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Attorney Fees, Salary Surveys, and Rankings

About Salary Surveys

Salary surveys provide an overview of law firm salaries. Some surveys go into more detail than others and include break-downs by attorney level and specialty. The following are law firms salary surveys available at Jenkins or freely available online.

Finding Salary Surveys

Equalizers and Salary Surveys Society of American Law Teachers (SALT)
Annual survey of law faculty salaries.

National Utilization/Compensation Survey National Association of Legal Assistants (NALA)
Current survey results only. Survey participants include members of NALA, as well as non-members. Survey available to NALA members for no charge. Non-members need to purchase the report.

Salaries & Compensation National Association for Law Placement (NALP)
Many survey results available for early 2000s - present. Includes Starting Salaries, Private Sector Salaries, Public Sector Salaries, and more. Additional surveys are available for purchase.

Websites likes Salary.com and PayScale.com provide salary data for a wide range of occupations. Be sure to check methodology information to see how data are compiled.

First-Year Associates ALM
A supplement to the Legal Intelligencer (select years available in General Collection, most other years available in the bound Legal Intelligencer). See "Philadelphia Firm-By-Firm Statistics" chart.

Jenkins' librarians have found the First-Year Associates Supplement on the following dates:

  • 2015: 9/22/2015
  • 2010-2014: 7/13/2010 (see the "New Associates" supplement), 9/6/2011, 9/4/2012, 9/10/2013, 9/23/2014
  • 2005-2009: 10/3/2005, 9/18/2006, 9/4/2007, 9/8/2008, 9/8/2009
  • 2000-2004: 10/23/2000, 10/15/2001, 10/14/2002, 10/13/2003, 10/13/2004

Pa Law: The State of the Profession ALM
Library has 1994-present. A supplement to the Legal Intelligencer. "National Statistics" chart includes associate and partner compensation data. "100 Largest Law Firms in Pennsylvania" chart includes First-Year Associate Salary data. Not all firms disclose salary information.

Summer Associates ALM
A supplement to the Legal Intelligencer (select years available in General Collection, most other years available in the bound Legal Intelligencer). See "Philadelphia's Summer Class" chart.

Jenkins' librarians have found the Summer Associates Supplement on the following dates:

  • 2010: 7/13/2010 (see the "New Associates" supplement)
  • 2005-2009: 6/6/2005, 6/14/2006, 6/4/2007, 6/9/2008, 6/8/2009
  • 2000-2004: 6/12/2000, 6/6/2001, 6/10/2002, 6/9/2003, 6/4/2004

Survey Philadelphia Bar Association
Library has 1990, 1995, 2000, 2005.

New Jersey Legal Almanac ALM
Library has 2004 - present. In 2015 the title of the magazine changed to "NJ Law". A supplement to the New Jersey Law Journal. See "Largest Law Firms" and "Summer Hiring at Large Firms" charts. Not all firms disclose salary information.

Jenkins' librarians found the New Jersey Legal Almanac / NJ Law on the following dates:

  • 2015-2019: 10/12/2015, 12/4/2016, 11/20/2017, 11/16/2018, 11/15/2019
  • 2010-2014: 10/25/2010, 10/24/2011, 10/1/2012, 10/7/2013, 10/14/2014
  • 2005-2009: 10/31/2005, 10/30/2006, 10/29/2007, 10/27/2008, 10/26/2009
  • 2004: 10/4/2004

The AM Law 100 ALM
Library has 1988 - present (1988-1996 in General Collection, 1998-present bound in The American Lawyer in Periodicals). A supplement to The American Lawyer. See "Compensation - All Partners" chart.

Jenkins' librarians have found The AM Law 100 in the following issues:

  • 2006-2022: see the May issues
  • 1999-2005: see the July issues
  • 1988-1998: see the July/August issues

The National Law Journal 250: Annual Survey of the Nation's Largest Firms ALM
Library has 1980 - present (select years available in Periodicals, all others available on Micro). A supplement to The National Law Journal. The NLJ Annual Survey began in 1978. It started with 200 firms and expanded to 250 firms in 1983. In April 2012 the NLJ Annual Survey changed from 250 to 350. In June 2016 the NLJ Annual Survey changed from 350 to 500. In 2017 the National Law Journal changed to a monthly magazine format. Regional Reports may also be available.

Jenkins librarians have found the NLJ 250, NLJ 350, and NLJ 500 on the following dates:

  • 2020: July 2020
  • 2015-2017: 6/8/2015, 6/27/2016, July 2017, July 2018, July 2019
  • 2010-2014: 11/8/2010, 4/25/2011 (revised 2010 results), 3/26/2012, 4/16/2012, 6/10/2013, 6/16/2014
  • 2005-2009: 11/14/2005, 11/13/2006, 11/12/2007, 11/10/2008, 11/9/2009
  • 2000-2004: 12/4/2000, 11/19/2001, 11/18/2002, 11/24/2003, 11/15/2004
  • 1995-1999: 10/9/1995, 9/30/1996, 11/10/1997, 11/16/1998, 12/13/1999
  • 1990-1994: 9/24/1990, 9/30/1991, 9/28/1992, 9/27/1993, 10/3/1994
  • 1985-1989: 9/30/1985, 9/22/1986, 9/28/1987, 9/26/1988, 9/18/1989
  • 1980-1984: 10/6/1980, 9/27/1981, 9/20/1982, 9/19/1983, 9/24/1984

Survey of Law Firm Economics ALM
Library has 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2013, 2015, 2019 (this publication is on Jenkins' occasional purchasing schedule, to purchase other available years, see the ALM website). See the "Compensation" tab. Data are organized by multiple categories, including firm size, region, gender, and specialty. Some data may be available by state. City and county data not available.