October 17, 2008
What are Those Bulletin Boards?
You may have noticed that there are three big bulletin board cases in the back hallway leading to the student lockers. Have you ever stopped to look that them? You should! They are three more of the resources that CSO provides to keep you informed about career trends and opportunities.
The board nearest the locker currently contains the bios of the CSO staff as well as the CSO’s “Article of the Week” feature. The Article of the Week changes every Wednesday to keep you abreast of trends in the law, as well as to provide insight and advice on job searching, networking, e-professionalism, and a variety of other career development topics. This board also contains various other items of interest, so take some time every week to peruse what’s there.
The center bulletin board is our “CSO Events” board. Check here for our monthly calendar of events, flyers for upcoming panels and presentations, as well as the map of where the CSO has been conducting employer outreach on your behalf. Coming soon will be a listing of cities that Francie Fields, your Director of Employer Outreach, will be visiting in the near future. If you see a city on the list that is one of your target markets, let Francie know what employers in that city are of interest to you.
The final bulletin board, closest to the Clinic, contains notices of various outside opportunities, from clerkships and internships to study abroad and writing competitions.
The information on all of the CSO bulletin boards is rotated regularly, so be sure to take a few moments each week to see what’s there!
Posted by kcc17 at 12:34 PM
October 17, 2007
Are Lawyers Satisfied with their Profession?
Have you seen the October 2007 edition of the ABA Journal? The Pulse of the Legal Profession survey responses are out, and respondents expressed their views on a wide variety of issues. Some interesting results are highlighted below. To read the article, please stop by the CSO Resource Library.
* 44% of all respondents would recommend a legal career to a young person (interestingly, 57% of respondents who have been practicing for less than 3 years would do so, but only 42% of those practicing for 10 years or more would).
* 79% of nonwhite and 80% of white respondents reported that they are proud to be an attorney.
* 55% of respondents are satisfied with their career. Of note, 68% of public sector lawyers are satisfied with their careers, but only 44% of large firm lawyers are.
* 81% find the practice of law to be intellectually stimulating.
* 69% of respondents reported they believe lawyers have become less civil to each other over time (and 74% of lawyers who have practiced 10 years or more feel this way).
Posted by smp20 at 11:46 AM
October 10, 2007
12-Year Retrospective of New Associate Salaries
According to NALP, over the last 12 years new/first-year associate salaries have increased in firms of all sizes. The increase is most dramatic in large firms. Here is some interesting data to consider:
In 1996, the median starting salary at firms with 2-10 attorneys was $35,000 and it was $41,500 at firms with 11-25 attorneys. In 2007, the median for both firm size categories was $68,000, a 33% change since 1996.
In 1996, the median starting salary at firms with 26-50 attorneys was $52,000 and today it is $81,000 -- a 56% jump.
In 1996, the median starting salary for new associates at firms with 51-100 attorneys was $58,500 and now it is $90,000 -- a 54% jump.
In 1996, the median starting salary for new associates at firms with 101-250 attorneys was $60,000, and in 2007 it is $105,000 -- that is a 75% increase.
In 1996, the median starting salary for first-year associates at firms with 251 or more attorneys was $70,000 and now it is $130,000 -- a whopping 86% increase.
Salaries have increased in other legal employment sectors as well, but not at the same rate as at law firms.
Posted by smp20 at 02:34 PM
September 05, 2007
Median Annual Pay of U.S. Lawyers
Good news! According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, median attorney pay has outpaced inflation by 17% over the past decade. From 1996 to 2006, annual pay in raw dollars rose from about 60K to 90K. During the same time period, annual pay adjusted for inflation rose from between 75-80K to about 90K.
For more salary information, take a look at some new resources in the CSO Library. We just received NALP's 2007 Associate Salary Survey and Starting Salaries: What New Law Graduates Earn (Class of 2006).
P.S. -- If you want to borrow resources from the CSO Library, please speak with Ray. Many of our resources have "disappeared" -- we purchase them so that ALL of you will have access to them. Thank you.
