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Bar News - September 6, 2002 Legal Administrators' Group Releases Annual Salary Survey SALARY DATA submitted by the 20 NH law firms participating in this year's Granite State Association of Legal Administrators salary survey showed that in 2001, the median salary for associate attorneys was $58,000, a decrease over the median associate salary of $59,500 reported by firms participating in last year's survey. The GSALA salary study serves as a yardstick by which law firms can compare the compensation and benefits they offer their employees. Because the firms that choose to participate in the survey from year to year vary, it is difficult to use these surveys to establish salary trends. The participation of a group of public sector attorneys who traditionally earn less than those in a private law firm would bring the salary averages down for that year, for example. But it's safe to infer that on the whole, salaries for attorneys and law firm staff members in NH are increasing at a natural rate. The salary survey also showed that the average number of billable hours for partners/shareholders is 1,519; for associates, 1,402; and for paralegals, 1,182. The GSALA has been conducting its salary survey for the past 10 years or so, according to Rick Strawbridge, the legal administrator for Wiggin & Nourie in Manchester, former president of the GSALA and current chair of the group's program committee. Any law firm that wants to participate in the survey can; this year, 20 firms from across the state ranging in size from three to 80 attorneys responded. Strawbridge said that an accounting firm helps the GSALA to compile the survey responses, which are released only to those firms that participated. The legal administrators' group can release some of the findings of the survey, such as minimum, median and maximum salaries of all responding firms combined, but survey information related to individual firms is released only to participants. The GSALA also does not analyze any of the information revealed by the survey. Turn to page 13 for highlights from the GSALA's 2002 survey.
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