Below are the median starting salaries for first-year associates by firm size compiled by NALP:
(The list is obviously not complete since there are a lot more firms in town that don't list themselves on NALP. Readers of Nevada Law want to know what's going on out there, so please send us information about your legal job--the starting salary, billable requirement, bonus structure, etc. Send information to: nevadalegal@gmail.com)
| Firm Size — Number of Lawyers | ||||||
| 2-10 | 11-25 | 26-50 | 51-100 | 101-250 | 251 or more | |
| 1996 | $35,000 | $41,500 | $52,000 | $58,500 | $60,000 | $70,000 |
| 1997 | 40,000 | 52,000 | 50,000 | 60,000 | 65,000 | 71,500 |
| 1998 | 39,500 | 52,000 | 53,000 | 61,000 | 60,000 | 75,000 |
| 1999 | — 51,000 — | 57,500 | 67,000 | 70,000 | 85,000 | |
| 2000 | — 60,000 — | 63,000 | 70,000 | 75,000 | 110,500 | |
| 2001 | — 60,000 — | 70,500 | 75,900 | 90,000 | 110,200 | |
| 2002 | — 53,500 — | 75,000 | 75,000 | 90,000 | 110,000 | |
| 2003 | — 59,000 — | 71,000 | 80,000 | 85,000 | 107,000 | |
| 2004 | — 65,000 — | 72,900 | 81,000 | 88,500 | 110,000 | |
| 2005 | — 67,500 — | 80,000 | 83,000 | 86,000 | 110,000 | |
| 2006 | — 67,000 — | 80,000 | 85,000 | 90,000 | 120,000 | |
| 2007 | — 68,000 — | 81,000 | 90,000 | 105,000 | 130,000 | |
| % change 1996-2007 | — 33%* — | 56% | 54% | 75% | 86% | |
Vegas is doing pretty good compared to NALP's national median:
Here are the starting salaries of several Las Vegas firms according to the information each firm's recruiter provided to NALP:
Smaller Vegas Firms--Size 11-25 attorneys; National median=$68,000
Gordon & Silver--Starting salary--$95,000
Kolesar & Leatham--Starting salary--$95,000
McDonald Carano Wilson--Starting salary--$100,000
Morris Pickering & Peterson--Starting salary--$95,000
Medium Vegas Firms--Size 26-50 attorneys; National median=$81,000
Alverson, Taylor, Mortensen & Sanders--Starting salary $70,800
Kummer Kaempfer Bonner . . . --Starting salary $95,000
Santoro, Driggs. . . --Starting salary $90,000
Large Vegas Firms--Size 51-100 attorneys; National median=$90,000
Lionel Sawyer--Starting salary $98,000
National Mega Firms (Small Vegas Office)--Size 250+; National Median $130,000
Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll--Starting salary $123,000
Snell & Wilmur--Starting salary $110,000
So first off, the lack of firms in the 100+ attorney range shows that Vegas is still a small legal market, but in terms of salary, we're doing pretty well (with the exception of Alverson, Taylor, paying $10,000 less than the median salary for a comparable firm).
Good job Vegas firms!
It is interesting to note as well, that if you want to be a mega firm lawyer, you might want to leave Vegas since our two mega firms pay less than the national median for comparable firm size.
Kolesar, Alverson & Lionel are slightly higher than you show, however the key factors to understand are that a) what kind of law, i.e., general commercial or high volume, that the firm practices has a much greater impact on salaries than size and b) most importantly, in keeping with the more aggressively entrepreneurial ethos of Nevada business culture, a higher percentage of compensation tends to be production based than is the case in many other markets. So you may find that salary alone may not be an accurate indicator of total compensation on a comparative basis.
ReplyDeleteJordan Ross
Principal, Ross Legal Search, LLC
http://www.rosslegal.com
I agree with you that salary depends on the type of firm, type of law, and billable requirement.
ReplyDeleteIn the future, the blog will further explore the difference in Vegas firms (size, type of law practice, billable requirements, bonuses, etc).
Your second point is interesting though. I wonder how the numbers work out for production based compensation compared to billable hours required. NALP says that Alverson requires 2000 billable hrs a year--one of the highest in Vegas (the blog will address billable hours in the future). If I can obtain the billable hour requirement for more firms, I'd love to calculate how billables, salary, and production based bonuses combine at Vegas firms.
Thank you for the comment. Keep reading. Any further tips, corrections, or constructive criticism is appreciated.