Hi new here. Idk what my value is and if I’m getting paid an amount that reflects my hard work. I am a paralegal for a small law firm (family and immigration) w only 1 attorney. I have about 20 files or more in my rotation at a time. I work on various types of cases at once. Some are simple, others are extensive. I feel like it’s very unstructured and one of the managers micromanages. It’s like every man for himself. Take home pay is $50k. I am working on my bachelors deg. Do I get paid enough?
There are variables that you haven’t included which really matter here.
How many YOE do you have?
How many YOE is in FL/IM?
It also sounds like you’re working on summary judgment or custody matters for FL, which typically means the attorneys billing rate (and your billing rate) are probably low.
My suggestion is to move to a mid-sized FL firm, gain some experience in the more mid-high net worth clients, and then move up to a FL firm that specializes in high-net-worth clients. The more the client is worth, they more they can afford to pay per hour, the higher you can bill, the larger your salary will be.
FWIW, I was a LA in high-net-worth family law for 10 years. Right now an experienced FL LA with experience in the HNW community that can do paralegal work is easily making 6 figures. I cleared $140k my best year.
Totally new on this app and I’m pretty sure I clicked it and couldnt go back. Will be fixing that!
Immigration seems to have lower pay unless you are doing business immigration. Middle wage for a 10 year plus immigration assistant is around $50-55k, excluding bonus. Ours have case loads of 50-70. Beginning wage is around $40k. The family paralegal makes $80k for less than 40 cases.
$50k sounds reasonable. I was a corporate paralegal for Boies Schiller after college and before law school. Thats a huge firm and my base salary was 35k. This was 2006-2008.
That is pretty solid given that you are still working on getting your bachelors. Once you get that , new doors will open. I started out of college with around 50k base with 12k in bonuses. Now I make around 75k working in house with 2 1/2 years on the job.
Very nice! Yes, I’m realizing that with my bachelors and more experience, Ill be able to demand a little more.
Chief
20 cases is a small amount. I got paid $50k managing 90 cases