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Corporate Lawyer Salary

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 duties

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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