Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog

I picked up intelligence today that law firm administrators are getting upset about the salaries that some law firm marketers are getting.  They're ticked off that the CMO is making as much or more money that they are, as well as more than the IT or HR director.

According to a 2005 survey by Abbott, Langer & Associates, Inc., Legal Administrators earn a median total income of $73,758, with a mean total income of $81,037; 10% of this group makes under $38,440, and 10% make over $141,744.  The Wall Street Journal reports that the Administrator/Office manager is paid the following:

It's an interesting sore spot, because in many occasions, the administrator is the boss of the marketing director.  The CMO, however, reports to the partners or the management committee.

Compare the administrator salaries with some of the marketing job openings advertised so far this year:

• Director of Marketing -- Cleveland-- $100,000 - $125,000
• Director of Marketing/Client Services - Baton Rouge, Louisiana - $100,000 to $150,000
• Director of Business Development and Marketing -- Miami, FL -- $100,000 - 120,000
• Director of Business Development and Marketing -- Minneapolis, MN --  $120,000 - 140,000
• Marketing Director --  Tampa Office  -  $80,000 - $100,000

This, of course, is NOTHING compared to the 1,600-lawyer Chicago law firm that paid its ex-Texas CMO $400,000 per year, or the 1,000-lawyer New York firm that also paid its CMO $400,000.

The administrators are beefing that the marketing salaries are knocking their firm salary structures out of whack, because of the high demand for law firm marketers with 5 years of experience or more.

"Its a real difficult problem.  In some positions we can't advertise the compensation because it's outside of the firm salary structure," said legal recruiter Sally Schmidt of St. Paul, MN, in a phone call with me today.

Firm administrators are at a disadvantage.  "They can find ways to save a firm money and look like heroes the first year, but you can only cut firm costs so much," she said.  "Meanwhile, the marketing department just keeps building and building."

This is GREAT news for the marketers, because it means they've worked their way out of the "overhead" category in law firms.  The marketers are able to say, "If you invest $5 with my plan, you'll get $20 back.  I can prove return on investment." 

It's a simple case of supply and demand, in my view -- you hire a marketer, your firm earns more revenue.