What Is The Range Of A Paralegal Salary?

May 20th, 2010 by admin

There are a number of factors that affect any Paralegal salary and will these will include, but are not limited to, the number of years experience in their given area of law, where they live down to the division of law that they plan to practice. Paralegal jobs continue to increase despite the economic downturn and the average paralegal salary is presently in the region of $45,000.

One of the largest factors which affect salary for paralegals is education. Whilst the number of paralegal educational programmes have increased, they should pay particular attention to where they go as, reports from the Attorney Bar Association suggest that those who are certified or possess a baccalaureate degree generally earn much more annually than those without either qualification.

Experience is another major factor as salary is based on number of years served. Starting salary is usually somewhere around $35,000 per annum and will increase to about $40,000 after 5 years service. Ten years service can command a salary close to the $50,000 region. Statistics showed that in 2009, the top 10% earned more than $67,000 yearly.

Geographical location also affects salary. The two places that pay most are Los Angeles and Philadelphia with salaries in Los Angeles averaging $58,000 and Philadelphia averaging $49,000.

A Paralegals pay will be also be dependant on which area of law they go into. Areas such as family law or personal injury will earn you in the region of $30,000 whereas corporate, or federal law pays double ($60,000 per year). This is usually because the latter have more capital to work with than the smaller personal injury type firms.

It should be noted that salaries can be increased by earning bonuses and working overtime. Most companies will also offer such benefits as medical insurance, paid annual leave, retirement pension plan that all help to make the paralegal salary more attractive.



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