Legal jobs are an important part of keeping the world rolling. The legal system spans a wide variety of elements, including everything from the criminal justice system, which attempts to determine whether individuals have committed crimes, to the immigration system, which manages people who want to come to the United States from other countries, and the civil system, which manages disagreements between individuals that don’t rise to the level of a crime. As a legal worker in Manhattan, you’ll help manage legal considerations in one or more of these arenas.
The job you’ll typically look for will depend on where you studied, what you studied specifically, how many years of experience you have, and where you previously worked. In the legal field, you need to have a specialty, as the legal field is simply too wide for you to know everything about every component. That’s where a well-crafted resume can come into play. You can use a resume builder to create a resume that any hiring manager will feel lucky to read through, showcasing all of your important skills and knowledge.
Before you apply for a specific legal job in Manhattan, here’s what you need to know about your potential salary and the application process.
Top paying legal jobs to consider
The top-paying jobs in the legal system are almost always senior lawyers, and they’re often employed by companies directly. However, lawyers of any kind can often make quite a decent living, especially in Manhattan, one of the centers of this field.
- Entry-Level Attorney: $110,000-$140,000
- Senior Attorney: $38,000-$570,000
- Personal Lawyer: $26,000-$120,000
- Corporate Lawyer: $100,000-$160,000
This salary range is gigantic – you can see that the salary range for a Senior Attorney covers over $500,000. This is simply because of the range in what company an individual may work for and what type of work they may do. A senior attorney with 40 years of experience working for Microsoft will command a higher salary than a senior attorney with 10 years of experience working with a brand-new immigration firm. You’ll want to look specifically into your field of legal knowledge and check the salaries of people who are as well-versed as yourself.
There are also other jobs in the legal system that aren’t specifically lawyers. You may want to check these jobs:
- Paralegal: $52,000-$97,000
- Legal Assistant: $26,000-$81,000
- Legal Secretary: $29,000-$65,000
Some people use these jobs as a way to “build up” to the job they really want to do, which may be working as a lawyer or attorney. On the other hand, some people use these as their primary career goals. Neither is correct or incorrect; it’s just about what you personally want to do with your career.
Applying for the job you deserve
When you get to the actual application part of the process, you need to start by looking over the qualifications that a company has listed for a specific job. Note whether the job requires a specific amount of experience, what types of education the job is looking for, and exactly what type of work the company is looking for you to do. Match that up with your resume to see whether you can do that kind of work, if you need any extra qualifications, and how well you meet their stated criteria.
Even if you do meet all the stated criteria in a specific job application, you still need to show this to the hiring manager. If you’re hoping to be paid in a manner that fits your specific experience, education, and knowledge, you should make sure the recruiter understands all of those things before they ever call you in for an interview. By showing these in a resume, you’re able to indicate whether you might be looking for a higher or lower salary without ever discussing numbers.
