 
New Jersey Law Journal  New Jersey Paralegal Pay Lags Behind the National Average  Paralegals
in New Jersey earn markedly less than their counterparts in other parts of
the country, according to a new survey of paralegal compensation. Cindy Lopez, founder of NJParalegal.com comments. |
New Jersey Paralegal Pay Lags Behind the National Average
By Charles Toutant
New Jersey Law Journal
July 17, 2006
Paralegals in New Jersey earn markedly less than their counterparts
in other parts of the country, according to a new survey of paralegal
compensation. [See chart.]
If they worked in Newark last year, their average pay was $53,909,
including bonus and overtime. Those in the Philadelphia-
Jersey region earned more, $58,552.
But both were below the national scale of $61,134, according to
Newtown Square, Pa.-based legal consultant Altman Weil Inc., which
last Tuesday reported the results of its survey of 261 law firms and
80 legal departments done early this year.
New Jersey pay was surpassed by that in major cities such as New York
($66,947), Atlanta ($67,615), Boston ($68,329), Chicago ($71,166),
Dallas ($69,722), Houston ($68,523), Los Angeles ($74,171) and Miami
($68,277).
New Jersey pay was more in line with mid-Atlantic cities like
Baltimore ($59,196) and Washington, D.C. ($56,303).
The smaller paychecks for New Jersey paralegals can be explained, at
least in part, by the fewer hours they put in, compared with
counterparts elsewhere.
The average New Jersey paralegal billed 1,175 hours last year and
earned $3,064 in overtime, while the nationwide average was 1,340
hours and overtime of $6,896 - more than twice the New Jersey figure.
In the survey results, compensation correlates loosely with hours
worked - the highest-paid paralegals, in Los Angeles, billed an
average of 1,421 hours.
Paralegal Cindy Lopez, who runs njparalegal.
for paralegals, says the Altman Weil salary figures for New Jersey
are consistent with her experience, though she says she's encountered
salaries as high as $85,000 (for a paralegal with 25 years of
experience) and as low as $26,400 (for two years of experience).
Lopez, who works for a Toms River solo, says salaries in the Ocean-
Monmouth area tend to be lower because, with only a handful of large
law firms, there are fewer opportunities.
Dawn Moskalow, president of the South Jersey Paralegal Association,
adds that the study's $149 hourly rate for paralegals in the
Philadelphia-
in the Burlington County area where she works.
Altman Weil principal James Wilber admits that his survey isn't
scientific, which may explain some of the variations in salaries and
billing rates. Participants were chosen among respondents to past
Altman Weil polls, past clients of the company, and members of the
International Paralegal Management Association. Thus, the eight
unnamed Newark firms that responded might be small firms rather than
a representative sample of the region. Large firms generally pay
paralegals more than smaller firms, but the survey does not purport
to represent a true cross section of firms in each market, he says.
Aside from the regional disparities, the survey showed other
developments in paralegal employment:
• Compensation rose 3.9 percent nationwide last year even though the
average hours billed, 1,340, dropped by 2.9 percent.
• Pay increases were greater at law firms, averaging 4.5 percent,
than at corporate legal departments, where the average was 3.7
percent.
• Intellectual property was the highest-paying practice area, with an
average base pay of $58,091. The other top-dollar areas, in declining
order, were real estate, corporate, immigration, government and
legislative, and trusts and estates.
• Billing rates for general-purpose paralegals rose 7.1 percent
nationwide, and for supervisory paralegals, 17.6 percent.
Wilber says the rate hikes suggest law firms are using paralegal
staffing as a new form of leverage: maximizing profits by keeping
attorney overhead low. "Even if a client has to pay 7 percent more
this year for a paralegal, that's obviously significantly less than
if you were having a junior associate handle the work," he says.
Another finding of the survey is that only 22 percent of law firms
and 34 percent of corporate legal departments require a paralegal
certificate as a condition of employment. And only 16 percent of law
firms and 27 percent of legal departments provide extra pay for those
paralegals with certificates.
Moskalow, of South Jersey Paralegal Association, says that in her
experience, most younger New Jersey paralegals tend to have
certificates from American Bar Association-
"There's been a huge movement over the past five years where
employers want that certificate,
Marlton. "You're not going to get a job at a corporation or a major
law firm without having that."