2016 Marketplace Study: The Economics of Immigration Practice

Looking for market information on hourly rates? What technologies are your competitors using? How much is an experienced paralegal really worth in your area? Where does your firm stack up when compared to others? Is your salary where it should be?

The 2016 AILA Marketplace Study—the only economic study of immigration practice by immigration lawyers for immigration lawyers is now available to AILA members.

 In April 2016, the American Immigration Lawyers Association initiated its second economic survey of immigration law practice and over 1,500 respondents participated. Immigration lawyers took time to share valuable insights on billing rates, staff salaries, job satisfaction, paralegal utilization, and use of law office technology, among other vital topics. The culmination of the answers provided have been organized into a scientific and comprehensive report to help AILA members understand and gauge the current economics of immigration practice and to provide useful guidance for continuing a career as an immigration lawyer.

As with the original study in 2011, Dr. Larry Stiffman of the Applied Statistics Laboratory in Michigan conducted this survey on behalf of AILA’s Practice & Professionalism Center to ensure the results did not violate federal anti-competitive restrictions, and is within the anti-trust safe harbor provisions set forth by the FTC for these types of surveys. Dr. Stiffman compiled the data from the surveys and interpreted them into more than 80 comprehensive tables and charts segmenting trends by firm size, geographic region, attorney gender, number of years in practice and more.

What’s Inside?

The 2016 AILA Marketplace Study provides insights on the following areas and more:

• Summary Profile of the Typical Immigration Attorney and Firm (including member demographics, office locations, size of firms, etc.)
• 2016 Attorney Hourly Billing Rates and Time Allocations (including hourly billing rates by office location, gender and work status, years in practice, etc.)
• Immigration Law Office Management Practices (including salaries of associates, paralegals and secretaries, outsourcing practices, staffing ratios, etc.)
• Economic Sentiment, Job Satisfaction, and Stress (including degree of satisfaction, personal workload, factors affecting stress, etc.)
• 2015 Income Reported by Immigration Attorneys (including income by practice category, office location, gender, work status, degree of paralegal use, etc.)

The 2016 AILA Marketplace Study is a tool that will prove valuable and relevant for new and experienced practitioners. Our goal with the release of this report is that it will help to eliminate the guesswork and bridge the gap to successfully navigate law practice in the immigration marketplace.

This report is only available to AILA members and is not being released to the general public.