Ed. notice: Welcome to our each day characteristic, Quote of the Day.
With out the stiff competitors of the expertise wars to push it alongside, the market isn’t shifting as rapidly to comply with the few massive corporations who’ve introduced first-year pay will increase as we noticed within the final cycle.
— Nikia Grey, govt director of the Nationwide Affiliation for Legislation Placement (NALP), commenting on the organization’s latest salary report, which revealed that as of January 1, 2025, the median base wage for first-year associates was $200,000, rising to $215,000 at corporations with greater than 700 attorneys. “Most notably, whereas some corporations are actually providing an eye-popping $225,000 entry-level salary, the general median first-year wage and the median first-year wage on the largest corporations remained flat in comparison with the figures NALP reported in 2023,” she stated, “indicating that the market softened over the past two years and there may be much less strain on corporations to extend salaries to be able to stay aggressive.” NALP’s report notes that simply 32% of all regulation corporations supply $225K to first-year associates, however that fee grew to 45% amongst regulation corporations with greater than 700 attorneys.
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Legislation, the place she’s labored since 2011. She’d love to listen to from you, so please be happy to email her with any ideas, questions, feedback, or critiques. You’ll be able to comply with her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or join together with her on LinkedIn.
