Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between associate partners and legal externs can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both an associate partner and a legal extern. Additionally, an associate partner has an average salary of $145,385, which is higher than the $47,238 average annual salary of a legal extern.
The top three skills for an associate partner include digital transformation, analytics and cloud. The most important skills for a legal extern are litigation, legal intern, and legal issues.
| Associate Partner | Legal Extern | |
| Yearly salary | $145,385 | $47,238 |
| Hourly rate | $69.90 | $22.71 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 32,405 | 10,986 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
The job of an associate partner is similar to that of a partner. An associate partner will report to the partner and work to build strong client relationships and understand their concerns. You will typically perform various duties that include handling the partner's daily activities, monitoring the accounting procedures, and maintaining the confidentiality of the client's information. As an associate partner, you also have to advise on corporate governance and business reorganization and conducting assessments of in-house platforms that include evaluating portfolio accounting systems and client delivery.
Legal externs are law students who took the opportunity to do on-the-job training at a law firm. Instead of monetary compensation, they receive academic credits. Legal externs primarily engage in job shadowing. They are usually assigned mentors in the law firm, and they would shadow their mentors in their daily routines. Legal externs are exposed to the actual work done by lawyers. Legal externs are involved in cases, providing insights while building a solid case for their client, giving advice to clients, and representing clients under the supervision of the actual lawyers in the firm. They are usually not given administrative or clerical tasks since they are expected to do more tasks directly related to being a lawyer.
Associate partners and legal externs have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Associate Partner | Legal Extern | |
| Average salary | $145,385 | $47,238 |
| Salary range | Between $84,000 And $250,000 | Between $23,000 And $93,000 |
| Highest paying City | Cambridge, MA | Washington, DC |
| Highest paying state | Massachusetts | New York |
| Best paying company | McKinsey & Company Inc | Jones Day |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Professional |
There are a few differences between an associate partner and a legal extern in terms of educational background:
| Associate Partner | Legal Extern | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 68% |
| Most common major | Business | Law |
| Most common college | University of Pennsylvania | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between associate partners' and legal externs' demographics:
| Associate Partner | Legal Extern | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.4% Female, 33.6% | Male, 46.0% Female, 54.0% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 6.4% White, 75.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 6.4% White, 75.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |