<p>I was speaking with my friend and he insisted that you could become a International Human Rights Lawyer from Harvard Graduate School and Make just as much money starting at a big firm just as anyone else solely based on the fact that you went to Harvard.
Is this true?
I would assume someone who worked in anything other then Corporate or Patent law would end up making about 90k a year.
He insisted it was 160k a year at large firms for any field of law.
I have no intent to be a lawyer and I dont know if this is even in the right forum but I was interested in some feedback.</p>
<p>It is true that in major cities in the US (NYC, Boston, DC, San Francisco, LA, possibly Chicago and some in Texas) the starting salary for large law firms is $160,000. Large law firms do work on all sorts of different issues, and most students from Harvard Law School who wants jobs at such firms can get them. </p>
<p>However, most international human rights law probably goes on at non-profit or other public interest organizations or through the US government, not at large law firms. So if someone wanted to work in that field, it's very unlikely that they'd be at a large firm. In public interest organizations, starting salary is nowhere near $160,000 no matter what law school you went to; for a ballpark figure I'd say it's 45k and under. </p>
<p>Hope this helps. (I'm a student at Harvard Law so I have some frame of reference for this topic.)</p>
<p>Thank You. This is what I was trying to explain.
One last question what types of law do large law firms usually handle?</p>
<p>Usually corporate and high-profile cases.</p>
<p>However I have seen at very large Boston law firm in the last few years they take on an international human rights/asylum case on a pro Bono basis and are able to support the work of a select few group of their attorneys in such efforts. As for the typical workload at such firms...Lots of securities law, multiple-district litigation as well</p>
<p>Interesting.....
Thank You for the feedback.
So they make corporate Lawyers help with the pro bono cases also?
or is it on a volunteer basis only?</p>
<p>The work that large firms do various enormously, both within firms and across different ones, and most of it is actually not high profile at all. The work can involve lawsuits/settlements between different people or corporations or the government, tax issues, trust & estates work for private individuals, contract drafting and negotiations, mergers and acquisitions, copyright, trademark, and patent issues, Constitutional law ... pretty much anything you can think of. And it's not all confined to any particular industry or type of company/corporation.</p>
<p>Pretty much all big firms do some amount of pro bono work, but the degree to which it's expected of lawyers there or is something they can choose to do or not do varies from firm to firm. While some may place emphasis on it, not all do, and in some places spending too much time pro bono work is actually considered a negative.</p>
<p>Thank Your for the information.</p>
<p>Thank YOU for posting the question! I was wondering the similar things as you and because of your post, I was able to gain information too :D</p>