Why do US lawyers get paid so much?

As a matter of fact, many attorneys are paid as little as or even less than a public school teacher. High salaries for attorneys are typically determined by two factors: practising in a large metropolis like New York or Los Angeles, and the specific area of law in which they specialise (corporate law vs traffic law). A lawyer’s ability to earn a living is secondary to whether or not his or her customers can afford to retain one. Lawyers who work for large firms in major metropolitan areas and in high-stakes practice areas can expect to earn respectable wages, especially if they have several years of experience and company ownership. Aside from that, though, salaries might vary substantially.

The Reason Lawyers Don’t Always Get Paid
The overhead of a legal company is substantial, which is why hiring one may be expensive. Renting a fancy office space, paying many employees who don’t generate revenue, and mentoring associate lawyers who aren’t yet ready to practise on their own all add up to a significant expense. These are also the reasons why starting attorneys don’t always make a lot of money. There has been a shift in compensation strategies at many legal firms, with more attorneys now receiving a share of their clients’ revenue rather than a fixed annual incentive based on billing targets. As a result, attorneys have the incentive to work hard and submit as many bills as possible, while the legal firm is relieved of the financial burden associated with a large bonus (which was obligated to pay whether or not the hours billed by the associate were collected).

High salaries of attorneys
Most people have an inflated idea of how much money attorneys make. While it is true that the highest-paid attorneys receive extraordinary compensation and that even moderately successful lawyers earn a respectable living, the vast majority of lawyers make far less than their counterparts in other professions. In reality, many attorneys have to work other jobs while looking for legal employment or try to make it on their own in private practice, after graduating from law school. Competition is fierce at law school, and a student’s performance there has a direct impact on how much money they make as an attorney. Since law schools keep meticulous records of their student’s performance, legal firms who are actively hiring can do so based solely on a candidate’s percentile rank within their graduating class. This means that the best legal firms in the best locations take only the top students, while individuals in the lower percentiles of their class may have trouble finding work at any firm, much alone one that pays well.

If you graduated at the top of your law school class and were quickly snapped up by a major firm in a major city like New York, your starting salary as an associate will likely be well over $150,000 USD. Students at the secondary level may expect to make roughly $120,000 USD, while those at the primary level in smaller cities may make closer to $70,000 USD in their first year. Some attorneys may never get above the level of associate, earning as little as $35,000 USD in their first year as an associate at the bottom end of the profession, working as a student in a practice in a small town or at a smaller firm in a somewhat bigger market. There are several justifications for attorneys’ high compensation, yet many people find these justifications wanting. The financial commitment required to become a lawyer is typically given as the primary justification. Most people who wish to go to law school have to pay for it themselves or take out loans since, unlike in the sciences or the humanities, there is no institutional funding for law school.

As a result, many graduates of law schools leave with roughly $150,000 in debt, and the possibility that they won’t be able to pay it off means that those who do find jobs earn more money than those in a field without such a financial investment. Others argue that attorneys deserve a high salary because of the prestigious position they hold and the corresponding affluent lifestyle. Constant availability means that many attorneys are put through fourteen- to sixteen-hour shifts. Cases that prove challenging might go on for weeks, months, or even years, at which point they may be required to spend nearly all of their waking hours in the office. This difficulty is believed to be greater than that of many other professions, which helps to rationalise the high salaries enjoyed by attorneys. It’s true that some people would argue that attorneys are paid too much. Similar to law school, engineering education is not cheap, but engineers earn far less money. While a number of occupations, like nursing, may need round-the-clock availability, their pay pales in comparison to that of attorneys. It would appear that attorneys’ incomes are set by the market; when there is less demand for their services or more lawyers competing for the job that is available, lawyer salaries fall.