A General Overview of the Dallas Legal Marketplace
Currently, the Dallas legal job market consists of over thirty large law firms in the Dallas area. Many firms employ more than one hundred attorneys within their firm. The largest firms in Dallas include Jackson Walker LLP, Baker Botts L.L.P., and Haynes and Boone, LLP. These firms are consistently ranked among the top law firms in the nation.
In addition to large law firms, Dallas has a plethora of smaller law firms that tend to be more entrepreneurial in nature. These firms take a collaborative approach to work, while still maintaining the level of professionalism and quality expected from the industry. Small firms often provide high-quality legal services for a moderate rate. Recently, many boutique firms have successfully carved out a niche and developed a high-profile reputation specializing in areas such as intellectual property, economic development, mergers and acquisitions, and international law.
According to PayScale, an industry site that compiles salary data nationwide, the average salary for an attorney in Dallas is $108,000, with a standard deviation of $40,000. However, at the high end, the reported salary for an attorney is $168,000, and at the low end, the salary is $54,000 . The higher average can be attributed to the impact of the 2015 compensation war, which saw most top firms in Dallas increase salaries to match New York and Bay Area level compensation. A distinguishing feature of the compensation increases was that firms deferred payment associated with the raise until after one year of employment. This was done with the hope of long-term retention post-upgrades.
In 2016, the Dallas bar hired an additional 1,400 attorneys, compared with 1,100 in 2015. The demand for attorneys continues to grow as firms see robust hiring in litigation, health care, tax, employee benefits, and corporate real estate. Major industries to employ lawyers in the Dallas economy include technology, telecommunications, financial services, biotechnology, transportation, manufacturing, and high-end consumer products. In particular, the health care boom has created jobs for lawyers specializing in labor, tax, privacy, and data security.
Additionally, in 2016 the state created a record number of new jobs with 248,900 new nonfarm jobs added. Nonfarm employment is projected to grow 27.5 percent from 2014 to 2024, which is higher than the national average of 20.7 percent. The average annual wage of a Dallas Fort Worth employment is $59,559, up 9.5 percent from 2015.
What Kinds of Legal Positions Are Available in Dallas?
The types of legal jobs in Dallas encompass a wide array of specialties and levels of expertise, from entry-level positions to the so-called "c-suites." In-house counsel roles, including those as chief legal officers, are among the most sought-after positions in the legal industry. The amount and quality of in-house legal work often hinges on how many lawyers are based in-house and their individual experiences. Trends indicate that, in the coming years, more law firms and companies will offer integrated services to meet legal needs. This may involve partnering with accounting firms on tax issues and intellectual property for IP concerns. Attorneys are the most well-recognized members of the legal community, but Dallas also has a number of paralegals, legal assistants, legal secretaries and those who offer support services. Dallas also has legal talent in compliance, contract issues, litigation, intellectual property law, mergers and acquisitions, real estate and labor and employment. Those seeking in-house opportunities should be prepared for more than just legal skills. They should also be willing to get involved in finance, business strategy and company operations.
Finding the Right Position
Networking is essential in the legal field. It’s easy to find work through a referral rather than applying through job boards. This is where a good legal staffing agency comes in, as they can get you noticed over other candidates. Sometimes, a firm will use a staffing agency for permanent placements.
Job boards are another source. Many major firms post on sites like Indeed.com or Monster.com. These are not the most common way to find legal work but it is worth a shot. If you know someone who works for a particular firm or organization, this is your chance to make that contact work for you.
The Dallas Bar Association is a great source for legal jobs. Your resume will be listed on their website and it gives you instant exposure to the market. In addition, it offers unique insights into the legal market which can be found nowhere else.
Education and Skills Required
In the highly competitive legal market of Dallas, employers typically have certain qualifications and skills they look to in their candidates. While there are always exceptions to the rule, and local firms do vary somewhat, the following educational and skills requirements commonly apply:
Law firm attorneys: Corporate law firms require their associate attorneys to have strong academic credentials from a top local or national law school. Often, top law firms require an associate to be within in the top 10-15% of their class at a particularly prestigious school, although there are exceptions. Experience is often weighted heavily, and there are companies that specialize in finding both lateral and entry-level attorneys for firms of all sizes in the North Texas region.
In-house attorneys: Corporations in Dallas typically seek applicants who have similar outstanding academic credentials. Some also have strong preferences for applicants who have been recognized by high-profile publications as rising stars, leaders and innovators in their field. Advanced degrees — particularly MBAs and technical knowledge — in addition to prior experience with leading companies and top law firms are also beneficial. In-house attorneys tend to be paid higher starting salaries if the applicant has specific niche knowledge of the client’s industry.
Earnings Potential
One of the critical questions any legal professional will have is salary expectations. In the legal services sector in Dallas, the salary spectrum varies considerably. According to data published by PayScale on average, salaries for legal assistants and paralegals range between $45,000 and $75,000 annually. Attorneys, meanwhile, see a wider range—the average salary for an entry-level attorney in Dallas is approximately $78,845, while legal directors can make up to and beyond $220,000 per year.
