Why practice area matters more than city
A five to seven year corporate associate in Tampa and one in Atlanta land in a similar place, while a family law attorney with the same years sits about $60,000 lower in either city. At mid-size and regional firms, what a practice bills and how firms staff it set the number. Geography moves it a little in each direction, but it is the smaller factor.
The table below is base salary only. Bonuses, origination credit, and contingency participation sit on top of it and vary too much by firm to average into a single figure. Read each row as two pieces of information. The range is the middle half of the data, the 25th to the 75th percentile, so a quarter of the market sits below it and a quarter above. The typical figure is the median, and that is the number to plan around.
Bands run one to two years, three to four, five to seven, eight to fourteen, and fifteen or more. Where a practice shows a wide range or a thin picture, we say so rather than smoothing it over. Everything here reflects mid-size and regional firms in Florida, Georgia, Texas, California, and New York in 2026, and none of it describes Big Law, which follows its own published scale and starts far higher.
| Practice | 1–2 yr | 3–4 yr | 5–7 yr | 8–14 yr | 15+ yr |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Insurance defense | $115–140K (typical $130K) | $125–170K (typical $150K) | $120–190K (typical $150K) | $135–215K (typical $175K) | $150–225K (typical $200K) |
| Commercial & civil litigation | $110–150K (typical $135K) | $110–170K (typical $150K) | $125–185K (typical $150K) | $125–180K (typical $150K) | $120–200K (typical $155K) |
| Labor & employment | $120–150K (typical $135K) | $115–170K (typical $140K) | $120–175K (typical $150K) | $140–240K (typical $175K) | $160–300K (typical $200K) |
| Corporate & transactional | $130–200K (typical $155K) | $100–180K (typical $140K) | $125–215K (typical $180K) | $130–205K (typical $175K) | $100–275K (typical $165K) |
| Real estate* | $100–120K (typical $105K) | $100–175K (typical $155K) | $115–160K (typical $150K) | $150–160K (typical $150K) | $100–350K |
| Personal injury (plaintiff) | $100–140K (typical $120K) | $115–175K (typical $125K) | $130–180K (typical $150K) | $135–200K (typical $170K) | $150–250K (typical $180K) |
| Family law | $95–130K (typical $100K) | $100–150K (typical $100K) | $100–150K (typical $120K) | $115–160K (typical $140K) | n/a |
Insurance defense, litigation, labor, and corporate
Insurance defense is where our data runs deepest. Typical base starts around $130,000 at one to two years, holds at $150,000 through year seven, then moves to $175,000 at eight to fourteen and $200,000 at fifteen or more. The middle half at the junior band is $115,000 to $140,000 and widens to $135,000 to $215,000 for the eight to fourteen group. Firms with steady carrier relationships pay toward the upper end of those ranges. High volume shops sit near the bottom.
Commercial and civil litigation opens near $135,000 typical and then flattens. It is $150,000 from year three through year fourteen and $155,000 past fifteen. Labor and employment starts in the same place, about $135,000 at one to two years, and keeps climbing: $150,000 at five to seven, $175,000 at eight to fourteen, and $200,000 at fifteen and up. The middle half in that senior labor band is $160,000 to $300,000, the widest spread of any practice we track outside real estate.
Corporate and transactional pays the most at entry. Typical base is $155,000 at one to two years, with a middle half of $130,000 to $200,000, because these firms compete with in-house and Big Law offers for the same people. The middle bands are less orderly. Typical is $140,000 at three to four years, then $180,000 at five to seven and $175,000 at eight to fourteen. The fifteen and up figure of $165,000, on a range of $100,000 to $275,000, is directional.
Real estate, personal injury, and family law
Real estate data is directional and thinner than the rest, so read it loosely. Typical base is about $105,000 at one to two years, then $155,000 at three to four and $150,000 through year fourteen, with most of the middle bands landing between $100,000 and $175,000. The fifteen and up band runs from $100,000 to $350,000, which says more about title than about experience. Senior of counsel and partners with a book clear $275,000, while attorneys without one stay closer to mid-level pay.
Personal injury on the plaintiff side pays $120,000 typical at one to two years and $125,000 at three to four, then $150,000, $170,000, and $180,000 across the senior bands. Base understates the job here. Contingency participation and case bonuses add materially at firms that share fees, and two attorneys with the same base can finish a year far apart. Ask how a firm structures that share before you compare a plaintiff offer to a defense offer on base alone.
Family law sits lowest at every band: $100,000 typical through year four, $120,000 at five to seven, and $140,000 at eight to fourteen. We do not publish a fifteen and up figure because the picture is too thin to stand behind. Two practices are worth a line each. Trusts and estates juniors sit near $100,000 while five to seven year attorneys run $175,000 to $250,000, typical near $190,000. Intellectual property runs $170,000 to $180,000 at five to seven years.
The gap between what candidates ask and accept
Candidates ask for about 10 to 20 percent more than regional firms pay, and the pattern holds across practices. A one to two year insurance defense associate asks around $128,000 and accepts around $115,000. At five to seven years, that same attorney asks about $150,000. That is also the typical figure in the table, since the median pools accepted offers with current and target pay. The offers candidates accept through us land closer to $125,000. The ask is usually anchored to a Big Law figure a classmate quoted or to a posting from a firm twice the size, not to what comparable firms pay for the same experience.
