The COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t curtailed base pay for beginning associates, according to the National Association for Law Placement’s survey of mostly larger law firms.
The median base salary for first-year associates was $165,000 as of Jan. 1 this year, up $10,000 from 2019, the time of the last survey, according to a NALP press release. Law firms of more than 250 lawyers accounted for about 78% of the 572 responses.
The most common starting salary for beginning associates was $190,000, accounting for 39.6% of all salaries across all firm sizes.
