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ssociate salaries are back on the upswing, but new lawyers may have to do
more for their money in the future, judging by the results of Canadian
Lawyer's 2014 Compensation Survey. After two straight years of decline,
first-year associates saw a significant 21-per-cent bump in salary, with
the median hitting $80,000 in this year's survey, up from $66,000 in
2013. That's the highest level since we started compiling the survey in
this format in 2010.
For in-house counsel called last year, the jump in the national aver-
age was a more modest, but still generous, 11 per cent, to $89,000
from $80,000. Grouped by year of call, new lawyers in every category
saw average wages rise over last year's survey, from one year out, to
more than eight years out.
Optimism was also the order of the day looking ahead to 2015,
with two-thirds of respondents predicting salary rises again next
year, some by up to 15 per cent. About 48 per cent of firms are
on the lookout for new lawyers this year, up from 40 per cent last
year, with just two per cent planning to downsize.
But before anyone gets carried away, the survey also high-
lighted the ongoing generational war being fought within many
of the country's law firms, with senior lawyers consistently
identifying associate expectations as a chief source of dispute
when setting compensation rates. "Associates always want higher wages,
a
