Legal
What legal professionals are asking to be paid, and how to hire them before you need them.
Built from 92 LawStaff Group and NorthPoint Search Group candidate questionnaires and job applications (January 2025 – October 2026) and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
What they're asking to be paid
Desired base salary, from 40 candidates who told us what they want in their next role. The bar is the middle half of answers. The dot is the typical ask (the median).
The lowest salary people say they'd accept sits close to what they ask for. A Paralegal asking $82K says the floor is about $75K. There isn't much room to come in low.
| Title | Answers | Middle half | Typical ask | Lowest they'd take |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contracts / Compliance | 5 | $65K – $75K | $65K | — |
| Legal Assistant / Secretary | 5 | $70K – $75K | $72K | — |
| Paralegal | 30 | $75K – $90K | $82K | $75K |
Government numbers for comparison
Median annual pay, metro Atlanta, May 2025 (BLS). These include every experience level, so they can run lower than what experienced candidates ask for.
| Lawyers | $138,210 |
|---|---|
| Compliance officers | $72,810 |
| Paralegals and legal assistants | $64,080 |
| Legal secretaries | $60,100 |
How to read this
Asking pay is base salary only, before bonus and benefits. Titles with fewer than 5 answers aren't shown. About 39% of candidates who gave a location are in Georgia; the rest are spread across the U.S.
Most will come to the office
From 38 candidates. They could pick every setup they'd accept.
76% would work fully in the office and 74% would work hybrid. You don't need a remote job to hire well here.
How often people leave
Departures per 100 jobs in a year (all separations, 2025), from the BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey.
How long people stay
Median years with their current employer, January 2026 (BLS).
| Legal occupations | 4.3 years |
|---|---|
| All occupations | 4.1 years |
What that means for a team of 10
At professional services employers, a 10-person legal team sees 5 or 6 departures a year. At the average private employer it's about 4. Either way, most of those openings are predictable.
A year is 12 times the average monthly rate. It counts departures, so one seat can turn over more than once.
Five ways to hire better this year
- Price to the ask. Put the middle-half range for the role in your job post. Candidates' floor is close to their ask, so low offers lose people.
- Sell the path, not just the pay. 22% are looking for growth. Show the next title, who they'll learn from, and what they'll own.
- You can ask for the office. 76% would work fully in the office and 74% would work hybrid.
- Screen for your system. Ask about your practice-management and e-filing systems up front. Train the rest.
- Build the bench before you need it. Turnover is predictable. Keep a short list of ready people behind every seat so the next resignation is a phone call, not a crisis.
Legal staffing, done for you.
LawStaff Group has placed paralegals, legal assistants, attorneys and legal support staff since 2003. For every search we build a custom screening questionnaire with you, so every résumé arrives with your questions already answered. Candidates can add a short video intro. Hire direct, or try them first as a temp - we can payroll them for you.
Start a search → lawstaffgroup.netPay, reasons, work setup and software come from screening questionnaires and job applications that candidates completed for LawStaff Group and NorthPoint Search Group between January 29, 2025 and October 1, 2026: 92 people, newest form per person. Pay figures are desired base salary for the titles shown; the middle half is the 25th to 75th percentile, rounded to $500. Groups with fewer than 5 answers are left out, and no individual answer is shown.
- BLS Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, 2025 annual averages (released March 13, 2026), Tables 20 and 22.
- BLS Employee Tenure, median years with current employer by occupation, January 2026, Table 6.
- BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA.
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