<p>Nobody responded to this in another thread so...</p>
<p>As far as salary is concerned, the salary for many top law graduates in the 25 to 75% is 125,000 but how much of that has to do with the city they are employed? I plan on working in Phoenix. The average salary for ASU and U of A (the only 2 law schools in AZ) is about 80,000. So, does a Harvard graduate still make 125,000 if they were to practice somewhere other than LA, NY, etc?</p>
<p>I seriously doubt it</p>
<p>Law firms typically set a salary for all members of a particular class. All first-year associates will make one salary, all seconyear associates make another salary, etc. Sometimes adjustments are made for members of the patent bar; at some people, first-year associates who clerked for a year with a judge will receive the second-year associate base. Bonuses are typically paid based on the number of billable hours.</p>
<p>At very small law firms, an individual's starting salary is more likely to be the result of an individual negotiation. </p>
<p>Harvard graduates have higher average starting salaries than graduates of some other schools because more of them are hired by firms that pay high salaries, not because at a given firm they're given higher starting salaries than their peers at the firm.</p>
<p>The $125K salaries you've read about are offered by big firms in a few cities: New York, LA, San Francisco, Washington DC, Chicago, and maybe one or two others.</p>