First-year attorneys make one of two very different amounts. At large firms following the market pay scale, first-years earn $235,000. Across government, public interest, and small firms, the median shifts year to year; see the linked U.S. News ranking for the current No. 1. Which tier you enter is set at hire.
By Ali Unar, Founder, Lovare Institut; JD/MSFS Candidate, Georgetown University. Last updated August 2026. Figures on this page were verified in August 2026 or point readers to the current source.
First-year attorneys make one of two very different amounts. At large firms following the market pay scale, first-years earn $235,000. Across government, public interest, and small firms, the entry-level median is $95,000 (the NALP Class of 2024 overall median; the mean was $125,926). Which tier an attorney enters is set at hire, not by later performance.
The gap reflects a bimodal market documented by NALP: a small peak of high-paying big-firm jobs and a much larger peak near the national median. Large firms match one another on a single market salary to compete for top graduates, while most employers pay far less. The blended average therefore misrepresents what most first-year attorneys actually earn.
Employer size, city, and practice area are the main drivers. Corporate, patent, tax, and finance roles at large firms in major markets pay the most; general practice, government, and nonprofit roles pay less. School rank and grades matter chiefly because they control access to the top-paying firms. Confirm current numbers against $95,000 (the NALP Class of 2024 overall median; the mean was $125,926).
Target a job type rather than the average, then prepare for its specific requirements. The market-rate track rewards grades, rank, and recruiting timing; the public-service track is sustained by loan forgiveness. Lovare's LSAT and admissions coaching helps you build the record that opens the higher-paying firms.
First-year lawyers make one of two very different amounts. Associates at large firms on the market pay scale earn $235,000. The national median for new lawyers across all settings is much lower, at $95,000 (the NALP Class of 2024 overall median; the mean was $125,926), because most new lawyers work outside large firms.
Corporate and M&A work, patent and IP, tax, and securities and finance law are generally the highest-paid legal fields, concentrated in large firms. Specialized patent attorneys with science backgrounds and elite corporate lawyers sit at the top. Exact figures follow 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.
September 20, 2026
September 20, 2026