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First-year lawyer pay follows a bimodal curve identified by NALP: one peak at large firms paying the Cravath lockstep scale, currently $235,000, and a taller peak covering public-sector, small-firm, and public-interest jobs paying $235,000. The average masks this split.
By Ali Unar, JD candidate at Georgetown Law and founder of Lovare Institut. Last updated August 2026. Figures on this page were verified in August 2026 or point readers to the current source.
A first-year lawyer's salary lands in one of two bands rather than at a single average. The large-firm band, paid on the lockstep market scale, is $235,000. The much broader band covering government, public interest, and small firms centers on the national entry median of $95,000 (the NALP Class of 2024 overall median; the mean was $125,926).
Because new-lawyer pay is bimodal, the arithmetic average falls between the two peaks and represents almost no one. NALP's salary distributions show this clearly: a tall peak near the median and a shorter peak at the big-firm rate. When someone quotes a single average first-year salary, they are usually flattening two very different realities into one misleading figure.
Confirm the current numbers behind these drivers against see the linked source (see the linked source).
Pick the track that fits your goals and plan its specific requirements rather than aiming at the average. The big-firm path turns on grades, rank, and recruiting timing; the public-service path turns on mission fit and loan-forgiveness math. Lovare's coaching targets the LSAT score and application quality that keep the higher-paying options available.
New lawyers typically earn either the big-firm market salary of $235,000 or, far more commonly, the entry-level median of $95,000 (the NALP Class of 2024 overall median; the mean was $125,926). Which one you earn depends on firm size, practice setting, and the city where you work.
The highest-paid fields of law are corporate and M&A, patent and intellectual property, tax, and finance and securities, especially at large firms. Patent practice often requires a technical or science degree, which limits supply and raises pay. Current specialty pay bands track roughly $235,000 in market-rate BigLaw regardless of practice area; BLS does not break lawyer pay out by specialty.
The Biglaw salary scale, often called the Cravath scale after the firm that historically set it, is a lockstep base-pay schedule that many large firms match by class year. First-years all start at the same market number, currently $235,000, with a set raise each year plus market bonuses.
Verified August 2026.
August 21, 2026
August 21, 2026