thing is being a HLS grad may be a sign that you are smart, but smart is not tough to find among new lawyers. In terms of actual value added very few recent graduates are worth even 75k. Practical experience is everything. No small firm client would pick a brand new HLS grad over an experienced grad from U.Md. Salaries reflect this.

[Anonymous]

Distribution is bi-modal so average salary is meaningless. At large firms - about 15% of legal market in DC probably, average salary probably about 150k. Everywhere else, average starting salary about 55k.

[Anonymous]

My friends in mid to large firms in DC seem to have started out in the $140-$160 range, but that was before the recession. Not sure what the norm is now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friends in mid to large firms in DC seem to have started out in the $140-$160 range, but that was before the recession. Not sure what the norm is now.

those were still BIGLAW then.

I know plenty of Georgetown grads out of work.

[Anonymous]

Thought this was an interesting read

“OVERLAWYERED” is the name of a widely read blog on America’s legal system, and many Americans feel that way. Yet three economists think the country is actually plagued by too few lawyers, not too many. Clifford Winston and Robert Crandall of the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, and Vikram Maheshri of the University of Houston, published a book last month arguing that barriers to entry have kept the number of lawyers artificially low for decades. This—combined with an economy over-regulated by lawyers who go on to politics—results in an unearned premium on legal wages.

full article
http://www.economist.com/node/21528280