Big Law Salary Increase

[PzabbytheLawyer]

14 minutes ago, Jaggers said:

I tried to find it, but there are too many pages in this thread. What's the going rate for a 2019 call on Bay St right now?

170/180 I think? Might be off.

[KOMODO]

I believe the current biglaw rates (other than for the outliers like BJ, Davies, etc.) are as follows (from notices delivered as of ~October 2021, effective starting in January 2022):

1st year - 130k - 2021 call
2nd year - 150k - 2020 call
3rd year - 175k - 2019 call
4th year - 195k - 2018 call
5th year - 215k - 2017 call
6th year - 235k - 2016 call
7th - individually set (some firms may have a lockstep for this year but I think quite a few are individually determined)

[Jaggers]

Thanks! That is helpful.

[AllWellAndGood]

5 hours ago, KOMODO said:

I believe the current biglaw rates (other than for the outliers like BJ, Davies, etc.) are as follows (from notices delivered as of ~October 2021, effective starting in January 2022):

1st year - 130k - 2021 call
2nd year - 150k - 2020 call
3rd year - 175k - 2019 call
4th year - 195k - 2018 call
5th year - 215k - 2017 call
6th year - 235k - 2016 call
7th - individually set (some firms may have a lockstep for this year but I think quite a few are individually determined)

Do you or someone else know the equivalent for Calgary and Vancouver ATM? I have a friend considering moving cities and I understood it to be:

 

1st - T: $130; C $125; V: $115

2nd - T: $150; C $140; V: $125

3rd - T: $175; C $ 160; V: $140

4th - T: $195; C $175; V: $155

5th - T: $215; C $190; V: $175

6th - T: $235; C $200; V: $185

7th - T: $255; C $220; V: $200

Edited July 28, 2022 by AllWellAndGood

[Cool_name]

1 hour ago, AllWellAndGood said:

Do you or someone else know the equivalent for Calgary and Vancouver ATM? I have a friend considering moving cities and I understood it to be:

 

1st - T: $130; C $125; V: $115

2nd - T: $150; C $140; V: $125

3rd - T: $175; C $ 160; V: $140

4th - T: $195; C $175; V: $155

5th - T: $215; C $190; V: $175

6th - T: $235; C $200; V: $185

7th - T: $255; C $220; V: $200

I believe vancouver 3 and 4 is 142 and 157 respectively.

The full scale is posted somewhere in this thread. 5 min time commitment to plow through.

Edited July 28, 2022 by Cool_name

[Bob Jones]

On 7/28/2022 at 10:56 AM, WhoKnows said:

Pretty sure 175 base is the number.

Yeah 175 + bonus although some firms like BJ may be a bit higher. ZSA also has a helpful guide which seems to be in line with the new numbers. 
 

I can’t seem to paste the link into this thread for some reason but if you Google “ZSA salary guide” you should be able to find it at the top of the page  

[PzabbytheLawyer]

2 hours ago, Bob Jones said:

Yeah 175 + bonus although some firms like BJ may be a bit higher. ZSA also has a helpful guide which seems to be in line with the new numbers. 
 

I can’t seem to paste the link into this thread for some reason but if you Google “ZSA salary guide” you should be able to find it at the top of the page  

Wow. I didn't know in house has such steep rises.

How do not more bay street associates leave for in house at years 2-4?

What's 15k net if it means you have evenings and weekends, mostly?

[Jaggers]

At years 2-4, a good in house job will match your salary, and probably do better if you look at things like pension/benefits, etc. But you give up the $20K/year raises for 3%/year raises and the odd $10K promotion every few years if you do well.

[PzabbytheLawyer]

13 minutes ago, Jaggers said:

At years 2-4, a good in house job will match your salary, and probably do better if you look at things like pension/benefits, etc. But you give up the $20K/year raises for 3%/year raises and the odd $10K promotion every few years if you do well.

So that guide for in house salaries is only saying "if you move in house at year x, you'll make between this much and this much"?

Raises in house otherwise are just tied to the usual 2-4 percent?

Edited August 4, 2022 by PzabbytheLawyer

[Jaggers]

2 hours ago, PzabbytheLawyer said:

Raises in house otherwise are just tied to the usual 2-4 percent?

Generally. If you go around year 3-4, you'll be counsel for a year or two, then senior counsel, which gets you a bump up. And in good years, the bonuses can be really good (mine was almost 30% last year vs a target of 15%). But you do take a bit of a penalty if you move in house too early because you start off at a lower salary.

