Insurance Defence Salary

[Ex1L]

Review season is coming up. Let's talk salary! I know us insurance defence people aren't getting the bump that Bay Street received, but let's discuss where everyone is at in terms of salary range.

I understand second year salaries at Bell Temple and McCague Borlack are in the $110,000 range. Wondering what other people can speak to?

[MagnaCarter]

That salary seems on the higher end for the industry, but billable targets are not the same across the board.

[Blurg]

I’m aware from a few firms that typically starting salary is around $90k with $10k bumps yearly. Targets for those firms would be around 1650. 

[Ex1L]

On 3/10/2022 at 2:42 PM, MagnaCarter said:

That salary seems on the higher end for the industry, but billable targets are not the same across the board.

I thought it was high too, but after speaking with some recruiters I understand that the market has changed over the past couple months. It's obviously not the same as big law, but seems like ID is also feeling some market pressure. I was hoping to get some insight from people actually working at these firms though, and not just get my info from recruiters.

[MagnaCarter]

That's interesting. I haven't heard anything about raises from my firm. Did the recruiter mention what the billable targets were for the $110,000 second year associate firms? I don't think the second year associates at my firm are paid $110,000 but our billable target is less than 1650. I'm aware of some insurance defence firms that have a 1700 billable target.

[beyondsection17]

Beard Winter and Bell Temple I believe are in that range. I thought I saw a job ad at McCague recently that suggested the pay was lower than that, but in all honesty I didn't look particularly carefully. I believe in-house ID salaries for juniors were actually growing higher than what you'd make at a standard ID firm for a while (and still are, in a not-insubstantial number of cases) so firms have felt pressure to increase their salaries or offer larger bonuses to keep their associates.

EDIT: For clarity, I work in-house, and not at any of these ID firms.

Edited April 22, 2022 by beyondsection17

[MagnaCarter]

I won't out those firms that I know pay less, but $110K for a second year ID associate seems a lot higher than what I remember.

It'll be interesting to see if ID firms can keep associates because their fixed rates are based on long-term per-negotiated contracts with insurers, who are always looking to give their business to the lowest bidder. Unless partners are willing to significantly eat in to their profits, I can't imagine ID rates going much higher or keeping pace with the market.

Anecdotally, I see Blaney McMurtry has scooped up a lot of juniors in recent years. In-house departments are also hiring a lot of juniors as well. It always looks like Intact is  hiring, which is not surprising because they have the most P&C market share. The average junior associate on the plaintiff side must be making less than their ID counterparts and not getting raises because the overwhelming trend I've seen is juniors heading into ID from plaintiff rather than the other way around.

[OnlyResident]

Thought I would bump this old thread.

Hireback season is upon us, thought I would ask what the ID shops are paying their first year lawyers. 

[LMP]

I've been seeing $92k-$115k as the general range in Toronto. 

Can only speak to bonus structure at one or two places but there seems to have been a bit of a positive shift in that direction too. 

[OnlyResident]

1 hour ago, LMP said:

I've been seeing $92k-$115k as the general range in Toronto. 

Can only speak to bonus structure at one or two places but there seems to have been a bit of a positive shift in that direction too. 

If you wouldn't mind, would you mind naming the shops and what they pay? 

[LMP]

55 minutes ago, OnlyResident said:

If you wouldn't mind, would you mind naming the shops and what they pay? 

If there's a specific place you're thinking of DM me and I'll get in touch or put you in touch with someone who give you the exact number. 

But speaking broadly Whitelaw Twinning seems to be on the higher end with a Mccauge and Bell Temple not too far behind. I saw FCL and ZTGH also both got a bump and seem to be fairly attractive. 

I don't know what Steiber is doing at a first year level but a few friends have latteraled as more senior calls and seem pretty happy with the comp. 

[Ex1L]

Seems that $90k-$115k is the rough range for first year associates at insurance defence shops in downtown Toronto, except for Blaney McMurtry which starts all first years at $130k. Billable targets are in the range of 1500-1800 hours, and the salary range at the firms is pretty correlated to their targets.

All the firms then roughly increase by $10k a year. I'm not sure if any of the insurance defence firms have a consistent, percentage-based bonus. From everyone I speak to at the different firms, seems like bonuses are in the $5-$10k range no matter how much they exceed target or how well the firm does.