By Robyn Doolittle for The Globe and Mail
An annual salary survey shows near across-the-board increases to in-house lawyers’ base pay in Canada, with those in British Columbia maintaining their position as the country’s top earners.
Christopher Sweeney, the chief executive officer of ZSA Legal Recruitment, which conducted the survey with Counselwell, a national network of in-house lawyers, said the pay bumps are a delayed reaction to the high inflation of the past few years.
“The law firms gave big increases in 2021 and 2022 and this is really the in-house market playing catch-up,” Mr. Sweeney said.
But the numbers may also be a reflection of what’s happening in the job market.
Mr. Sweeney said he’s seen a “plateauing and tightening” in private practice hiring right now. By contrast, there is still considerable demand “top to bottom” in the in-house market.
This is the second year that Counselwell and ZSA have released their Canada In-House Lawyer Salary Report. The analysis is not scientific but it is among the only data available in Canada regarding lawyer salaries and compensation.
The information was gathered through an online survey conducted late last year. In total, 759 respondents were asked questions about their titles, years of experience, base salary and other benefits. About 82 per cent reported working in the private sector, while the remainder said they were employed by either government or in the non-profit and charity sector.
The respondents were split nearly down the middle between men and women, with fewer than 5 per cent identifying as either non-binary or “preferred not to disclose.” Their answers showed an 8-per-cent gender pay gap between male and female counsel – $197,883 compared with $183,290 – down from a 12-per-cent gap in last year’s report.
Lawyers were also asked about their racial identity. This data showed a 12.2-per-cent wage gap between racialized counsel and those who said they were not a member of a visible minority – $175,583 to $196,897 – down from 13.9 per cent.
Avi Weiss, the founder of Counselwell, said what he found most interesting about the survey responses was that career strategy matters.
For example, job hopping doesn’t necessarily pay off.
“Those who stayed with their employers five years-plus outearned their counterparts who have the same experience but who started a new job within the last five years,” he said. Additionally, the data showed that after 15 years staying put can actually hurt earning potential.
Finally, Mr. Weiss said that, in what will come as no surprise to anyone, in-house lawyers with experience in private practice significantly outearn those with none.
“But the interesting thing is there’s a sweet spot. The perfect time to leave private practice is between five to nine years of law firm experience. Any less or more and you won’t earn as much,” he said.
Over all, the survey found that in-house lawyers in British Columbia once again had the highest median base pay, even though the province was the only major market that reported a year-over-year dip in compensation.
Lawyers in B.C. brought in $191,000, down from $200,000. Next came counsel in Ontario, who earned $185,000, up from $171,000; followed by Alberta at $175,000, compared with $152,000; and finally Quebec at $156,000, up from $145,000.
(There were not enough respondents from the remaining provinces to produce a meaningful breakdown of those jurisdictions.)