By DebbieH 30 Jan 2020 7 min read

The highest paying jobs in the legal industry

Simply Law Jobs has released its latest annual report, and are happy to reveal the top 10 highest paying legal jobs in 2019.

We have collected data from jobs posted in 2019 by recruiters, to identify the average salary for specific roles within the legal industry.

The report includes job hotpoints, gender insight, job category information, top growth areas and more surrounding legal professionals and their preferences for a new job.

We collected figures for over 30 jobs, and below can reveal the top 10 highest paid in 2019, according to our data.:

  1. Partner
  2. Legal Counsel
  3. Head of Legal
  4. Patent Attorney
  5. Associate
  6. Barrister
  7. Clerks Room
  8. Advocate
  9. Solicitor
  10. Professional Support

 

Alongside revealing the roles with the highest paying average salary in 2019, the report also revealed the YoY difference in average salaries in the industry from 2017-18.

The list remains very similar to the 2018 results, however we can see a few switches between some of the roles.

Partner jobs remained the roles with the highest average salary in 2019, and we saw a 10.52% increase too. The average salary was £90,414.88.

The average salary for Legal Counsel roles remained in the top 10 too, averaging out at £69,784.77, a 12.83% increase from 2018.

The average salary for Head of Legal jobs was £68,317.31, a 12.59% increase from 2018, when it was £60,676.14.

Clearly the more prestigious roles were higher in demand in 2019.

Patent Attorney jobs showed an average salary of £63,932.43. This showed a slight increase from 2018, specifically 3.02%.

The average salary for Associate roles also increased by 10.06%, while the average salary for Barrister jobs actually decreased in 2019, by 3.17%. The average salary dropped from £59,680.85 to £57,786.81.

Clerks Room salaries sat at £55,000.00, a 21.66% increase from 2018.

Advocate roles saw the largest growth in salary in 2018, by 18.39%. It increased yet again to £52,454.30 in 2019, by 3.59%.

Solicitors were in high demand in 2019 – and the average salary across our site increased by 6.64%, suggesting that recruiters are willing to pay more for highly skilled solicitors. The average salary for 2019 was £52,098.30.

Finally, Professional Support roles had an average salary of £51,011.24, an increase from 2018 (+6.83%). The average salary in 2018 was 47,751.94.

To see the salary data in full, simply download our annual report below:

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