Summer Job Salaries

[Mr. Blue]

0L here doing some financial planning before going back to school, and I was hoping to get some insight into what summer law jobs pay. Is it usually minimum wage? Slightly higher?

[GoatDuck]

There's a wide spectrum of summer job wages, mostly anywhere from minimal wage to $2000/week. Some summer jobs, like NYC BigLaw, pay closer to $6000/week. Depending on your school, performance and personal interests (e.g. family law vs corporate law), you may have more or less opportunities to get higher-earning summer jobs. 

Edited March 8, 2023 by GoatDuck

[ccq35]

To build off of GoatDuck's post, I think there are two major considerations: what type of law firm you plan to work at, and what city you plan on working in.

1. What type of law firm you plan to work at:

• Large "corporate" or "biglaw" firms, meaning those that generally provide legal services to large corporations and high net worth individuals, generally pay more than other types of firms. The reference to "corporate" is somewhat misleading; some lawyers practice what we formally refer to as "corporate law," but others provide litigation, real estate, IP, tax, and other services that intersect with corporate law. 
• Medium size, regional firms might provide similar services to smaller businesses or might cater to more day-to-day needs like wills and estates, smaller civil litigation, etc.; smaller firms might also provide these services, plus deal with issues like traffic tickets, municipal zoning, etc. 
• You might also encounter boutique firms of varying sizes that specialize in certain practice areas like constitutional litigation, criminal law, immigration, etc. 
• There are also all sorts of government jobs, plus creative ways to use a law degree that might not involve representing clients. 

This is by no means an exhaustive list, but much of the focus of law firm recruitment at law schools is on medium to large firms. 

2. What city you plan on working in:

• Law firms exist everywhere, but the largest firms with the highest salaries are located in metropolitan centres: Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary, etc. If you want to work in biglaw, you'll likely have to move to one of these cities; other firms are located across Canada to service "ordinary" Canadians, rather than big businesses. Depending on your school, you may also have opportunities to work outside of Canada.

3. What's right for you?

• This is entirely up to you and largely contextual: what kind of work do you think you'll find rewarding? How much do you prioritize personal time? Where do you want to live and why? What personal values do you hold and what type of job aligns with those values (or differs to some tolerable extent)?

Just a few initial thoughts; I'm sure I've missed things and others will have additional thoughts or contrasting opinions. 

Edited March 8, 2023 by ccq35

[Whist]

There are a not-insignificant number of people who don't work law jobs for 1L summer, or sometimes 2L summer as well, so bear in mind that you may not get one. My summer job hunting experiences were outside the recruit, so I'll leave any other recruit information to those who've done it. 

Both the job I worked 1L summer and the one I have for this summer are/were in the $20-$25 an hour range, and are law or law-adjacent. Wage can vary a lot and as low as minimum depending on the size of the office and how it gets funding, so I think I've been fairly lucky so far. Some non-recruit jobs get posted as late as April, so if any law students reading are in the position of not having a job lined up right now, keep looking and keep applying. RA spots or working for a clinic at your school are common examples that tend to pay above minimum wage, but every school will have differences. 

Edit: I'm in Alberta.

Edited March 8, 2023 by Whist

[LMP]

4 hours ago, Mr. Blue said:

0L here doing some financial planning before going back to school, and I was hoping to get some insight into what summer law jobs pay. Is it usually minimum wage? Slightly higher?

Ontario biglaw is $1900/week (excluding a couple of really high paying outliers like Davies and I think BJ). This drops province to province with BC being at around $1660 and it decreasing further from there. 

I know Toronto rates best so what follows is a breakdown of Toronto.

Some Ontario midsize firms (Blaney's, Torkin Manes) match this, but most will come in closer to that $1600 amount. 

There are some labour and personal injury firms will do $1400-1600, but these are the notable downtown ones. Not the no-name shops that are a dime a dozen. 

Then on the lower end of the mid sized firms you'll start seeing $1100-1300. A lot of the less noteable regional firms and some ID shops fall around here. 

Then of course there are lots of scattered roles at sole practitioner shops / small firms or with local government. There is a range here too but it is typically lower. Those small firms will likely give you minimum wage - $850/week. It all depends. 

Now, a lot of these jobs won't be avalible to 1Ls and I'm taking the  numbers from the 2L recruit. But I think it is a good sampling of options. Remember, you are not guaranteed one of those jobs on the high end, some people go into law school thinking they're a lock. And spending like it too.