A Look into Paralegal Positions and Salaries
From Above the Law:
Associates, curious about how much your paralegal handmaidens earn? Paralegals, curious about how much your colleagues around the country make? We’ve collected some data points for you.
We asked you for information about paralegal salaries. We received these responses (all class years are undergraduate rather than law school years):
(1) intellectual property manager (“essentially a high-level paralegal position”), in-house position, Boston’s South Shore, class of 2001: $80,000 (plus bonus and stock options; “straight 9 to 5 workday”; also attending law school in the evening);
(2) paralegal / case assistant, complex litigation defense, in the San Francisco office of a large law firm, class of 2004: $38,000 (plus bonus; last year’s bonus was ~$1,000; roughly 45 hours/week, but if in trial, 50-60 hours/week);
(3) paralegal, real estate and tax, in the Washington, D.C. office of a large law firm, class of 2005: $41,000 (plus bonus of ~$1,500, and overtime pay of ~$15,000; 45-50 hours/week);and
(4) paralegal, litigation, at a large New York law firm, class of 2004: $38,000 (“plus lots of and lots of overtime; I haven’t completed a year, but expect to make about $60K-$65K”).
Our last respondent, who expects to earn about $60K-$65K this year, had these additional comments:
That won’t be at the high-end among our paralegals — I know of at least a couple people here who have made over $90K in a year as a paralegal.
Workload varies depending on case demand, but I personally vacillate between 50 – 60 hour weeks and 100+ hour weeks, when I feel like I can stand to bank some extra cash or am caught up in the middle of a big production. The highest earning paralegals are basically working 17 hour days every day and making double time the whole time.
Interesting stuff. If you’re a paralegal willing to share your salary information, feel provide it in an anonymous comment to this post.
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i live in concord ca and i just wanted to know whats the average pay per hour for a paralegal in concord or san francisco?
Hi Nita, the average paralegal hourly wage in San Francisco from what I’ve gathered from my sources is in the range of $20-$30 per hour. This could be more if you have excellent experience and qualifications.
I’m attending ferris university and seeking a Bachelors in business administration/legal studies. My advisor said this is great to get to persue a career in paralegal. What do you think? if so will I get paid the amount as any other graduate?
also, whats the best state to reside in for this career?
For the highest paralegal salary, you’re going to want to live in the big cities in the United States: New York, Los Angeles, Miami, etc. Your bachelor’s is in business administration? No problem for a paralegal career – in fact this could be a boon for you salary-wise if you join a corporate law firm.
The truth is that it’s hard to know the details on teaching paralegal personal jurisdiction. There are many online paralegal programs, paralegal textbooks directly from the national federation of paralegal associations and paralegal schools. The hard question is what other jobs related to paralegal?