Creating a law degree has become a common practice for entering law. With the increasing number of lawyers in the workforce and the establishment of more businesses, jobs are becoming easier to find. Legal sector is one that offers high-paying career options.
Creating a law degree has become a common practice for entering law. With the increasing number of lawyers in the workforce and the establishment of more businesses, jobs are becoming easier to find. Legal sector is one that offers high-paying career options.
Certified Legal Secretary, California. It’s no secret that a legal secretary has to earn a high school diploma or equivalent to work with lawyers, because they’re required to have excellent communication skills and be able to keep detailed records of case files.
Starting Salary For Lawyers In California Overview
If you’re looking to start your career as a lawyer in California, don’t worry—you’re not alone. There are hundreds of thousands of people who want to become lawyers in California every year, and many of them are just like you: they have dreams of becoming successful, well-known lawyers who change the world and make a difference every day.
But before you can do all that, you need to get started. How much will your salary be when you first start out as a lawyer? And what will it look like over time?
That’s exactly what we’re going to talk about today: how much does a lawyer make in California? And how much can you expect to make if you work hard enough?
What Lawyers Do
Lawyers advise and represent individuals, businesses, and government agencies on legal issues and disputes.
Duties of Lawyers
Lawyers typically do the following:
- Advise and represent clients in courts, before government agencies, and in private legal matters
- Communicate with their clients, colleagues, judges, and others involved in the case
- Conduct research and analysis of legal problems
- Interpret laws, rulings, and regulations for individuals and businesses
- Present facts in writing and verbally to their clients or others, and argue on behalf of their clients
- Prepare and file legal documents, such as lawsuits, appeals, wills, contracts, and deeds
Lawyers, also called attorneys, act as both advocates and advisors.
As advocates, they represent one of the parties in a criminal or civil trial by presenting evidence and arguing in support of their client.
As advisors, lawyers counsel their clients about their legal rights and obligations and suggest courses of action in business and personal matters. All attorneys research the intent of laws and judicial decisions and apply the laws to the specific circumstances that their clients face.
Lawyers often oversee the work of support staff, such as paralegals and legal assistants and legal secretaries.
Lawyers may have different titles and different duties, depending on where they work.
In law firms, lawyers, sometimes called associates, perform legal work for individuals or businesses. Those who represent and defend the accused may be called criminal law attorneys or defense attorneys.
Attorneys also work for federal, state, and local governments. Prosecutors typically work for the government to file a lawsuit, or charge, against an individual or corporation accused of violating the law. Some may also work as public defense attorneys, representing individuals who could not afford to hire their own private attorney.
Others may work as government counsels for administrative bodies and executive or legislative branches of government. They write and interpret laws and regulations and set up procedures to enforce them. Government counsels also write legal reviews of agency decisions. They argue civil and criminal cases on behalf of the government.
Corporate counsels, also called in-house counsels, are lawyers who work for corporations. They advise a corporation’s executives about legal issues related to the corporation’s business activities. These issues may involve patents, government regulations, contracts with other companies, property interests, taxes, or collective-bargaining agreements with unions.
Public-interest lawyers work for private, nonprofit organizations that provide legal services to disadvantaged people or others who otherwise might not be able to afford legal representation. They generally handle civil cases, such as those having to do with leases, job discrimination, and wage disputes, rather than criminal cases.
In addition to working in different industries, lawyers may specialize in particular legal fields. Following are examples of types of lawyers in these fields:
Environmental lawyers deal with issues and regulations that are related to the environment. For example, they may work for advocacy groups, waste disposal companies, or government agencies to help ensure compliance with relevant laws.
Tax lawyers handle a variety of tax-related issues for individuals and corporations. They may help clients navigate complex tax regulations, so that clients pay the appropriate tax on items such as income, profits, and property. For example, tax lawyers may advise a corporation on how much tax it needs to pay from profits made in different states in order to comply with Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules.
Intellectual property lawyers deal with the laws related to inventions, patents, trademarks, and creative works, such as music, books, and movies. For example, an intellectual property lawyer may advise a client about whether it is okay to use published material in the client’s forthcoming book.
Family lawyers handle a variety of legal issues that pertain to the family. They may advise clients regarding divorce, child custody, and adoption proceedings.
Securities lawyers work on legal issues arising from the buying and selling of stocks, ensuring that all disclosure requirements are met. They may advise corporations that are interested in listing in the stock exchange through an initial public offering (IPO) or in buying shares in another corporation.
Salary Ranges for Entry Level Attorneys in Los Angeles, CA
The salaries of Entry Level Attorneys in Los Angeles, CA range from $94,997 to $95,503 , with a median salary of $95,503 . The middle 50% of Entry Level Attorneys makes $82,035, with the top 75% making $98,966.
How much tax will you have to pay as an Entry Level Attorney in Los Angeles, CA
For an individual filer in this tax bracket, you would have an estimated average federal tax in 2018 of 24% and an added California state tax of 9.3%. After the combined taxes have been taken out, Entry Level Attorneys could expect to have a take-home pay of $72,321/year, with each paycheck equaling approximately $3,013*.
* assuming bi-monthly pay period. Taxes estimated using tax rates for a single filer using 2018 federal and state tax tables. Metro-specific taxes are not considered in calculations. This data is intended to be an estimate, not prescriptive financial or tax advice.
Quality of Life for Entry Level Attorney
With a take-home pay of roughly $6,027/month, and the median 2BR apartment rental price of $1,756/mo** in Los Angeles, CA, an Entry Level Attorney would pay 29.14% of their monthly take-home salary towards rent. The average income spent on cost of living excluding rent within Los Angeles per month for an individual is $971 , and for a 4-person family $3,566***. This means for an individual, total cost of living is 45.24% of an Entry Level Attorney in Los Angeles’ salary leaving $3,300 as discretionary income ; whereas for a family of 4, total cost of living is 88.31% of an Entry Level Attorney in Los Angeles’ salary leaving $704 as discretionary income. When considering cost of living, this places Los Angeles, CA as 2nd out of the 3 largest nearby metros in terms of quality of life for Entry Level Attorneys**
How much does a lawyer make in a year in California?
According to PayScale.com, the median salary for a lawyer in California was $102,163 a year as of October 2020, although they could earn as little as $63,000 or as much as $198,000 annually. However, this does not include any extra income that could be earned through bonuses, commissions, profit sharing, or overtime hours, which could add up to a substantial amount over the course of twelve months. That being said, the experience of the lawyer also makes a significant difference in their salary, as lawyers just starting out will generally make below that median salary, whereas those with 5 or more years of experience will make above it. In terms of how this compares to the national rates, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) calculated that the median annual salary for lawyers was $122,960 in 2019, which is quite a bit more than in California. However, the BLS also looked at job growth over the next decade and projected that the demand for lawyers would increase by 4%, which is about as fast as average.
