© 2016 The Texas Lawbook.
By Mark Curriden
(Oct. 13) – Corporate partners in Houston have seen their annual compensation skyrocket during the past two years and are now among the highest paid business attorneys in the U.S.
Big firm lawyers in Houston make $335,000 more per year than their counterparts in Dallas, according to a new study by legal search firm Major, Lindsey & Africa.
The survey of more than 2,100 lawyers nationally found that the average corporate law partner in Houston is now paid $1.06 million – a 36 percent increase from just two years ago.
By contrast, big law lawyers in Dallas are paid an average of $727,000 in 2016, which is a 14 percent jump from two years ago, according to Major, Lindsey & Africa.
“A large number of very profitable national law firms opened shop in Houston during the past few years and it has caused a jolt in the market,” said Jeffrey Lowe, managing partner in Major, Lindsey & Africa’s Washington, D.C. office and author of the study.
The average annual compensation nationally this year is $877,000. The highest paid corporate lawyers are those practicing in Silicon Valley ($1.43 million). Business partners in New York earn $1.17 million annually, compared to those in Los Angeles who are paid $1.14 million.
The lowest paid corporate lawyers in the survey live in Seattle at $564,000 a year.
While Houston lawyers have seen their compensation climb, Lowe said the survey found the dissatisfaction rate of Houston lawyers also doubled during the same time period.
“Dallas lawyers make less, but they are happier with their jobs,” Lowe said.
The Major Lindsey survey found that partners who specialize in mergers and acquisitions are paid the most money, followed by those who practice tax law and then intellectual property and patent law. The lowest compensated practice area is labor and employment law.
The study found that male law partners are paid about 40 percent more money than their female counterparts, but Lowe said the data is not broken down by city.
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