Canadian Legal Salaries

Report intro:

This report identifies key trends in legal salaries in Canada, highlighting regional and experience differences in salaries for lawyers employed, in-house lawyers, and support staff. Also outlined are the specialization fields within the legal profession that are most easy and difficult to fill based on demand and available talent.

Report Insight Part 1: The Canadian legal landscape

Most hiring managers (97 percent) expect legal salaries to increase next year. This is partly due to the increasing demand for flexibility and higher pay among legal professionals, with 40 percent saying they would leave their jobs for another company that pays more.

Report Insight Part 2: Salaries by region and specialization

Legal salaries vary by region and experience. Calgary offers the highest salaries for lawyers employed at law firms of all experience levels, and Toronto ranks the highest for legal counsel roles. Practice area, however, has little impact on salary for lawyers employed at law firms, but some areas are notoriously more difficult to fill than others.

Part 1: The Canadian legal landscape

Lawyers vs. population

As of 2022, the most recent reporting year for data from the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, there were 40,674 law firms and 114,472 active/practising lawyers across Canada. However, the distribution of these lawyers and firms differs by province.

Nunavut has the highest ratio of law firms to population, with 9,215 people per law firm in the province. Meanwhile, Yukon has the lowest ratio at 491.

Newfoundland and Labrador have the highest active/practising lawyer ratio per population (629), while the Northwest Territories have the lowest (89). This means that there is one lawyer for every 89 people in the Northwest Territories.

While these numbers may suggest that some provinces are better equipped to handle the high demand for legal services, population and demand are key factors to consider when reviewing this metric.

Legal salary trends

According to Robert Half’s 2025 Canada Salary Guide, 97 percent of polled hiring managers expect pay for legal jobs in corporate legal departments and law firms to increase next year.

The agency also found that 86 percent of the legal employers polled are concerned about retention. These employers are also worried about finding qualified candidates (80 percent), skills gaps (79 percent), and hiring quickly enough to secure top talent (77 percent).

“In this day and age, it’s quite commonplace for lawyers to move around a handful of times throughout their careers – it’s not like how it used to be,” Robert Half vice president Stacy Manton tells Canadian Lawyer.

Employers are “definitely turning their minds to how they can best retain who they have and how they can best secure talent that’s outside of their firm at the moment when they do hire for certain jobs,” Manton says.

The skills that can command the highest premium in the current legal market were identified as:

• leadership and management experience
• compliance and risk management
• AI and automation
• research and information analytics
• data analytics

Thirty-two percent of employees also reported looking for more flexibility in a new job. However, a new in-house counsel salary survey from ZSA Legal Recruitment and Counselwell shows a premium for in-office work. British Columbia is the most lucrative province for in-house roles.

“The in-house counsel market… is as robust and as active as it has ever been,” says Warren Bongard, president and co-founder of ZSA Legal Recruitment. In his 27 years in legal recruiting, Bongard says the in-house counsel market has grown consistently, fluctuating between rapid and moderate growth. He says 2024 is forecast as a “questionable” year, with law firms and others in the market anticipating a flat year and hoping for a rebound in 2025.

About two-thirds of the same respondents said their compensation was reasonable, and just over a third said it was not. Fifty-three percent said they might leave their company if another role paid more. Forty-one percent said they would leave, and only six percent said they would not.

What Canadian employees are looking for

According to Robert Half, 92 percent of workers are concerned about inflation outpacing salary growth, and 51 percent of employees report feeling underpaid. However, salary is not the only factor impacting employee satisfaction levels. The same data revealed that 60 percent of employees are looking for a higher salary in a new job, and 50 percent are looking for better benefits and perks.

The Canadian Stay Study, released by the National Association for Law Placement, also highlighted that compensation, work-life balance, and career path are the top factors associates in Canada consider when deciding whether to stay at a law firm. Regarding the factors that had less impact on their decision to stay or leave, Canadian associates ranked practice area alignment with personal interests, mentoring, and firm culture as the fourth, fifth, and sixth most important factors.

Less prioritized but important factors for Canadian associates include professional development, benefits, firm policies, hybrid work policies, workflow management, market perception, location, pro bono involvement, and DEI.

HRD Canada’s data, which surveys the workforce more broadly outside the legal profession, supports these findings. Its survey shows that 56.7 percent of respondents would be willing to change their current job if a new role offered working options that better suit their preferences.

This is also echoed by Canadian Lawyer’s NextGen Lawyer report, which found that only 15 percent of partners feel their team is much more or somewhat more productive when out of the office, while 52 percent of junior legal professionals reported that remote work boosts their productivity.

Meanwhile, the long-held assumption that lawyers have their eyes set on becoming partners is no longer true for most practitioners, according to CL’s data. A combined 39 percent of legal professionals reported to be extremely or very interested in becoming a partner at their firm.

This shifting landscape creates space for more emphasis on work-life balance and benefits. In fact, 40 percent of legal professionals were willing to sacrifice a portion of their total income for a better work-life balance.

This is further supported by data from HRD Canada’s survey of best workplaces, which found that flexible work options were the third most valued staff benefit, behind medical and dental coverage. The same survey also identified that employees were least satisfied with their compensation, bonuses/incentives, and number of paid leaves.

Lawyer salaries may vary more in the wake of competition law changes

Recent legislative changes prohibiting inter-employer compensation communication could significantly alter legal industry salary structures, according to a legal profession salary report from Impact Recruitment.

In 2023, the Competition Bureau amended the Competition Act to explicitly criminalize "no-poaching" agreements and wage-fixing arrangements between unaffiliated employers. This provision, which came into effect on June 23, 2023, under Section 45 (1.1) of the Act, makes it illegal for companies to agree not to hire each other’s employees or to fix wages or employment terms.

The Impact Recruitment guide suggests that the legislative change could mean law firms and other employers will not know as much about competitor salaries, leading to more salary variation and salaries more closely aligned with performance and responsive to market demand.

This goes hand in hand with the correlation between increasing legal salaries and rising legal fees. Canadian Lawyer’s report, ‘The state of the Canadian legal fee landscape,’ highlights how rising legal fees are primarily a result of firms increasing salaries to compensate for inflation and the worsening cost of living.

In 2024, 64 percent of firms planned to increase fees compared to 2023. Meanwhile, only one percent planned to decrease fees, and 35 percent planned to keep fees the same. Despite a general trend of increasing legal fees across the country, most survey respondents reported no change in their staffing levels in 2023, suggesting that fees are increasing to accommodate factors such as the rising cost of living rather than an expanded workforce.

In fact, 81 percent of firms reported no change in their number of partners, while 13 percent reported an increase and six percent reported a decrease. These numbers were consistent with the number of other lawyers at a firm, with 62 percent reporting no change, 26 percent reporting an increase, and 12 percent reporting a decrease.

With inflation rates and the cost of living increasing across the country, rising legal fees are undoubtedly being impacted.

According to Michael Clark, partner at Korman & Company, whose firm reported plans to increase fees between six percent and 10 percent, increases are primarily due to salaries rising in proportion to inflation.

“With inflation comes increased demands from staff for salary increases, and we’re having to slightly increase our base legal fees in order to cover that increase to staff salaries,” Clark says. “We have to keep up with what the salaries our competitors are offering employees, and, overall, we’re seeing an increase in salary demands, particularly in Toronto.”

Part 2: Salaries by region and specialization

Legal salaries by role

The key factor defining salaries within the legal field is experience. According to Robert Half, legal salaries across Canada vary from a median of $45,750 for a file/records clerk to a median of $230,000 for a lawyer with 10+ years of experience.

Notably, a lawyer with four to nine years of experience shows a higher median salary than an in-house counsel/associate general counsel with 10+ years of experience, despite the latter having worked in the field for longer.

Lawyer salaries by experience, across five major cities

According to data compiled from sources such as Robert Half and Hays, the average salaries for lawyers vary by experience level across five major Canadian cities: Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver. The salary range for legal professionals starts at just under $100,000 for first-year lawyers and can exceed $220,000 as experience increases.

Calgary stands out as the highest-paying city for lawyers employed at law firms of all experience levels, with salaries ranging from $96,154 for first-year lawyers to $236,442 for those with 10 or more years of experience.

