Law students preparing to enter the job market have a skill worth adding to their career plans: artificial intelligence. Law firms are willing to pay more for it, with 77% increasing pay for relevant AI expertise, said Jamy Sullivan, executive director of the legal practice at talent solutions and business consulting firm, Robert Half.
“Clearly law firms are signaling that they’re willing to pay more for AI expertise going into 2027,” Sullivan said.
Robert Half’s “2027 Salary Guide” points to opportunities for candidates who can bring specialized skills to an employer. Sullivan said 74% of legal employers are offering higher-than-planned salaries to attract new hires, compared with 57% nationally across the professional fields surveyed.
Robert Half’s national findings also show that 72% of employers are increasing pay for candidates with AI expertise and 64% say starting salary offers are more competitive than three years ago. Those figures cover multiple professional fields. Within legal overall, Sullivan put the share paying more for relevant AI skills at 67%, compared with 77% for law firms specifically.
For law students, the findings offer a reason to build relevant AI skills and be ready to explain how they would apply them at work. They do not guarantee a higher offer for every graduate.
The salary outlook also offers a glimpse of earning potential after the first few years of practice. Starting pay for attorneys with two to three years of experience is projected to rise 3.6% in 2027. Attorneys with four to nine years of experience are expected to see a 3.9% increase, while in-house counsel with four to nine years of experience are projected to see a 3.4% gain.
Those increases exceed the 2.2% average growth Sullivan said Robert Half expects across legal positions. They describe projected pay for professionals starting new roles, rather than annual raises for lawyers staying with their employers. They also are not projections for first-year associate salaries.
Geography is another factor for law students considering where to launch their careers. San Francisco, Denver and Seattle lead the surveyed cities in the share of employers offering higher-than-planned starting salaries, at 66%, 65% and 64%, respectively. Dallas follows at 61%, Minneapolis at 60% and Boston at 59%.
The shares are 57% in Atlanta, 54% in Washington, D.C., 52% in Los Angeles, 50% in Houston, 48% in New York and 47% in Chicago. These are findings across professional fields, not rankings of legal salaries or the highest-paying cities for new lawyers.
When evaluating an offer, students should also consider benefits that affect everyday expenses and working conditions. Among workers surveyed nationally, 67% value flexible work hours, 55% value commuter benefits and 51% value free or subsidized meals. Hybrid work arrangements also draw 51%, followed by a 401(k) match at 50% and remote work reimbursements at 42%. These results reflect workers across fields, not law students or legal professionals alone.
Sullivan said professional growth deserves attention alongside compensation and flexibility.
“Is there a mentorship program? How do you get access to career development, ongoing professional development?” she said. “Particularly for the younger generations, that’s something that they are weighing when they’re looking at job opportunities and the overall employment experience.”
For law students comparing first-job offers, that means looking beyond the headline salary. Asking about mentorship, training, work schedules and the benefits available to new hires can help clarify both the immediate value of an offer and the support available to build a career.