Posted by smp20 at 01:00 PM
May 01, 2007
Introducing Our First "Guest Blogger" Entry: Tips for a Successful Summer, from Michael R. Gordon '85
Next year, the CSO will unveil a "guest blogger" series, in which alumni and practitioners will post their advice and insights on the CSO Blog. As a prelude to this series, here is our first guest blog entry. Michael R. Gordon '85, Partner with Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis LLP in New York City, generously contributed his time and wrote out the following tips on how to have a successful summer work experience. While Mr. Gordon is with a large law firm, there is something for everyone here, whether you are working with a large, mid-size or small firm, or with a public interest, government, academic, business, or other type of employer. Please read on, as his advice will serve you well. And many thanks to Mr. Gordon for his insights.
1. Do excellent work and lots of it; get on the scoreboard at least once per week.
2. Propose solutions, don’t just spot the issues or identify problems.
3. Think, research, write and speak with precision.
4. Return every phone call the same day you receive it; keep voicemail messages informative yet short and sweet.
5. Protect firm and client confidences.
6. Ask questions when you receive an assignment; know what is expected.
7. Bill your time daily – accurately and completely.
8. Make written work product look impressive – and most importantly - PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD!
9. Welcome criticism and learn from it.
10. Start off building your reputation. Take initiative and be proactive. Be positive and enthusiastic about everything you do. This includes, assignments, summer events and training programs.
DO
1. Ask as many questions as you need to make sure you completely understand the assignment that’s been given to you, including what sort of deadline is involved. Be candid with your assigning attorney about what’s on your plate and any concerns you have about being able to finish an assignment on time.
2. Spend time learning about the firm – become genuinely interested in the firm. Exhibit an enthusiastic curiosity about the work the firm does. Try also to get a sense of the big picture each time you are assigned to work on something new.
3. Be proactive. If there is a person at the firm who does work you are particularly interested in, give him or her a call and introduce yourself.
4. Take advantage of the firm’s resources. If you are asked to draft a contract or a memorandum, ask to see well-done samples. Talk to associates who have worked with specific partners to get a sense of their individual expectations.
5. Carefully review each piece of work that you hand in for typos and other mistakes; never hand in less than completely finished work to a supervising partner or associate.
6. Strike a balance between the work and social elements of your summer. Take your work very seriously and tread somewhat cautiously at social events. Use the social activities during the summer to demonstrate your level of maturity.
7. Get a handle on budgeting your time early on. Take on as much work as you can without reneging on existing deadlines and underperforming on projects that have already been assigned to you. If you do get caught and don’t think you can meet a deadline report it to your supervising attorney ASAP.
8. People hear about how you treat everyone, including support staff (secretaries, paralegals, recruiting staff and library personnel). Let the word get around that you treat people well.
9. Help other summer associates – you are in this together as a firm. Do ask for help from other summer associates. They may have some insight on your project or they may have worked with the same assigning partner before and can offer you some advice.
DON’T
1. Don’t try to do an assignment without fully knowing what’s involved out of intimidation or fear that a partner or associate expects you to already know everything. Don’t be afraid to ask what you don’t know or understand.
2. Don’t do the bare minimum. Don’t fail to ask any questions about how your work fits into the big picture.
3. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel by ignoring the hours of work done by associates who came before you. Ask the assigning attorney, your mentor or other associates if there are existing memos or research files that may assist you with your assignment.
4. Don’t hide in your office with your head in a pile of paper in order to avoid human contact. When you pass people in the hallways, say hello. Go to the planned events, go out to lunch with as many as attorneys as possible and attend any training programs or practice group lunches that are offered while you are there. Get to know the people who make up the firm.
5. Don’t hand in working drafts or work that has not been proofread to a partner, no matter how laid back he or she may seem. Use this test: Ask yourself whether you would be less than confident in the quality of your work were it to be distributed to every lawyer at the firm for their review. If so, go back and take another look.
6. Don’t let up. As one 3L puts it: "Beware of week six; it’s the point in the summer when the learning curve flattens. There is a tendency to say, ‘I’ve done enough work,’ and get a little lazy." All the work product you produce counts.