Meanwhile, Toronto ranks the highest for associate general counsel, general counsel, legal counsel and senior legal counsel roles, with salaries ranging from $177,320 to $136,700.This is in line with Robert Half’s 2025 salary guide, which shows salaries in Calgary as 4.5 percent higher than the national average, while Toronto’s is 4.3 percent higher.

Meanwhile, Ottawa consistently sees slightly lower salaries for all areas except legal counsel, which is lowest in Vancouver. However, there is minimal variation between Montreal and Ottawa, much like in Calgary and Toronto.

Cost of living by city

According to MovingWaldo, Vancouver has the highest cost of living, followed by Toronto. Calgary, however, has the second-lowest cost of living yet also has the highest salaries for legal employees. This may suggest that salaries may go further in Calgary than in other Canadian cities. It is, however, important to note the difference in salary taxes by province.

For example, a first-year lawyer in Calgary making $96,154 would take home $70,877 after taxes, which is almost the cost of living. A first-year lawyer in Montreal making $93,760 would take home $64,985 after taxes, more than double the cost of living. In Vancouver, however, a first-year lawyer making $94,390 would only take home $71,305 after taxes. While this is way above the cost of living for the city, it is far from double the cost of living we have seen in other cities. This trend is similar for Toronto, which would see a first-year lawyer making $95,470 take home $68,420 after tax, which is also significantly less than

double the city’s $42,278 cost of living. This suggests that salary may not go as far in Vancouver and Toronto as in Calgary or Montreal. However, several other factors could influence this as well.

Legal specialization areas

Despite several different practice areas within the legal sector, with some areas experiencing more demand than others, specialization has little influence on associates’ salaries; whether you’re in M&A, commercial litigation, or employment law, a third-year associate at a major firm is earning about the same, said Randi Bean, president of recruitment firm Life After Law.

“If we’re talking about big law, the specialization doesn’t necessarily really matter because of how, from an associate’s perspective, everybody is compensated. The general rule is everything is still lockstep as far as a salary progression,” Bean says.

Many law firms do, however, move off lockstep for senior associates, at which point compensation becomes performance related, according to Mike Aujla of Hunter West Legal Recruitment. Highly specialized and transaction driven practice areas can absorb higher billing rates and/or a higher number of hours billed to individual matters. This translates into higher revenue production, which can result in a higher salary, bigger bonus and expedited path to partnership.

Stephanie Hacksel, also of Hunter West Legal Recruitment, added that the difference in compensation becomes more pronounced once a lawyer joins the partnership. Again, partners specializing in areas that can command higher billing rates (such as corporate tax) or that can absorb more billed time (such as mergers and acquisitions) will earn a higher draw. This is compared to areas of practice that are advisory in nature or where institutional clients can create competition among law firms driving down billable rates. At the end of the day, it all comes back to how many hours a lawyer can bill and at what rate.

Yet, even within the confines of lockstep compensation, subtle variations emerge. Signing bonuses often play a pivotal role in such cases, particularly for hard-to-fill areas. Meanwhile, factors like client value, the nature of the files they handle, and individual performance weigh heavily in determining senior-level remuneration.

“When there’s a demand, and if we’re having a harder time finding people with a particular background, that person might end up getting a little bit higher,” she says. “When you’re a partner, potentially, that can make a significant difference in what someone’s being compensated.”

Ultimately, variations within specializations can be attributed to location, experience, and available talent rather than the specialization itself. Bean noted that remote work has further complicated this equation, with some firms offering employees the same salary regardless of location – an approach that benefits those in lower-cost regions. Other firms, however, are moving toward location-based pay, ensuring compensation aligns with the lawyer’s physical location.

“Compensation does differ, in general, by province and city, and that’s a significant thing that remains consistent, but some firms are paying a lockstep number across the board, whether you’re living in Saskatoon or Toronto or Vancouver,” Bean says.

Demand for practice areas continues to evolve

Beyond compensation, demand for specific practice areas has evolved. Employment law, buoyed during the COVID-19 pandemic, remains busy, while tech-related legal work has surged.

