Legal Lucre: $37,000 Beginners

Beyond the bar exam lies a pot of gold--at least for the top students recruited by the big corporate law firms. Starting salaries at the large Wall Street legal factories, which began bidding up the pay of new lawyers a decade ago, will rise by some 6% this year to about $33,000. Pacesetting firms in Houston, Chicago, Los Angeles and Washington offer $25,000 to $30,000.

But most young lawyers enter a less gilded world. They send out scores of resumes and try not to jump at the first offer that comes along. Over the past few years, the average starting salary at law firms has leveled off at about $16,000. Professional newcomers in other fields are getting somewhat more: the average business school graduate can expect $22,000 this year, while computer engineers with degrees from first-rank schools like M.I.T. will get up to $28,000. By contrast, the top salaries that corporations and government agencies offer new lawyers range around $20,000. For big bucks, lawyers will continue to have to look to powerful firms, with blue chip clients, that can afford to bid high for talent. One of the Wall Street heavyweights, Davis, Polk and Wardwell, expects to have to pay $37,000, including fringes, for the 1980 graduates it wants.

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