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February 21, 2007
Public Service Salary Information
As promised, here is some information for those of you interested in public service employment. This data comes from the 2006 Public Sector & Public Interest Salary Report, published by NALP and available in the CSO Resource Library. The following are nationwide median salaries for attorneys with one year or less years of experience:
Civil legal services organizations: $36,000
Public defenders: $43,300
Local prosecuting attorneys: $43,915
State attorneys general: $44,949
Public interest organizations: $40,000
Most federal jobs for lawyers fall under the General Schedule (GS) pay scale. Law school graduates usually start at GS-11 or GS-12, depending on whether the applicant is entering an honors program or has experience from a clerkship; the range for GS-11 or GS-12 would be somewhere between $52,000 and $71,000. For the 200g General Schedule table and locality pay tables go to http://www.opm.gov/oca/06tables/indexGS.asp.
The good news is that there is help out there for your student loans! Many law schools, including Case School of Law, offer Loan Repayment Assistance Programs. Some legal aid organizations provide loan repayment assistance. And federal employees can receive up to $10,000 per year in student loan repayments and up to $60,000 total. To learn about specific agencies that offer loan repayments, go to http://www.opm.gov/oca/pay/studentloan/index.asp.
Posted by smp20 at February 21, 2007 02:28 PM