“We’re seeing demand for things like real estate development, construction, that sort of thing,” Bean says. “Tech is a big area; depending on where an individual might be, they’re hoping to get a piece of equity that actually has value down the road.”

The dynamics of personal injury law offer another intriguing contrast. Compensation here often ties directly to settlements, creating a different structure altogether.

“Lawyers, partners in those types of firms are making significantly more money than standard benchmarks for compensation,” she says.

This differing demand for specializations ultimately means that some areas are more difficult to fill than others. According to Robert Half, the legal industries hiring the most are:

• finance/insurance/real estate
• health care
• professional services
• technology
• transportation/public utilities

The easiest roles to fill are those where most candidates are – corporate commercial in-house roles, says Dan Cardon, senior principal of legal, compliance, and risk at recruitment agency Robert Walters. However, due to the volume of candidates for these positions, Cardon notes that this area has the most competition.

Ultimately, the legal landscape balances demand and supply, particularly in the mid-level range. These candidates are particularly desirable for senior counsel roles, but their availability has been a sticking point.

“The area that we’re finding most activity is that mid-level, five to eight years; everybody wants a five-to-eight-year lawyer who has done their time in a good law firm and is able to work independently. At that more senior level, there hasn’t been so much activity; people are staying put, waiting for the market to stabilize,” he says.

Law firms, too, face challenges, with senior partners' turnover creating a ripple effect across practice areas. This trend has led to significant concerns about backfilling critical roles.

“There’s been, and there will be, more senior partners retiring,” Cardon says. “We’ve heard from clients where they’ve worked with a law firm for 25 or 30 years, that partner has moved on, and they did not have the calibre of a lawyer to backfill that role.”

The cyclical nature of recruitment also weighs heavily on the industry, with 2022 seeing early highs and subsequent stagnation.

“Q1 and Q2 of 2022 were a record for us, and then we went through 18 months of very stagnant recruitment,” he says. “But all our clients are telling us, ‘We want to hire. We need to hire.’ There’s definitely demand.”

Underlying this demand is a striking statistic: “We did a survey on 6,000 people. Eighty-one percent of those people were unhappy and want to move. Ninety-three percent will move for 10 percent or more,” Cardon explains.

This disconnect between employer needs and employee satisfaction sets the stage for what he calls a “perfect storm for recruitment.”

Conclusion

The Canadian legal salary landscape is undergoing significant transformation, driven by rising inflation, cost of living increases, and evolving employee expectations. With 97 percent of hiring managers anticipating salary increases in 2025 and 86 percent concerned about employee retention, competitive compensation is critical in attracting and retaining top talent. The finding underscoring these concerns is that 40 percent of legal

professionals are willing to leave their current roles for higher pay, while 32 percent prioritize greater flexibility in their next position.

Regional and experiential differences significantly influence legal salaries, with some cities offering higher salaries than others for the same role. Calgary offers the highest salaries for entry-level lawyers, while Montreal leads for experienced lawyers. However, these variations extend beyond geography. On-site workers earn a nationwide average of $221,171 compared to $181,733 for remote workers and $172,210 for hybrid roles, reflecting a premium for in-office presence.

While specialization has a limited impact on salary progression within large firms, demand for certain practice areas is evolving. Tech law, real estate development, and employment law are experiencing increased activity.

Meanwhile, legislative changes, such as the Competition Act amendments criminalizing wage fixing and no-poaching agreements, are reshaping the legal landscape. These measures will likely lead to greater salary variability as employers align compensation more closely with performance and market demand. This adjustment comes amid rising legal fees, with 64 percent of firms planning to increase fees in 2024 to accommodate growing salary demands.

Despite this, many employees remain dissatisfied with their compensation. A staggering 93 percent of professionals surveyed indicated they would leave their current role for just a 10 percent salary increase, signalling a “perfect storm for recruitment.”

Firms are grappling with backfilling senior roles as turnover and retirements increase, adding further strain to the already competitive hiring market.

In summary, the Canadian legal salary market is at a pivotal point, characterized by rising compensation expectations, shifting regional and experiential disparities and heightened demand for talent. Firms must adapt their strategies to thrive in this environment, focusing on competitive pay, benefits, flexibility, and robust talent pipelines to meet current and future challenges.