Pay Is A Pain Point In Retention For Ill. Legal Aid Orgs

By Aebra Coe | July 22, 2022, 12:03 PM EDT ·

One of the biggest obstacles for legal aid organizations as they look to recruit and retain highly talented and diverse lawyers is making room in their budgets to pay attorneys competitively, according to a new report out Friday.

The 2021 Illinois Legal Aid Recruitment and Retention Study, conducted by Mercer LLC for the Chicago Bar Foundation, found that while pay was among the top three biggest priorities for legal aid attorneys surveyed, just 30% of them reported they are satisfied with their pay.

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When asked what change their employer could have made to allow them to perform their best, one recently departed legal aid lawyer told the researchers, "Fair compensation that would have allowed me to provide and care for my family. I was constantly stressed about being able to provide for my family — and it added to the day to day stress from the work."

The survey, which was conducted in September 2021, received responses from 376 individuals in Illinois, including legal aid attorneys, managing attorneys, executive directors, paralegals and former attorneys.

Salaries for legal aid lawyers ranged from an average of $54,000 for first-year attorneys to an average of $97,000 for those who passed the bar in 1994 or earlier.

The average salary for a legal aid attorney 10 years out of law school, for example, was $65,750.

The average salary for executive directors of legal aid organizations was $129,119.

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The report pointed to the struggle that legal aid leaders find themselves in, because increasing salaries for attorneys often means serving fewer clients. But higher pay also usually means better retention and higher quality services provided to clients overall.

Another challenge legal aid organizations face is improving the diversity of their workforce, and according to the report, that is made more difficult when only those with a certain level of wealth and privilege are able to take on the roles because of the low pay.

"Low salaries narrow the available talent pool: Asking attorneys to commit to low paying roles for the long term narrows the available employment pool to those who have adequate financial resources," it said.

The survey asked executive directors of legal aid organizations what obstacles they are facing in implementing policies that can help recruit and retain legal aid attorneys.

Responses often referenced tight budgets that limit their payroll.

"Inability to raise money to pay a competitive wage and frustration with inability to raise general operating funds as opposed to restricted funds. This prohibits being able to attract and retain a higher degree of talent and experience," one said.

"Not enough funding to pay attorneys a decent salary," said another.

"Funding is the number one issue. We are on a hamster wheel seeking funding to keep our agency strong," a third said.

--Editing by Brian Baresch.

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