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What are the best cities for a lawyer/paralegal. Common sense that a larger city has more jobs for the legal community, but what cities are more prestigious. I'm sure cities like Los Angeles and Las Vegas are not legal meccas, but places like New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. have more opportunities.
Which big cities don't have a lot of large law firms?
How does Philly get thrown into that mix? When I think of Philly I dont' think of its legal market.
The biggest legal markets are NYC and Washington DC. Los Angeles is the biggest market on the West Coast. Starting salaries for big law in NYC these days are $160k, however if you didn't graduate from Harvard/Columbia/Penn your salary is more likely to be $50-$70k.
In addition to LA, NY, and DC, SF has a strong legal market. Seattle has a fairly small market for a bigger city that is difficult to enter. Atlanta, Dallas, and Charlotte have strong legal markets and high paying jobs. I disagree that you need to have gone to Harvard, etc. to get a top paying associate job. It's more important that you did well (top 20%) in law school and that you went to a law school in the top 30 law schools or a strong regional school. Turnover in biglaw firms is high because the work is mind numbing dull and the hours stink, so even if you don't get your dream paying job right out of law school, you can get it later because slots begin to open. Honestly, I have no idea why anyone would want to be a paralegal (dead end job), but all of the bigger markets have needs.
Cleveland has 2 of the largest national firms in the country: Jones Day and Squires Sanders & Dempsey. Also, Cleveland routinely scores among the highest in likeability among summer interns from the top law schools.
A friend who is a legal advisor (reviewing complex corporate contracts) for a law firm, said that the Boston market is tight for attorneys & some are forced to temporarily take paralegal jobs for the time being. I have no stats to back it up, nor do I know if it's changed in the past few years, but as he's the very thorough type, I assume he's correct. Not sure if it helps, but just wanted to put it out there.
Should you consider Boston for work, a legal temp agency called Ruthier might be able to help you, although I did find info of them online Re: a lawsuit within the past 10-yrs. They're still operating, so I'm assuming it's settled, but don't know details. It wouldn't be hard to research, as I found it by accident when considering returning temporarily to legal secy work.
Best of luck to you, wherever you decide to settle... VV
How does Philly get thrown into that mix? When I think of Philly I dont' think of its legal market.
The biggest legal markets are NYC and Washington DC. Los Angeles is the biggest market on the West Coast. Starting salaries for big law in NYC these days are $160k, however if you didn't graduate from Harvard/Columbia/Penn your salary is more likely to be $50-$70k.
Philadelphia has some of the best law schools in the country. University of Pennsylvania, Villanova, Drexel, and Temple Law Schools. You would be surprised how just how big the legal market is here in the City of Brotherly Love.
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