Dec 31, 2021 · The average salary for an Attorney, Solo Practitioner is $75,122. Visit PayScale to research attorney, solo practitioner salaries by city, experience, skill, employer and more.
Average annual compensation for full time solo/small firm attorneys was $198,000. There was a year-over-year increase in compensation from the prior year for around 45% of respondants. When broken out into solo versus small firm attorneys, the solos averaged less at …
May 22, 2018 · Solo and small-firm lawyers made an average of $198,000 last year, while their median earnings were $140,000, according to a press release. More than 6,900 full-time lawyers participated in the ...
Mar 09, 2022 · The latest survey shows lawyers making an average of $194,000 last year, in the second annual survey run by the company. Based on information from 7,800 lawyers in solo practice and small firms from across the United States and …
Annual Salary | Hourly Wage | |
---|---|---|
Top Earners | $129,500 | $62 |
75th Percentile | $96,500 | $46 |
Average | $80,743 | $39 |
25th Percentile | $60,000 | $29 |
2018 | ||
---|---|---|
No. | Law Firm | Attorneys |
1 | Baker McKenzie LLP | 4720 |
2 | DLA Piper LLP | 3702 |
3 | Norton Rose Fulbright LLP | 3376 |
Rank | Occupation | 2020 Median wages |
---|---|---|
Annual | ||
1 | Anesthesiologists | $100.00+ |
2 | General Internal Medicine Physicians | $100.00+ |
3 | Obstetricians and Gynecologists | $100.00+ |
In researching this article, I came upon several different studies that purported to look at solo law firm income and draw some conclusions.
Solo attorneys generally work less on billable legal matters than their counterparts in law firms.
So, we’ve gone through the data and hopefully have a good outlook on the future of solo law practice income.
The report shows a slight decrease in overall income.Compared to a mean of $198,000 and a median of $140,000 in 2017, 2018 saw attorneys earning a mean of $194,000 and a median of $135,000.
When comparing their 2018 earnings to their 2017 pay, close to half of the respondents reported increases .
The highest-earning practice area this year is medical malpractice, which boasts an average salary of $267,000.
The full Attorney Compensation Report offers a more detailed picture with details such as:
The concept of “average law firm revenue” is, by nature, somewhat ambiguous. Your firm’s revenue depends on your firm’s unique situation (more on some revenue contributing factors later). However, to gain insight on the average revenue for a solo law firm, we can look at how solo attorneys get compensated.
According to the 2020 Martindale-Avvo Attorney Compensation Report, the average 2019 compensation for providing billable legal services for a solo law firm was $150,000 per year. This compensation is down slightly from the previous year, where the average compensation for a solo practitioner was $159,000.
While each situation is unique, the following factors and lawyer statistics commonly impact the average law firm revenue:
According to the 2021 Am Law 100 Report, the largest law firms in the US earned $111 billion in total revenue in 2020. This number marks an increase of 6.6% from 2019. For this group, the average revenue per lawyer was $1.05 million.
If improving your firm’s top-line growth (your firm’s revenues) is a goal for your firm, consider the following strategies:
Whether you’re a solo practitioner or you run a law firm with many attorneys, revenue is crucial for your firm to succeed. While the exact figure for average law firm revenue varies depending on many factors affecting your law firm’s revenue, you can still work towards a revenue goal.
According to PayScale, personal injury lawyers make an average of $78,020 per year. Personal injury lawyers generally work on a contingency fee basis, receiving a percentage of their clients’ winnings, so salaries will vary based on the severity of the clients’ circumstances as well as the attorney’s success rates.
According to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, government lawyers on average earn $93,070 at the local level, $81,960 at the state level, and $129,430 at the federal level.
By suing hospitals, doctors, nurses, therapists, and other health care professionals after medical malpractice—such as a botched surgery or a misdiagnosis—medical malpractice lawyers are among the highest-paid lawyers, earning an average of $130,880 per year, according to the Bureau of Labor and Statistics.
Tax attorneys earn $101,000 per year on average, with an annual median salary of $100,562 as reported by PayScale. While large corporations may have tax attorneys on staff, businesses of all sizes as well as individuals may hire a tax lawyer to assist with an audit or other issues that may arise with the IRS.
According to Investopedia, the top paying states for lawyers are Washington D.C., California, New York, Massachusetts, and Delaware, while the top paying cities are all in California —San Jose, Sunnyvale, Santa Clara, and San Rafael. Similar to location, time on the job will also affect paycheck.
From Stephanie Wilkins. Setting up a solo practice means starting your own business and becoming an entrepreneur. Being an entrepreneur means having a certain mindset, including the willingness to take risks and work long hours for no pay.
Being an entrepreneur means having a certain mindset, including the willingness to take risks and work long hours for no pay. The problem is that most people go to law school with the goal of working at a law firm after graduation. They tend to be risk-averse and don’t want to be entrepreneurs.
A strong online presence is arguably the most effective way to procure clients. Hire a web-design company to create a professional-looking website that details the type of law you practice, your location and contact information. The cost of hiring a web hosting and design company isn't prohibitive.
You must be organized if you want your solo practice to succeed. You can't be efficient without organization, and efficiency is crucial for sole practitioner lawyers juggling several tasks at once. Develop a filing system that makes it easy to distinguish between closed cases, current cases and different types of cases.
If you're lucky, you'll never experience lean times due to lack of clients. However, even the most successful sole practitioner firms prepare for financial instability. It's important to have a line of credit for necessary business expenses in case of unexpected decreases in income, says New England Law Boston.
Potential clients frequently contact a state bar association when seeking an attorney, so ask your bar association to place you on its referral list. It's also helpful to ask other attorneys for referrals when they encounter clients in need of someone with your expertise.