Iowa Legal Job Market Overview
The legal job market in Iowa is marked by a strong demand for attorneys across a wide range of specialties, reflecting the state’s robust economy and diverse business sector. According to the State of the Legal Market Report by Thomson Reuters and Georgetown Law’s Center on Ethics and the Legal Profession, most large law firms in the Midwest, including those in Iowa, added lawyers for the 13th consecutive year in 2018. In fact, the average number of partners per firm reached an all-time high, outpacing associate growth for the first time, which is indicative of a need for a deeper bench of talent to serve clients.
Iowa has seen a particularly strong performance in litigation, with demand for litigators rising for 39 of the past 40 quarters, according to the National Association for Law Placement, Inc. (NALP) and LAW360. In addition, the market for corporate attorneys is strong, with financial/transactional practices expanding steadily . A 2018 report by By the Numbers states that the transactional/financial practices saw a 15-year high of 46 percent of total 1L hires, up from 37.6 percent in 2003. The numbers for large law firms were similar, with 44.5 percent of 1L hires being in corporate practice, the highest number reported in 20 years. This is a reflection of the continuing trend for large firms to focus more on corporate transactions and less on litigation.
For those looking for alternative legal positions, there are also jobs available in non-profits, government, academia, and corporate legal departments. The Legal Jobs trend report published by Indeed and the American Bar Association showed growth in job postings for government lawyers (+24.2 percent), in-house attorneys (+21.9 percent), and legal marketing/sales (+17.7 percent) from January to April 2018 versus the same period in 2017.
Leading Legal Employers in Iowa
Iowa’s legal job market offers a variety of employment options for high caliber candidates. Both public and private sector opportunities are prevalent in this midwestern state. While small to medium-sized private law firms tend to hire the most lawyers, there are also several large firms with a national presence, and Iowa has been described by site selectors as a top-rated state for corporate relocations.
State and federal governmental offices are significant employers in the public sector. The state court system employs nearly 1,000 judges, administrators, clerks of court and commissioners, with the federal district court for the Southern District of Iowa employing more than 200 individuals. A total of 40 federal government agencies have offices in Iowa, including large employers such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Internal Revenue Service and the Social Security Administration.
The public sector also includes substantial opportunities in the public sector in areas outside of the administrative and enforcement offices. State and city agencies employ hundreds of attorneys who represent the agencies in civil suits. Several state departments maintain in-house counsel to serve their legal needs.
Iowa contains 99 counties, each of which is organized under a Board of Supervisors. Each county provides legal services through its district and circuit courts and hires jurists to serve as judges to hear criminal, civil and family cases. Most county attorneys are elected and serve a term of four years, by which time they have assembled a staff of support attorneys.
As a state that relies heavily on agricultural production, Iowa has several large corporations and businesses that seek legal professionals to support their enterprises. Major companies include John Deere, AccuMold Corporation, Maytag, Rockwell Collins, Pella Corporation and AGCO-GSI. With the expansion of technology into all areas of business, IT experts and attorneys with a strong technology background are in high demand.
The largest insurance companies in Iowa are Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Transamerica Life Insurance, Metlife and AEGON Insurance Group, which has a downtown building in Cedar Rapids that is 524 feet tall.
Demand for Attorneys in Iowa’s Popular Practice Areas
Iowa hosts many of the nation’s leading law firms. Some have deep roots in the state, such as Nyemaster Goode, which was formed in 1857; others have a more recent presence, such as RSH Legal, formed in 2008. The most recent addition, Puryear Law, was formed in early 2020, when three older firms joined together for strength in an ever-changing job market. Baker, Deary, Medeiros, and Goller, Pulse Law and Iowa IP law were all created in the mid-1990s. These law firms specialize in the most prominent areas of practice for the state, namely: corporate law, criminal law, family law, personal injury, employment law, and estate planning.
Law firms specializing in corporate law provide legal representation to large, publicly-owned corporations like Rockwell Collins and Maytag, including mergers and acquisitions, tax matters, and other regulatory issues. Iowa has few large, publicly-owned corporations exploiting natural resources, manufacturing, or high-tech businesses. Nevertheless, corporations demand services provided by the law firms in Des Moines to help them navigate state and federal laws related to businesses in the manufacturing.