Recently published data shows that corporate lawyers make more money than their privately-practicing counterparts in Dallas. Corporate general counsels earn an annual median income of $132,400, while those at the top of the private sector make $120,888.
According to data compiled by Glassdoor , the median base salary for legal administrators in the greater Dallas area is $83,478, with reported salaries ranging from $66,000 to $108,000. Experience and seniority are key factors when it comes to salary prospects. At the attorney level, less than one year of experience comes with an average base salary of $87,099, rising to $88,207 for attorneys with five to nine years. For those with ten to 14 years of experience, the salary median is $101,422.
Factors such as specialization also play a part in salary ranges for legal professionals in Dallas. For example, those who specialize in intellectual property devry a significantly higher salary than those who practice labor and employment. International business lawyers also tend to earn more over the course of their careers.
Career Development
The Dallas legal sector provides myriad potential career paths and opportunities for professional advancement. Law firm associates each have a well-defined career path from student to lawyer to managing partner, and each of these stages operates in concert with the other to guide young lawyers to the successful conclusion of their career. In-house attorneys also have a clear career path and opportunities available to them without having to leave their employer. The vast majority of opportunities for advancement continue to be in line with specializing and eventually transitioning to a leadership role. To put it plainly, there is an ever-expanding demand in the market for lawyers who specialize, either in terms of their case load or industry sector.
Many decades ago, the average law school graduate could enter the field without a specific area of practice. There are still a few general practitioners today, but most larger firms today want associate candidates who demonstrate an interest and specialty in one or two areas or who have participated in several related courses of study. With the pace of development in all manner of industries, both law firms and in-house teams rely on lawyers who have a specialty to contribute to their goals. This need has done nothing but increase over the last several years, as the Legislature has passed dozens of laws creating new law codes and agencies. The growth in technology and coordinating globalization has also created the need for lawyers who specialize and can navigate these complex new issues.
Equally important for the career advancement of lawyers in Dallas is the ability to share their expertise. Opportunities for leadership abound in local bar associations, both in Dallas and across the state. These local associations help to establish professional relationships by bringing people together and introducing new lawyers to veterans in their practice area. Increasingly, they are using social media to help members share knowledge and grow their brand.
Advantages also arise from the relatively new push for pursuing and completing professional certifications, either through an examination or peer review by industry groups. Specialization on the resume speaks to clients and potential employers that a lawyer is dedicated to his or her practice area. It may also be viewed as an opportunity for advancement and a means of standing out in a crowded field. Certainly, the continuing education requirement for the Texas bar provides an opportunity to specialize in practice and develop a professional reputation, as does participation in community services boards, volunteer efforts, and charitable work.
As with any career path, the best opportunities for advancement come from an established network of professional and personal relationships. Law schools go to great lengths to ensure their new graduates emphasize networking and developing business relationships. As with any profession, the key to finding the right opportunity is to stay open to diverse experiences and those around you.
Obstacles and Opportunities in the Dallas Legal Job Market
As the workforce in Dallas grows, so does the pool of potential clients for legal professionals. The city’s economy has remained strong through the ups and downs of the national economy.
The forecast for the Dallas economy is bright; it was recently projected by WalletHub to be the second-best city in the country for business.
Inclusivity is a success factor in the Dallas legal environment. The demographics are changing, and those dynamics are reflected in the workforce. As the inhabitants and workforce of Dallas grow more diverse, the law firms building their practice are eager to attract and retain diverse talent. If you have worked for a firm with any diversity programs, you may find new employment opportunities at a firm that values this area of community involvement. Moreover, with new technology and a global marketplace, it is important for law firms to embrace opportunities to attract a diverse client base.
Whether or not you believe diversity is a positive legal practice, it will affect your career. Law firms often seek to establish a friendly environment for a diverse workforce to be productive. The Pew Research Center reports that by 2044 more than half of the nation’s population will be composed of people of color. The same report notes that race and identity now comes up in more than a third of news stories about the U.S. market, up from a sixth of stories just decades ago.
In another era , corporate law firms could give their attorneys tough assignments and expect them to work 80 hour weeks. That is no longer the case for many law firms in Dallas. In 2011, R. Bruce Rigdon, managing partner of Cox Smith Matthews wrote an open letter to the President of the Texas Young Lawyers Association explaining that the better talent didn’t want to work for firms that expect long hours. Rigdon said, "Quality of life" means something more than just job satisfaction. It includes quality of life outside the work hours—time spent with family, time spent volunteering and time spent pursuing intellectual passions. Clients of the future want firms that recognize these values and support their lawyers in achieving them."
Dallas has experienced the ripple effects of the 2008 recession and how it has impacted both those businesses and those firms. The 2007-2008 collapse of the subprime mortgage market affected banks and law firms. Credit rating agencies lowered the ratings of large law firms, making borrowing more difficult.
When the Great Recession hit, law firms had to fire not only associates, but also non-lawyer staff. From 2007-2009 the number of jobs in legal services dropped by more than 15,000. The strong recovery in the Dallas economy was a result of the diversification of the local economy.
While it would be difficult to completely separate the effects of the 2008 recession from the improvements in the present-day Dallas economy, there can be little doubt that the diversification of the local economy helped the Dallas legal community.