Paralegal Salaries
Are you looking for new information on paralegal salaries or hoping to break into the legal profession by becoming a paralegal? The term paralegal refers to a non-lawyer status worker who may assist lawyers in their duties. It is important to note that paralegals are not actually lawyers, nor are they authorized by the government to offer any legal services. In essence, paralegals are assistants to lawyers, and may be asked to perform research or any number of everyday tasks. There is no universal standard of what a paralegal is expected to do, nor is there any definitive qualification.
What about paralegal salaries? Salaries for legal assistants can vary greatly according to circumstances. Initially, paralegal salaries will depend on the educational background of the applicant as well as any special training he or she has received and previous work experience. Beyond that, the lawyer or firm that employs the paralegal will also base pay around the size of the firm, the type of cases they handle and the geographic location of the office.
Most paralegals prefer to work for larger law firms or in large metropolitan areas, since that guarantees more pay. Smaller firms and less populated regions wouldn't be able to pay much in paralegal salaries, as the lawyers themselves mostly likely earn less than average. In 2006, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, it was reported that fulltime paralegals earn median annual earnings of $43,050, including bonuses. The bottom 10% of paralegals earned less than $27,450 in paralegal salaries. It's easy to see that location and firm size were the most contributing factors.
As far as what type of firms pay the most, naturally, we discover that the federal government is capable of paying an average of $56,080 to its employed paralegals. Paralegals that indirectly work for large corporations or enterprise companies also earn upwards of $50,000. Next in line was local government and privately owned firms, which averaged approximately $40,000. The lowest earning paralegals were individuals employed by the state government who only earned $38,020.
If you can find a job in one of the country's big cities, paralegal salaries will be competitive. However, some of the best perks of the business are paid vacations, sick leave, 401(k) savings, life insurance, personal days, dental insurance and even legal education reimbursement. This is a lucrative field to break into, if you can find a good firm. For more information look up paralegal job openings online.