Notes on the legal hiring market, drawn from our active searches.
A 2,000 billable hour target means about 41.7 billable hours a week, or 55 to 60 hours at work depending on how much of the day you bill. The litigation median we see is 1,900, and insurance defense runs from 1,800 in Missouri to 2,034 in Florida.
If a firm pays a bonus, it usually lands at 10% to 25% of base. About a quarter of the associates we talk to report no bonus at all.
Some coverage firms will hire a defense associate who already handles policy disputes and coverage letters if the firm is flexible. Here's what those partners screen for and how the pay compares.
Base pay from law firm coverage searches, by experience and market, and how it compares with insurance defense.
What mid-size and regional firms pay associates in 2026, by practice area and years of experience. Typical base runs $100,000 to $155,000 in years one to two. Ranges cover the middle half of the market, and typical is the median.
Business Chapter 11 filings are back above their 2020 level, after bottoming out in 2021 and 2022.
SEC enforcement actions fell 22 percent in fiscal 2025, and enacted enforcement staff fell about 14 percent for fiscal 2026. In our view, firms that staffed the last cycle face lower defense demand now.
SB 30 died in conference after passing both chambers in different forms. The next regular session is 2027, and firms staffing the next big trial can't wait that long.
A record share of departing associates exits within five years. In our searches, in-house teams now open roles at earlier class years, and that's reshaping how legal departments hire.
When a lawyer's bio at a two-tier firm says Partner, there's a better than four in ten chance it doesn't mean equity. That changes the first question in any partner search.
In our searches, general counsel retirements are reshaping in-house legal hiring from the top down.
Milbank reset the scale on June 2, 2026: first-years make $235,000 and eighth-years make $455,000. The raise went to the top, which we read as a retention signal.
HB 837 cut Florida's negligence deadline to two years and ended one-way fees in most insurance suits. In our searches, commercial casualty hiring held up. The reform split the practice in two.
Senior insurance defense base pay runs about $175,000 against a $235,000 first-year base at firms on the Milbank scale. Carrier billing sets that gap, but firms that recruit well sell what that number leaves out.
Three firms now pay $180,000 for a single federal clerkship. The table shows what each firm publishes, and the article covers what to weigh before signing.
In our searches, the main driver was the merger wave and tighter diligence on portable books.
Baker McKenzie is cutting business services roles and citing AI, but legal services employment, counting all staff, reached 1.23 million in January 2026 and kept climbing to about 1.25 million by September 2026 (preliminary), per BLS, and a new category of AI counsel roles is opening up.
As of October 2026, Susman Godfrey pays $180,000 for a single federal clerkship, Quinn Emanuel pays $175,000, and Cravath pays $125,000, or $150,000 after two years of clerking. The Big Law base scale moved in July 2026, so first-year associates now start at $235,000. Firms that aren't competing at that level drop out of the conversation once a candidate holds one of those offers.
In our searches, law firm mergers drove most of the partner lateral moves in 2025. McDermott Will & Emery and Schulte Roth & Zabel completed their merger on August 1, 2025. Winston & Strawn and Taylor Wessing's U.K. business launched as Winston Taylor in June 2026, and Hogan Lovells and Cadwalader launched on July 1, 2026. Partners in overlapping practice groups are reconsidering, and the firms we work with expect only about 70% of a stated book to transfer in the first 18 months.
Baker McKenzie told reporters in February 2026 that it would cut business services roles after a review that included its use of AI. U.S. legal services employment still hit a record 1.23 million in January 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. We're seeing knowledge management, legal admin and junior research roles shrink while firms add AI counsel roles.
A record 83% of associates who left their firms in 2025 did so within five years of hire, up from 80% in 2024, according to the NALP Foundation. Lateral hires outnumbered entry-level hires again, 3,296 to 3,039.
AI governance is now a core general counsel responsibility. Courts hold counsel responsible for AI output, and ABA Formal Opinion 512 puts the duty to check that output on the lawyer. In-house candidates with AI compliance experience, from regulatory practice or legal operations, are among the hardest to find.
Litigation and real estate still drive Tampa Bay's legal market, with healthcare compliance, tech and AI regulatory work growing. Associates trained at Am Law firms who've moved to Tampa are choosing between regional firm work and remote in-house roles with national pay. At one to two years, regional firm base runs roughly $100,000 to $155,000 depending on practice, and $115,000 to $140,000 in insurance defense.
If you have a specific hiring question you'd like our take on, send it. The topics on this page started as client conversations.
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