Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Robert Half Legal Releases 2011 Salary Survey

This is a great day for posts by Sally Anne Kane at http://about.com/.

Ms. Kane reports that "As we emerge from one of the grimmest job markets in decades, the Robert Half Legal 2011 Salary Guide offers a sign of hope for increased hiring in the legal industry.

The Salary Guide predicts a small rise in 2011 salaries for legal professionals including lawyers, paralegals, office managers, case clerks, document coders and legal receptionists."

According to the report, paralegals will see the largest increases. Paralegals with four to six years of experience at midsize law firms will see average base compensation ranging between $48,250 and $62,500, a 3.7 percent increase over 2010 projections.

The Guide predicts that senior paralegals with seven or more years' experience at midsize firms will see a 3.1% increase in compensation in 2011 and can expect to receive a base salary from $55,000-$70,750.

Ms. Kane quotes Charles Volkert, Executive Director of Robert Half Legal:
"We are optimistic that, as the economy improves, hiring will continue. Who knows if it will ever go back to the market of 2007, but law firms and corporate legal departments are going to continue to put a premium on legal professionals with experience in in-demand practice areas."
The RH Salary Guide states that the current in-demand practice areas include litigation, bankruptcy, foreclosure, intellectual property, contracts and licensing, corporate transactional law, and healthcare law.

To access the Robert Half 2011 Salary Guide, follow this link. Also, NALA's 2010 Salary Guide is available at http://www.nala.org/survey.aspx and the State Bar of Texas has released its salary survey which can be accessed by clicking here.

All of this information is important to paralegals nationwide as they watch trends for the paralegal profession to set goals and plan their careers.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Your link to the Robert Half Salary Survey is for the Accounting / Finance Survey. You need to go to: http://www.roberthalflegal.com/CandidateFreeResources for the Legal Salary Survey.

Paralegal Mentor said...

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Seiko. I have corrected the link so readers should have no problem accessing the Salary Survey.