Salary Negotiations

Negotiation is nothing more than the process of individuals working together to arrive a a mutually beneficial agreement. How you negotiate will affect your relationship with the employer. Negotiating should not be viewed as adversarial or confrontational. Rather, it should be viewed as an opportunity to win the respect and admiration of employers because it allows you to demonstrate confidence in your own marketability. Remember to highlight your existing accomplishments which already prove your worth. Think in terms of exchanging your talent and labor for cash and benefits.

It is important to know what you are worth and know what employers are willing to pay for someone with your skills as well as what salary you are willing to accept. If you are unhappy with what has been offered, it is appropriate to come back with a counteroffer. The key is to emphasize the benefit to the employer for paying you more. Perhaps if you can convince the employer to create a new position that would better accommodate your skills, interests and abilities as well as meet their needs. If all else fails, and you still really want the job, suggest renegotiating the salary 2, 6, or 9 months later.

Salary Information

How do you know if the salary you’ve been offered is fair? That is a tough question. When considering salary offers, you’ll need to take into account a number of factors:

• The "going rate" for similar positions in the area
• Cost of living
• Your background and experience (and whether the employer values those)
• Other degrees and skills you may have
• Your debt situation
• Your family circumstances

Before accepting an offer, you can check two sources of general salary information:

• SCU employment statistics (average starting salaries for recent law school graduates.)
• NALP’s most recent Associate Salary Survey on reserve in the LCS Resource Library located in Bannan Hall, Room 230 (national stats broken down by geography)

A good rule of thumb for calculating salaries at law firms is to calculate how much revenue you will bring the firm based on your hourly rate and billable hour requirements. Then take roughly 30-50 percent of this figure as a salary depending on what type of support, training and other benefits the firm will be rewarding. Unfortunately, this approach only works at organizations where you are billing for your services.