The most widely read magazine for Canadian lawyers
Issue link: https://digital.canadianlawyermag.com/i/137844
LAW FIRM PARTNER INCOME NATIONAL (SAMPLE SIZE: 231) 14% 18% 16% 10% 10% 6% 2% 6% 2% 1% 9% up t $51 o $50 ,0 ,00 0-$ 00 $10 1 1,0 00,00 00 0 $15 -$15 0 1,0 00- ,000 $2 $20 1,0 00,00 00 0 $25 -$250 ,00 1,0 0 00$30 $30 0 1,0 00- ,000 $35 $350 1,0 , 00- 000 $40 $400 ,0 1,0 00- 00 $45 $450 , 1,0 00 000 $50 -50 1,0 0,00 00 -60 0 0, $60 000 0,0 00 + 5% average but going up to $77,500. And newly called lawyers can still command high salaries: $105,000 was offered by one firm. However, firms with up to nine lawyers paid first year associates as little as $40,000, offering $60,000 on average. "Right now you could argue that in the current economic climate, some of the bigger firms are overpaying their associates," says ZSA Legal Recruitment president Warren Bongard. While smaller firms, which like last year constitute the majority of survey respondents, may be reducing first-year associate salaries, Bay Street firms competing for top talent are unlikely to follow suit, Bongard believes. "They're still looking for their next partners every time they hire someone," he says. Even so, few seem to be matching the salaries offered by top firms in the U.K. and U.S., some of which pay newly qualified lawyers $185,000. Dal Bhatal, managing partner at legal recruitment firm The Counsel Network, says the downturn means Canadian firms no longer need to worry about foreign firms luring young lawyers away. "When the economy was hot, U.S. and U.K. firms would cherry pick [Canadian] talent, even students who hadn't even [been called yet], which created pressures." International poaching is no longer a concern for Canadian law firms, however there is still sufficient competition within Big Law firms to keep salaries moving steadily upwards, WHAT COMPENSATION METHOD DOES YOUR FIRM USE FOR EQUITY PARTNERS? (SAMPLE SIZE: 197) other (please speciFy) 29% eQual partnership 24% eat-What-you-Kill 31% locK-step 2% 50/50 subJectiveobJective 8% simple unit 3% www.CANADIAN modiFied hale and dorr 3% L a w ye r m a g . c o m J u ly 2013 35