The Average Salary of Intellectual Property Lawyers

Intellectual property lawyers can have many specialties.

Intellectual property lawyers include patent attorneys licensed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, lawyers working on copyright infringement, Internet law experts and many more. Due to this diverse grouping, an accurate average salary for intellectual property lawyers is difficult if not impossible to compute.

Average

Depending on the source, the average salary of an intellectual property lawyer can be anywhere from $110,000, according to the job market trends website Indeed, to $187,000, according to the American Intellectual Property Law Association. Plenty of other sources offer estimates in between these poles, such as State University's average of $135,000 and My Salary's $150,000.

Range

Ranges offer a more accurate representation of intellectual property lawyers' incomes. According to Columbia University, experience matters most in determining a lawyer's salary, with inexperienced lawyers starting at $125,000 and experienced associates earning upward of $215,000. My Salary offers a more conservative range of $107,000 to $180,000, with more than 50 percent of the lawyers surveyed earning between $127,000 to $166,000.

Effects of the 2008 Financial Crisis

The 2008 financial crisis and following recession hit the job prospects and salaries for intellectual property lawyers hard. The highest salary reports---starting salaries of $160,000 and averages of $180,000---come from several years before the crisis, while estimates and ranges from 2010 and 2011 report more modest salaries of $125,000 to $150,000.

Warning

A New York Times article from January 2011 reported that questionable survey practices allow law schools to inflate their job placement records and exaggerate graduates' starting salaries. After the 2008 financial crisis, another New York Times article reported that graduates from top law schools were having trouble finding any job, much less triple-digit starting salaries.

References

• State University: Intellectual Property Lawyer
• The New York Times: Is Law School a Losing Game?
• Indeed: Intellectual Property Attorney Salary
• Oppedahl Patent Law Firm: How Much Money Do Patent Attorneys Make?
• Columbia University: Careers in Intellectual Property
• The New York Times: Downturn Dims Prospects Even at Top Law Schools

Resources

• My Salary: Intellectual Property Attorney