Anonymous wrote:Yikes. this is terrible. AmLaw 100 firms start at 165K.

Umm, yeah, and there are tons of jobs for newbie lawyers with Amlaw 100 firms.

Yikes. this is terrible. AmLaw 100 firms start at 165K.

50K at my firm for first year associates and you hit a ceiling at 80 K anyway.

Probably 60k. I say that as a 5th year at a small firm who may take a pay cut to go non profit because my benefits are awful...

Anonymous wrote:huge range depending on quality of firm. if you have good benefits now you may end up worse off b/c small firms often have shitty benefits.

agree. If you are not one of the shareholders, you get paid shit. Husband went through this--he's a prosecutor (making not great money, but great benefits) and a small firm was all over him trying to recruit. LAUGHABLE base salary offer, and then all kinds of pie in the sky benefits that had no basis in reality. ("well, we don't have health insurance now, but we are looking into it, don't worry. Well, we don't have a vacation policy, but it will be fine. We'll pay your COBRA while we work out the health insurance--hey, what do you mean it'd run $1500 a month?! Oh, and hey, we'll give you a bonus if it's a good year. No, we don't know what 'good year' means. Oh, and for SURE you will get a cut of business you bring in, but no need to write that down anywhere or be specific about how much and whether its billed vs. collected or whatever.")

There are a few medium-sized, quality firms that I would be comfortable with joining as an associate, but they are few and far between, and mostly are not hiring.

huge range depending on quality of firm. if you have good benefits now you may end up worse off b/c small firms often have shitty benefits.

60k

65k to 85k at a small firm.

Currently working as public interest attorney making about 50k, working at a position with heavy trial experience. Any idea what I could expect to make at a small/medium firm? I know not a lot of young attorneys get this kind of trial experience so hoping that may lead to a little higher salary than would otherwise expect at small-med firm. Any thoughts?