The corporate lawyer salary is why this career is becoming more and more popular on the job market. The corporate lawyer average salary is almost 3 times higher than the national median for all occupations ($36,200 – source: BLS). The mean salary of a corporate lawyer can be anywhere between $101,000 – $105,000 (examples of corporate lawyers salary: $101,516 – Payscale, $102,000 – Indeed, $105,000 – Patino Law School). As a result, corporate lawyer salary per month can be anywhere between $8,400 – $8,750. Nevertheless, the corporate lawyer starting salary and the median salary of corporate lawyers, in general, can greatly vary.
Corporate lawyers working in Canada earn a yearly pay that ranges between C$56,206 ($41,592) and C$151,981 ($151,981). Professionals in this field earn AU$50,870 ($36,702) up to AU$147,127 ($106,150) per annum in Australia, between £23,797 ($23,797) and £113,476 ($139,160) in the United Kingdom and CHF113,711 ($110,856) in Switzerland. Corporate lawyers who work in Norway earn a median salary of NOK500,000 ($57,620) per year.
Consult our guide for the corporate lawyer salary below to get the information you need.
Corporate Lawyer Salary Influencers
1. Industry
One of the most relevant factors that can have an impact on the salary of a corporate lawyer is the law firm you work for. Not only do the starting salary for corporate lawyer and average salary for corporate lawyer depend on how large the law firm is, but they also depend on its prestige. To help you get a better idea about the corporate lawyer salaries according to law firms, here are a few examples:
- Salary of corporate lawyers at Baker Botts – $204,701
- Corporate finance lawyer salary at Fried Frank Harris – $404,804
- Salary of corporate lawyer employees at Intel Corporation get – $195,736
- Company lawyer salary at Akin Gump – $249,920
Source: Glassdoor.com.
2. Geographic Area
|
Corporate Lawyer Salary |
US | Canada | UK | Australia | Switzerland | Norway |
| Hourly Wage | $48,55 | C$45,44 | £27,74 | AU$36,66 | CHF54,66 | NOK240 |
| Annual Wage | $101,000 | C$94,529 | £57,708 | AU$76,257 | CHF113,711 | NOK500,000 |
Corporate Lawyer Salary in the US
The corporate lawyer salary in the United States ranges from $58,882 up to $242,310. The bonus corporate lawyers get due to experience and education can reach more than $49,883 per year, making the total pay per annum between $58,842 and $299,192.
In addition to the industry or law firm, another decisive factor for the starting salary of a corporate lawyer or a general corporate law salary is the state that you work in. You would be surprised to find out how much your location can affect your corporate lawyer income. One of the sources we cited above reports that the highest corporate lawyer pay can be found in the District of Columbia – $129,000. The next four top-paying states for corporate lawyers are:
- Corporate lawyer salary NYC – $124,000
- Salary for corporate law in Massachusetts – $123,000
- Corporate attorney salary in Connecticut – $118,000
- Corporate law attorney salary in Georgia – $117,000
Most of the other corporate tax lawyer salary averages are around the $100,000 mark, but there are some states that have much lower business lawyer salary estimates. The states with the lowest business lawyers salary medians are:
- Starting salary for a corporate lawyer in Hawaii – $63,000
- Business attorney salary in Idaho – $67,000
- Business law attorney salary in Alaska – $75,000
- Corporate attorney salary in Nebraska – $75,000
- Mean corporate lawyer salary in South Dakota – $77,000
Corporate Lawyer Salary by State
| State | Annual mean wage ($) |
| Alabama | 104000 |
| Alaska | 75000 |
| Arizona | 84000 |
| Arkansas | 104000 |
| California | 110000 |
| Colorado | 91000 |
| Connecticut | 118000 |
| Delaware | 90000 |
| District of Columbia | 129000 |
| Florida | 95000 |
| Georgia | 117000 |
| Hawaii | 63000 |
| Idaho | 67000 |
| Illinois | 116000 |
| Indiana | 98000 |
| Iowa | 101000 |
| Kansas | 94000 |
| Kentucky | 89000 |
| Louisiana | 92000 |
| Maine | 91000 |
| Maryland | 105000 |
| Massachusetts | 123000 |
| Michigan | 104000 |
| Minnesota | 90000 |
| Mississippi | 107000 |
| Missouri | 101000 |
| Montana | 86000 |
| Nebraska | 75000 |
| Nevada | 78000 |
| New Hampshire | 101000 |
| New Jersey | 111000 |
| New Mexico | 89000 |
| New York | 124000 |
| North Carolina | 98000 |
| North Dakota | 91000 |
| Ohio | 98000 |
| Oklahoma | 95000 |
| Oregon | 99000 |
| Pennsylvania | 99000 |
| Rhode Island | 93000 |
| South Carolina | 101000 |
| South Dakota | 77000 |
| Tennessee | 95000 |
| Texas | 99000 |
| Utah | 80000 |
| Vermont | 91000 |
| Virginia | 103000 |
| Washington | 106000 |
| West Virginia | 97000 |
| Wisconsin | 91000 |
| Wyoming | 85000 |
All data for corporate lawyer salary by state is provided by Indeed.com.
