Paralegal Salary Guide
A job as a paralegal can be a first step towards a lucrative career in law. We get many paralegals coming to us to find out what their salary should be, so we analysed salary data from all the paralegals in our database to create this guide to paralegal salaries in the UK. We looked at paralegal salaries by location in the UK (overall average salary: £25,000), by years of experience, by degree and by company size - so that you can be a best paying paralegal.
Location
City | Average Paralegal Salary |
---|---|
Leeds | £20,000 |
Birmingham | £23,000 |
Manchester | £26,000 |
London | £29,000 |
No surprises here - paralegals in London are earning £9,000 more than their equivalents in Leeds, with Manchester and Birmingham falling in between. This partly reflects the higher cost of living in the capital, but also the highly competitive marketplace.
Experience
Years of Experience | Average Paralegal Salary |
---|---|
0-2 | £22,000 |
3-5 | £25,000 |
6-10 | £28,000 |
10+ | £28,000 |
A paralegal's salary rises as they gain experience - but only up to a point. Beyond 6-10 years of experience, paralegals' salaries plateau around £28,000, and those gaining extra experience will not see any changes to their pay.
Degree
Degree | Average Paralegal Salary |
---|---|
LLM | £23,000 |
Bachelor's Degree | £25,000 |
Master's Degree | £26,000 |
Paralegals seem to earn salaries directly proportionate to the amount of time taken to get their most recent degree: graduates from a three-year bachelor's degree earn £2,000 more than those from a one-year LLM degree, while Master's graduates come out on top with a total salary of £26,000.
Company Size
Company Size | Average Paralegal Salary |
---|---|
Large 250+ | £27,000 |
Medium 50-250 | £24,000 |
Small 10-50 | £21,000 |
Again, the results are unsurprising. The big law firms is where the money is, and paralegals can earn at least £3,000 more at these firms than at smaller companies. This disparity may appear even more pronounced than it is, since many of the largest firms are based in London, where paralegal salaries are already higher than average.
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