7. Don’t focus only on work to the exclusion of enjoying your summer. Firms like to hire people who lead relatively well-rounded lives. Plus the social events are another great opportunity to get to know the people you work with.
8. Don’t be late to anything including summer events, client meetings, training programs or even lunches. Being on time shows that you are dependable.
9. Don’t check your blackberry during a training program even if you see other attorneys do so. It is disrespectful.
Posted by smp20 at 02:24 PM
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 02:28 PM
February 07, 2007
Starting Salaries
Every summer, NALP publishes Starting Salaries: What New Law Graduates Earn. These publications are available in the CSO Resource Library -- please stop by and take a look.
We thought you might like to know a bit about starting salaries for the Class of 2005 (Class of 2006 data won't be available until the summer) in a variety of cities of interest to you: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Columbus, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Washington, DC. We are providing median salaries for firms of different size ranges. For averages, salary ranges, and more, we urge you to come in and review the publication!
Median salary at firms with 2-10 attorneys/ 11-25 attorneys/ 26-50 attorneys/ 51-100 attorneys/ 101-250 attorneys/ 251+ attorneys:
Atlanta: 62,500/75,000/75,000/75,000/100,000/100,000
Boston: 50,000/59,000/75,000/80,000/125,000/125,000
Chicago: 50,000/ 56,250/70,000/100,000/125,000/110,000
Cleveland: 40,000/75,000/77,500/86,250/95,000/110,000
Columbus: 48,000/ 73,000/no data/90,000/92,500/100,000
LA: 65,000/ 72,000/95,000/80,000/125,000/125,000
NYC: 52,250/65,000/65,000/100,000/125,000/125,000
Philadelphia: 50,000/70,000/65,000/71,000/105,000/115,000
Pittsburgh: 60,000/45,000/62,500/80,000/100,000/110,000
DC: 60,000/85,000/105,000/125,000/125,000/125,000
This publication does not give government salaries by city, but does by state. Some median starting salaries for government jobs in select states: 56K in California, 54K in Washington DC; 51K in Arizona; 49K in New York; 46K in Georgia; 44,500 in Pennsylvania; 43,000 in Michigan; 42,500 in Ohio; 39,000 in Florida; 38,000 in North Carolina; and 35,000 in Massachusetts.
NEXT WEDNESDAY -- INFO ON PUBLIC INTEREST SALARIES!!!
Posted by smp20 at 10:54 AM
November 01, 2006
Looking for Information on Salaries?
The Career Services Office library has a number of resources with salary information.
NALP's Starting Salaries: What New Law Graduates Earn presents a detailed look at new law graduates' salaries by type of employment, by size of firm, by city, and by state. It also compares the "buying power" of a salary in New York City with salaries in other major cities. In addition to helping students compare salary offers from different cities, the "buying power index" provides employers in cities with lower costs of living with a tool to promote what their salaries will buy.
Want to know what associates are earning? Take a look at NALP's 2006 Associate Salary Survey This annual research report takes a comprehensive look at associate salaries nationwide by class year; by city and/or state; by region; and by firm size. Comparisons of law firm compensation and bonus structures are also included. Firms surveyed for this annual research report are not limited to NALP member law firms. Take a look at city-specific tables and also at tables by class year, by region, and by firm and office size.
Finally, the Public Sector and Public Interest Attorney Salary Report — 2006, also published by NALP, features a section on federal government salaries and benefits as well as information on salaries by years of experience for attorneys at five types of organizations: civil legal services organizations, public defenders' offices, local prosecuting attorneys' offices, offices of attorneys general, and other public interest organizations. Salaries are reported for each of these five types of organizations both nationwide and by geographic markets. Basic information on benefits (health and dental insurance, retirement or pension plans), and on the availability and nature of Loan Repayment Assistance Programs is also included.
All of these resources can be found in the Information on Salaries binder in the CSO library (reference only). Please drop by and take a look!
Posted by smp20 at 10:20 AM