Salary research help (Toronto)

[JuniorLawyer]

When applying to small firms, what resources do you use to conduct research as to what the market rate is for your year of call? 

I have tried looking into RobertHalf's and ZSA salary guide but also spoken to recruiters who told me the market is usually less than what ZSA has. Big firms are so simply, whatever they offer is whatever you take. But small firms have so much negotiation that I honestly don't care for and would rather them just pay me what they usually pay their X-year call. 

Right now I am looking into small firm salaries on bay street. Anyone know what the general range is? Do I assume that because they are on bay street their salary must be higher than the strip mall small firms? I am thinking $80k base for around ~1400 billable hours for a first year. 

Edited March 22 by JuniorLawyer

[QueensDenning]

Depends on the firm, practice area, definition of what “small” is, etc. You can’t generalize the salaries of all “small firms” based on location. 

[Evolution]

On 3/22/2024 at 2:44 PM, JuniorLawyer said:

I am thinking $80k base for around ~1400 billable hours for a first year. 

My thoughts are similar to QueensDenning, and I also want to point out that an $80k new-call base salary for 1400 collected hours per year isn’t too great of a deal if you’re working in Toronto.

Unless the firm you’re working for bills you out for a low rate in the context of Toronto’s market (i.e., ~$170/hour), your base salary will be less than 1/3 of what you collect annually, which is a pretty standard base salary-to-hours collected ratio that you should seek.

For reference, the non-Toronto market I work in often charges $200-230 per hour for their new-calls, which would equate to a similar base salary as what you’re asking for at ~1200 collected hours per year. This is fairly standard for the market, and I know of some juniors that are in arrangements making ~$100k base at ~1500 collected hours per year.

To give you a better answer, you’d have to provide additional info such as what QueensDenning pointed out.

[Dinsdale]

On 3/22/2024 at 2:44 PM, JuniorLawyer said:

But small firms have so much negotiation that I honestly don't care for and would rather them just pay me what they usually pay their X-year call. 

That's the thing.  There is no "what they usually pay" at small firms.  They will pay you the lowest reasonable amount they can negotiate.  They may well pay different associates in the same year of call different amounts, particularly as they move up in seniority.  If you can somehow gain intelligence on what colleagues in your year of call are making at similarly sized firms, that will be powerful.  Otherwise, all you have (as suggested above) is a rough calculation based on a percentage of your expected cash collected.  In this case it would be very helpful to also know what the firm sees as its overhead-per-lawyer figure.  Does it have nice offices and lots of staff?  Finally, if you don't care for negotiation you may be in the wrong profession ....

Edited Wednesday at 02:44 PM by Dinsdale