Median Starting Pay for Legal Services Lawyers is $40K, Survey Says
Median starting pay for legal services and public interest lawyers is only a fourth of the highly touted $160,000 that big firm associates make, according to a new study.
Median starting pay for lawyers is $40,000 in legal services and $41,000 at public interest groups with issue-driven missions, according to 2008 salary data by the legal career group NALP. The results were reported on The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times.
Lawyers with 11 to 15 years of experience make a median of $60,000 in civil services and about $69,000 in issue-driven public interest groups, according to a NALP press release.
Median starting pay is $47,435 for public defenders and $50,000 for state prosecutors. Those with 11 to 15 years of experience make a median of $75,000 in public defender offices and about $81,000 in state prosecutor offices.
More than 650 public sector and public interest groups responded to the NALP survey.
