Money · 1 of 5
What lawyers make
Typical
$159,670
Starting out
$78,360
Top tenth
$351,600
The national median is $159,670 a year and the bottom tenth start near $78,360. These are the published figures for Lawyers as a whole, including government and public interest work. Intellectual property sits toward the upper end of that: patent work in particular is a shortage specialty, and law firm partners are owners rather than employees so they are not counted in this survey at all.