Corporate Lawyer Salary in Canada
PayScale reports that Canadian corporate lawyers earn between C$56,206 and C$151,981 per annum. However, with bonus and profit sharing, professionals can get a total pay of C$60,023 up to C$169,648.
Corporate Lawyer Salary in the UK
The median salary for this profession is £57,708 per year. According to PayScale, corporate lawyers working in the United Kingdom earn between £23,797 – £113,476 per year, but with bonuses that can reach £31,627, the total pay can go up to £114,414.
Corporate Lawyer Salary in Australia
The median salary for this profession is AU$76,256 per year, ranging from AU$50,870 up to AU$147,127. Additionally, with bonus and profit sharing, the total pay per year ranges from AU$50,907 and AU$152,031.
Corporate Lawyer Salary in Switzerland
Swiss corporate lawyers get paid CHF54,66 per hour, acquiring a total yearly salary of CHF113,711.
Corporate Lawyer Salary in Norway
Corporate lawyers working in Norway have a yearly median salary of around NOK500,000, having an hourly pay of NOK240.
3. Experience
If you plan on having a corporate law career at a large firm, you should know that your compensation will most likely follow the set lock-step system. To put it shortly, the set lock-step system implies that every corporate lawyer hired in a particular year has the same income. After that, the corporate lawyer salary for every associate is raised every year.
Moreover, the starting salary of corporate lawyers can range from $105,000 for smaller law firms (between 101 and 250 lawyers) to $160,000 for large firms with more than 700 lawyers, according to the National Association for Law Placement’s 2011 Associate Salary Survey.
Working Hours and Environment
The corporate lawyer job description points out that you will most likely work in an office. The job might involve a bit of traveling or overtime every now and then, but you will most likely be confined to your corporate office.
Bonuses and Benefit Packages
The benefits of corporate lawyers strongly depend on the law firm they work with. While most law firms offer merit-based bonuses for their associates, some might also offer additional perks. If you are interested in this aspect of the corporate lawyer salary package, it’s best to do individual research on the law firms you would like to work with and see what offers they have.
Job Outlook
Unfortunately, there is no clear job outlook data regarding corporate lawyers specifically. However, the BLS tells us about the increase in career opportunities for lawyers in general. The job openings for lawyers are expected to grow 6% until 2024, while all legal occupations are projected to increase 5%. Both of these are below the national average for all occupations of 7%. We recommend reading our article to learn more about the specific salary of lawyers.
Even though it will become more and more challenging for corporate lawyers to get a good job, you can end up working at the law firm of your dreams if you study to become a top corporate lawyer. Even though the education requirements involved in becoming a corporate lawyer (doctoral or professional degree) are quite demanding, the corporate lawyer salary you receive will bring great personal and professional satisfaction afterwards. The job isn’t for everyone, but those who are passionate about law will find it to be quite a rewarding career.
Conclusion
To sum up, the high corporate lawyer salary is clearly the main reason why so many students and future law professionals choose this occupation. It’s not easy to become a corporate lawyer or get hired at a top law firm, but practice always makes perfect. We warmly recommend that you pursue this career if you have a strong sense of justice and are willing to go the extra mile to be well-prepared.
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