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A traditional paralegal salary includes base salary, bonus and overtime pay. Take a look at the information below to determine where (department and state) a paralegal can earn the most money. You can also see some pitfalls to avoid when you’re offered a bonus and find out how much you can expect in overtime pay.
Salary Range
Based on the 2009 Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual paralegal salary is $46,980. But it appears that you can greatly exceed that pay if you get into the right industry or live in the right state.
Top Paying Industries:
- petroleum & coal products manufacturing: $81,150
- medical and diagnostic labs: $72,550
- software publishers: $70,660
- professional and commercial equipment and supplies merchant wholesalers: $69,650
- computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing: $69,200
Top Paying States:
- District of Columbia: $64,760
- New York: $60,140
- California: $59,270
- Illinois: $54,690
- Alaska: $52,640
Top Metropolitan Areas:
- Stockton, CA $68,120
- San Fransisco, CA $64,080
- New York, NY $63,230
- Vallejo-Fairfield, CA $63,210
- Washington, DC $63,110
2009 Annual Compensation Survey for Paralegals
According to the 2009 Annual Compensation Survey for Paralegals, paralegals working in law firms receive higher base compensation raises than law department peers Also, within those law firms, the highest paid paralegals are litigation support/technology managers who receive a median annual base salary of $121,012 nationally.
2006 Annual Compensation Survey for Paralegals
The 2006 Annual Compensation Survey for Paralegals indicated that annual bonuses of $2000 were given on average. In that survey, 62% of paralegals reported receiving annual bonuses.
The median overtime compensation was $3,922 per year. 76% of paralegals in law firms received overtime pay, while only 33% of paralegals in law departments reported overtime pay.
Private sector paralegals received a paralegal salary of 10.4% more in median total cash compensation than those paralegals in the public sector. This difference in pay was primarily due to the fact that paralegals in law firms worked more overtime.
The survey revealed that paralegals working in the intellectual property, patent, trademark practice earn the highest total cash compensation. The lowest paying practice in law firms are regulatory or utilities. The lowest paying paralegal positions in law departments is government or legislative.
Bonuses
Everyone loves receiving a bonus in recognition of the hard work they have done, but keep in mind that fee splitting with attorneys is prohibited in most states. However, law firms can compensate paralegals based on the quantity and quality of their work and the value of that work to the law practice.
Also, when negotiating your paralegal salary, remember that you cannot receive referral fees for referring clients to the firm. This rule is imposed on lawyers in their rules of professional conduct to prevent the referral fee from leading to improper interference in a case by the paralegal.
Two attorneys at a large firm in New Jersey were recently suspended for one year for offering bonuses and referral fees to non-attorney staff including paralegals and legal assistants. What the court determined was that paying these bonuses and referral fees was a violation of the rules of professional conduct.
So, even if you’re offered a paralegal salary that includes a bonus be sure that the bonus is earned in a way that is appropriate. Don’t blindly trust the new employer to comply with the rules of ethics.
