Legal Assistant and Paralegal Salaries or Wages
Salary Expectations
Salaries of Paralegals or Legal Assistants can vary across the US. It also of course depends on the level of education, skills and experience of the applicant. Other factors can include where they would be employed. Working in a large law firm located in a major metropolis pays more than someone who was employed in a smaller firm located in a small town.
Statistics from the Bureau of Labor in 2000 reveal that full-time positions for paralegals and legal assistants had median annual earnings of $35,360. Breaking down the statistics by median annual earnings in the industries employing the largest numbers of paralegals/legal assistants in 2000 were as follows:
| Federal Government | $48,560 |
| Legal services | $34,230 |
| Local Government | $34,120 |
| State Government | $32,680 |
According to the National Association of Legal Assistants, a paralegal or legal assistant salary was $38,000 in 2000. The National Federation of Paralegal Associations has also stated that starting paralegals salaries with 1 year or less experience averaged $38,100 in 1999.
Below are other sites that provide salary information for the paralegal and legal assistant profession.
Source: Summarized from the Bureau of Labor
PayScale - Paralegal or Legal Assistant Salary Survey, Salaries, Wages, Compensation
http://www.payscale.com/salary-survey/vid-16495/fid-6886
Average Level I Paralegal Salary from salary.com
http://swz.salary.com/salarywizard/layouthtmls/swzl_compresult_national_LE11000024.html
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