Out here, large firms are more like $95k - $125k starting. Mid-sized are around 60k-90k. Tiny firms are around 50k-70k. And public interest firms are around 20k-50k. These are from my school's graduate employment statistics (I should double-check on the actual numbers, but right now they've only got the 2004 stats online. The stats for the class of 2005 will be up sometime next month).
And large firms don't hire people who weren't in the top 10-20% of their graduating class, so that's out. Heck, even if I WAS in the top 10-20% I wouldn't want to work for one of them, because I'd never see daylight again and I'd likely suffer the same depression large-firm life caused in my Dad.
Anyway, trust me. You don't do law school for 3 years without getting it droned into you by your school what you should be making and what types of firms exist out there. |
