Legal salary benchmarks and trends

Name: Data at a glance
Creator: Robert Half

2027 Salary Guide

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This is not the final Salary Guide. Do not share this preview before September 10 to avoid distributing information that may change before launch. This draft version is intended for internal review and training purposes only.

Compensation is a key hiring challenge for corporate legal departments and law firms competing for professionals in high-demand areas such as litigation, compliance, contract management, data privacy and legal operations. With top candidates often weighing multiple opportunities in this field, offers need to reflect current market conditions, role requirements and experience.

Law firms and in-house legal teams often compete for talent in different ways, which can impact salary expectations and job offer decisions. Base pay, bonuses, equity, billable-hour requirements, flexibility and total rewards all influence how candidates evaluate attorney, paralegal and legal support roles.

Hiring managers: Meet with us to get customized salary insights and guidance so you can build offers candidates say yes to.

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The salaries below default to national averages. Select a job category and city to find figures for a specific market. Starting compensation can vary significantly based on a candidate’s skills, experience and certifications, as well as other factors including industry; company size, complexity or revenue; and demand for the role. To reflect this variability, we report our compensation data in 3 levels: low, mid and high.

Compliance Administration

Contract Management

Corporate (In-House) Counsel

General Administration

Law Firm

Legal Support and Records

Paralegal, Legal Assistant and Operations

Job Title

Low

Mid

High

Compliance Director – Legal

114000

147000

170750

Compliance Manager – Legal

94750

111000

138500

Compliance Analyst – Legal

70500

86500

112000

Low

The candidate is new to the role or has limited experience and is still developing core skills.

Mid

The candidate has moderate experience in the role or one similar, meets most requirements, and may hold transferable skills or relevant certifications.

High

The candidate has extensive experience in the role, demonstrates advanced skills, and often brings specialized certifications or industry experience.

Legal compensation trends

Data at a glance

65%

of legal leaders are making more competitive offers, especially for business-critical roles with limited talent pools.

74%

are offering salaries above their planned range, citing the need to secure candidates with specialized skills as a top reason.

67%

are offering higher pay for relevant AI skills, with 29% offering more for AI-related expertise than for other tech skills.

Specialized skills

Contract Management

Organizations are paying more for high-impact skills tied to critical initiatives and to compete for in-demand talent.

CLM implementation

Government contracts

Negotiation, review and remediation

Procurement

Corporate Counsel

Organizations are paying more for high-impact skills tied to critical initiatives and to compete for in-demand talent.

Corporate governance

Mergers and acquisitions

Regulatory filings and compliance

Risk management

Associate Attorney

Organizations are paying more for high-impact skills tied to critical initiatives and to compete for in-demand talent.

Commercial litigation

Mergers and acquisitions

Regulatory filings and compliance

Paralegal

Organizations are paying more for high-impact skills tied to critical initiatives and to compete for in-demand talent.

AI-assisted legal research tools

Case management software

eDiscovery and litigation tools

Rewards that prompt career moves

When base pay is similar, legal professionals often weigh the full compensation package, especially when evaluating law firm and in-house roles with different workloads, reward structures and career paths. Top benefits and perks that influence a job change:

Financial incentives

Bonuses, profit-sharing programs, stock options

Work‑life balance and flexibility

Paid time off, hybrid or remote work options, flexible hours

Explore more total rewards insights

Roles, industries, practice areas on the rise

Roles requiring specialized skills and technical expertise in areas such as litigation, corporate law and contract management are expected to have salary growth above the projected +2.2% average for legal positions.

+3.9% Attorney, 4-9 Years’ Experience

+3.6% Attorney, 2-3 Years’ Experience

+3.4% In-House Counsel, 4-9 Years’ Experience

+3.3% Paralegal

+2.9% Contract Manager

Employers in these industries need skilled professionals to navigate regulatory complexity, litigation demands, high contract volume and data privacy initiatives.

Financial services

Tech and IT

Healthcare and life sciences

Retail trade

Specialized practice area experience may justify higher pay, especially when it aligns with business risk, regulatory demands or litigation needs.

Ethics and corporate governance

Intellectual property

Labor and employment law

Litigation

M&A and corporate transactions

Privacy, data security and information law

Securities and capital markets

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The salary benchmarks in the Salary Guide From Robert Half are the result of a rigorous, multistep process designed to reflect projected market trends for 2027. They are based on actual compensation for professionals Robert Half has matched with employers across the country and third-party job posting data from Textkernel that we use to independently validate the salary levels. Learn more about our methodology.

Non-salary data is based on online surveys developed by Robert Half and conducted by an independent research firm. Respondents include hiring managers and workers at small (10-99 employees), midsize (100-999 employees) and large (1,000-plus employees) private, publicly listed and public sector organizations across the United States.