For firms, the gap is a budgeting question. Set your band at the low to mid part of the range for the practice and years you are hiring, and expect the first ask to come in above it. Candidates who accept at that level almost always cite something other than base: caseload size, court time, partner access, a hybrid schedule. Firms that can name those specifics in the first conversation tend to close at the number they planned for.
For candidates, open near the typical figure for your practice and band rather than at the top of the range. Anchoring high on base tends to cost you the parts of an offer a firm can move more easily, like bonus structure, title, billable target, or start date. If you want the top of a range, be ready to point at the experience that earns it, such as first chair trials, a book, or a specialty the firm is hiring for.
How pay progresses and where seniority pays
Pay at mid-size and regional firms moves up one experience band at a time. Insurance defense typicals run $130,000, $150,000, $175,000, and $200,000 from junior to fifteen and up. Personal injury moves $120,000, $150,000, $170,000, and $180,000. Labor and employment tracks $135,000, $150,000, $175,000, and $200,000. Those increases land when an attorney crosses into the next band, so base tends to hold for a few years and then step up. An associate expecting a step change at year five will see it in title and caseload before base.
The seniority premium is largest in labor and employment and in insurance defense, where typical base at fifteen years and up reaches $200,000 and the top of the range goes well past it. It is smallest in commercial litigation. Typical base there is $150,000 at year three and $155,000 at year fifteen, close to flat across more than a decade. Litigators who want more usually move to a larger firm, where eight to fourteen year attorneys reach $240,000 to $310,000.
If you're planning a decade of work, that difference matters. In insurance defense or labor and employment, staying in the mid-size market and building depth pays over time. In commercial litigation, the raise usually comes from moving to a different firm. Another two years in the same seat moves base very little. Corporate sits in between, where pay follows the kind of work a firm can bring in more closely than it follows years billed.
How this compares to the Big Law scale
Big Law is a separate track with its own public scale. Associates in the same cities have started around $235,000 since July 2026 and move up by class year on a national lockstep that most large firms match within weeks of each other. Nothing in this article competes with that number. A first year in corporate at a regional firm makes about $155,000, and a first year in family law makes about $100,000, against $235,000 at a firm following the scale. That gap is not closing.
The difference in base reflects a difference in the job. Billable targets, staffing depth, client size, and origination expectations all differ between the two tracks, and hours are the part most people underestimate when they compare offers. Putting the two numbers side by side tells you the difference in base and little else. What helps is comparing total compensation against hours worked, plus what the next five years of work look like on each track.
Moving from Big Law to a mid-size or regional firm usually means a pay cut in year one and a faster path to running your own matters. Moving the other way is hardest after year five, when large firms recruit by class year and a regional practice does not always translate. If you are weighing a track change, do it against a specific firm and a specific caseload rather than against the idea of one.
How much does an insurance defense associate make?
At mid-size and regional firms, typical base is about $130,000 at one to two years, $150,000 from year three through year seven, $175,000 at eight to fourteen, and $200,000 at fifteen or more. The middle half of the data runs $115,000 to $140,000 in the most junior band and $150,000 to $225,000 in the most senior one. Insurance defense is the practice where ITG's data runs deepest, so those figures hold up well.
Do labor and employment attorneys earn more than litigators?
At the junior level they are even. Typical base is about $135,000 for both labor and employment and commercial litigation at one to two years. The separation shows up later. By eight to fourteen years, labor and employment typicals reach $175,000 against $150,000 for commercial litigation, and at fifteen years and up it is $200,000 against $155,000. The top of the senior labor and employment range reaches $300,000, which commercial litigation does not approach at a regional firm.
Why does commercial litigation pay plateau?
Typical base in commercial and civil litigation sits near $150,000 from year three onward and reaches only about $155,000 at fifteen years and up. Mid-size and regional firms bill litigation at rates that cap what they can pay an associate, and seniority by itself does not move that cap. Litigators who want a step up usually change platforms. At larger firms, eight to fourteen year litigators reach $240,000 to $310,000 for work that looks similar on paper.
How much should a firm budget for a mid-level associate?
For a five to seven year associate, plan on roughly $150,000 in insurance defense, commercial litigation, labor and employment, and personal injury, and about $180,000 in corporate. The middle half across those practices runs wider, from about $120,000 to $215,000. Budget at the low to mid part of the range for your practice, since that is where most accepted offers land. The top of a band goes to candidates with specific experience a firm needs on day one.
How do these compare to the Big Law scale?
They describe a different market. Big Law associates in the same cities have started around $235,000 since July 2026 and move up a published national scale by class year, which most large firms match. At mid-size and regional firms, pay is set firm by firm, and a first year runs between about $95,000 and $155,000 depending on practice. Hours, client size, staffing depth, and origination expectations differ too, so the two numbers are not measuring the same job.
Are these figures current and where do they come from?
The data is from 2026 and it is ITG's own. It comes from accepted offers, the current and target base salaries candidates give us, and base figures recorded in interview notes across Florida, Georgia, Texas, California, and New York. Each range is the middle half of that data, the 25th to the 75th percentile, and the typical figure is the median. Real estate and the two practice-level notes are directional and should be read loosely.