The Canadian Lawyer’s 2012 research in to domestic remuneration levels revealed that the median salary of a first-year associate is Can$72,500 ($£71,000), down by approximately Can$3,500 from last year. Meanwhile, newly-recruited in-house counsel are receiving a median salary of $77,500, a steep decline of $7,500 from last year.
The unpredictable state of the legal profession is highlighted in other areas of the survey, with 77 per cent of corporate legal departments responding that they are planning to increase salaries in 2013, while only 45 per cent of law firms plan to do the same for their associates.
The survey – which involved 161 managing partners and sole practitioners as well as 74 chief legal officers and corporate legal department heads from across Canada sharing information -- also showed that 45 per cent of firms are planning to hire more lawyers in the next year, with 53 per cent aiming to keep numbers steady and only 2 per cent planning to reduce numbers.