What Does a Litigation Associate Do?

In this section, we compare the average litigation associate annual salary with that of a document review attorney. Typically, document review attorneys earn a $30,935 lower salary than litigation associates earn annually.

Even though litigation associates and document review attorneys have vast differences in their careers, a few of the skills required to do both jobs are similar. For example, both careers require litigation, law firm, and commercial litigation in the day-to-day roles.

There are some key differences in responsibilities as well. For example, a litigation associate responsibilities require skills like "legal research," "discovery motions," "insurance coverage," and "pre-trial motions." Meanwhile a typical document review attorney has skills in areas such as "e-discovery software," "qc," "attorney-client privilege," and "privilege logs." This difference in skills reveals how truly different these two careers really are.

Document review attorneys tend to make the most money in the professional industry by averaging a salary of $99,404. In contrast, litigation associates make the biggest average salary of $151,203 in the professional industry.

Document review attorneys tend to reach similar levels of education than litigation associates. In fact, document review attorneys are 2.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 4.3% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.

The next role we're going to look at is the lawyer profession. Typically, this position earns a higher pay. In fact, they earn a $3,692 higher salary than litigation associates per year.

Not everything about these jobs is different. Take their skills, for example. Litigation associates and lawyers both include similar skills like "litigation," "law firm," and "legal research" on their resumes.

In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences that are worth noting. For example, litigation associate responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "discovery motions," "insurance coverage," "pre-trial motions," and "mediation." Meanwhile, a lawyer might be skilled in areas such as "real estate," "civil law," "legal advice," and "juris." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.

In general, lawyers study at higher levels of education than litigation associates. They're 11.1% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 4.3% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.

The third profession we take a look at is law clerk. On an average scale, these workers bring in lower salaries than litigation associates. In fact, they make a $56,200 lower salary per year.

Using litigation associates and law clerks resumes, we found that both professions have similar skills such as "litigation," "law firm," and "legal research," but the other skills required are very different.

There are many key differences between these two careers as shown by resumes from each profession. Some of those differences include the skills required to complete responsibilities within each role. As an example of this, a litigation associate is likely to be skilled in "discovery motions," "insurance coverage," "mediation," and "securities," while a typical law clerk is skilled in "legal memos," "summary judgment," "demand letters," and "client interviews."

Law clerks make a very good living in the professional industry with an average annual salary of $98,674. Whereas litigation associates are paid the highest salary in the professional industry with the average being $151,203.

When it comes to education, law clerks tend to earn similar education levels than litigation associates. In fact, they're 2.0% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 27.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.

Now, we'll look at general counsels, who generally average a higher pay when compared to litigation associates annual salary. In fact, the difference is about $13,132 per year.

While both litigation associates and general counsels complete day-to-day tasks using similar skills like litigation, law firm, and legal research, the two careers also vary in other skills.

While some skills are shared by these professions, there are some differences to note. "discovery motions," "insurance coverage," "pre-trial motions," and "federal courts" are skills that have shown up on litigation associates resumes. Additionally, general counsel uses skills like legal advice, juris, risk management, and ethics on their resumes.

Now, let's take a closer look at the financials in each career. The finance industry tends to pay more for general counsels with an average of $135,018. While the highest litigation associate annual salary comes from the professional industry.

General counsels reach similar levels of education when compared to litigation associates. The difference is that they're 4.3% more likely to earn a Master's Degree more, and 12.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.