That said, there is not really lock-step in house (HR does try to ensure some consistency, of course) so you can really negotiate your own deal based on how badly they need your expertise at any given time. Within reason.

[PzabbytheLawyer]

27 minutes ago, Jaggers said:

Generally. If you go around year 3-4, you'll be counsel for a year or two, then senior counsel, which gets you a bump up. And in good years, the bonuses can be really good (mine was almost 30% last year vs a target of 15%). But you do take a bit of a penalty if you move in house too early because you start off at a lower salary.

That said, there is not really lock-step in house (HR does try to ensure some consistency, of course) so you can really negotiate your own deal based on how badly they need your expertise at any given time. Within reason.

Thank you.

[Satan]

On 7/28/2022 at 10:42 AM, Jaggers said:

I tried to find it, but there are too many pages in this thread. What's the going rate for a 2019 call on Bay St right now?

It is 175k for 2019

[Jaggers]

Yup, I have validated. This site usually has good info, and delivered in this case.

[yesnomaybeso]

@AllWellAndGood I don’t think that the I for provided for Calgary is accurate.

 

correct me if I am wrong but I remember reading:

1st: $95k

2nd: $115k

3rd: $145k

4th: $165k

5th: $185k

Can anyone else confirm this?

[easttowest]

18 hours ago, yesnomaybeso said:

@AllWellAndGood I don’t think that the I for provided for Calgary is accurate.

 

correct me if I am wrong but I remember reading:

1st: $95k

2nd: $115k

3rd: $145k

4th: $165k

5th: $185k

Can anyone else confirm this?

This seems low but maybe I just have an inflated memory of Calgary numbers because taken as a whole, you’re probably better off financially being a Biglaw associate in Calgary than in Toronto.

[Talleyrandophile]

19 hours ago, yesnomaybeso said:

@AllWellAndGood I don’t think that the I for provided for Calgary is accurate.

 

correct me if I am wrong but I remember reading:

1st: $95k

2nd: $115k

3rd: $145k

4th: $165k

5th: $185k

Can anyone else confirm this?

Confirmed for 4th and 5th year for Calgary.

[Pantalaimon]

1 hour ago, easttowest said:

This seems low but maybe I just have an inflated memory of Calgary numbers because taken as a whole, you’re probably better off financially being a Biglaw associate in Calgary than in Toronto.

Remember that Calgary associates are always a year ahead of Toronto, because we get promoted to "second year" after only a few months. So e.g. a 2019 call is a 4th year in Calgary making 165k vs a 3rd year on Bay making 175k.

[Jaggers]

Plus there's nothing to do there, so you won't spend as much money.

[Lawstudents20202020]

That's not true, I have it on good authority that a main attraction of living in Calgary is driving to the Okanagan in the summer and messing up the local traffic. 

[Pantalaimon]

1 minute ago, Lawstudents20202020 said:

That's not true, I have it on good authority that a main attraction of living in Calgary is driving to the Okanagan in the summer and messing up the local traffic. 

I think flying to Vegas might even beat that.

[Lawstudents20202020]

5 minutes ago, Pantalaimon said:

I think flying to Vegas might even beat that.

If only I could convince the people of Calgary of that. 

[Pantalaimon]

14 minutes ago, Lawstudents20202020 said:

If only I could convince the people of Calgary of that. 

But what will the interior talk about around the water cooler if they can't complain about red plates? The weather? Pshaw.

[Bob Jones]

Does anyone have a sense of the comp packages for in house roles within the banks (TD, RBC, etc?) I assume perhaps a little under the bay st scale but more than in house roles at smaller companies? 

[Jaggers]

For most of the biggest companies (not only banks, they are all pretty similar) you are looking at a package hovering somewhere around $180K for counsel, and around $200K for senior counsel. They probably vary by 10% or a bit more either way, and there may be a different mix of salary/bonus/pension/RRSP etc., but that's roughly the range.

[Bob Jones]

1 hour ago, Jaggers said:

For most of the biggest companies (not only banks, they are all pretty similar) you are looking at a package hovering somewhere around $180K for counsel, and around $200K for senior counsel. They probably vary by 10% or a bit more either way, and there may be a different mix of salary/bonus/pension/RRSP etc., but that's roughly the range.

Thanks! This is helpful. Any idea how that may vary per year of call? I assume it’s more 9-5ish with no billable hours so that’s how they justify a lower comp but still not too bad.