There are two million residents of Iowa, resulting in a population of 1.3 lawyers for every 1,000 citizens. These lawyers are primarily located in the Mississippi River valley, most of whom on the eastern side.
Criminal protection services are a growing area of practice in Iowa. Approximately 16% of lawyers are defense lawyers, criminal prosecutors for the state or for the federal government. The firm Nyemaster Goode specializes in litigation, including criminal law issues. There are 12,000 criminal cases filed every year in the state, which is a population of 80 lawyers per county or city.
Lawyer Earning Averages in Iowa
There are many factors that influence the salary earned by lawyers in Iowa. The area of law a lawyer specializes in can have a significant influence on the salary they command. Those that specialize in more niche areas of the law, such as intellectual property are more likely to earn higher starting salaries than those practicing general business or family law.
In addition, lawyers specializing in more technical fields such as patent or technology law can also command higher salaries. This is due in part to the scarcity of these types of lawyers, but also due to the heightened level of expertise necessary in order to practice these types of law.
Another major determinant in the salary range for a lawyer is their experience level. As with many professions, the longer a lawyer spends practicing the greater their income tends to be. In addition, seniority can sometimes lead to more prestigious positions, which in turn can lead to increased salary but can also lead to greater prestige as these positions are often associated with increased influence.
The following is a list of the average annual earnings for a numbered listing of lawyers in the state of Iowa:
Attorneys: $93,583
Senior Attorney: $115,604
Judge: $134,500
Corporate Counsel: $137,500
Corporate Counsel: $175,000
In-House Counsel/ Staff Attorney: $200,000
Overall, the following is a list of average salaries for other legal professions:
Corporate Counsel $109,000
Judge $135,000
Government Attorney $63,516
Law Professor $103,300
Legal Aid/ Public Interest $62,960
Litigation Support/ Legal Consultant $63,000
Non-legal $83,000
Solo Practitioner $48,000
Staff Attorney $65,000
Law Licensing Requirements in Iowa
Here are some important aspects to know about practicing law in Iowa:
Education Requirements: In addition to an undergraduate degree, law school graduation is required. The following are acceptable law degrees:
The Law School Admission Test (LSAT): To be admitted into law school, you must take the LSAT. Most students apply to law school during their junior year of college, and receive their education in a standard three-year program.
Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE): This test examines your knowledge of professional conduct and ethics that is required for the practice of law. Although it is not required until just before or after law school graduation , it needs to be taken before admission to the bar. The Bar Admission Council requires an MPRE score of 75 or higher for admission with good standing.
Iowa Bar Exam: In order to practice law in Iowa, you must take and pass the Iowa Bar Exam, which is administered every July. This two-part exam consists of the Multistate Examination and the Iowa Essay/Performance Test. A passing score is a combined score of 266 on both parts of the exam.
Career and Networking Resources For Iowa Attorneys
To connect with other legal professionals in the state, there are various professional associations and network groups like the Iowa State Bar Association, which offers both networking events and career resources. There is also the Scott County Bar Association, which hosts networking events and community service projects throughout the year.
In addition to a solid base of professional associations and networking groups, various law schools and law school alumni networks help lawyers in Iowa connect with each other. The Drake Law School Alumni Association, for example, boasts over 6,000 lawyers within its active alumni network. Not only can alumni connect with fellow law school alums, but they can also access career resources, career fair information and legal news provided by the school.
Other networking resources exist online. Sites like LinkedIn have professional groups for lawyers and law firms in Iowa. Facebook has various professional pages for legal event groups related to lawyer training opportunities and other networking events.
Iowa Legal Profession Challenges and Opportunities
The challenges of the Iowa legal market must first be acknowledged if a lawyer is going to properly deal with them. Iowa lawyers are often faced with the problem of finding their identities as lawyers. They are expected to go beyond being a capable legal technician by providing something more intangible to clients. For example, a lawyer may have a strong technical background as a litigator, but in order to be viewed as an expert in the applicable field an additional effort is required to build relationships within the industry. In fact, in many cases attorneys need to have a strong marketing plan to go along with their technical skills to garner business. This takes time, which is a commodity attorneys cannot spare. Consequently, many lawyers struggle with competing against other firms in their industry. They face work overload , which results in giving up on building their books of business and being an involved community leader. These problems are magnified for smaller law firms with fewer resources at their disposal. They face fierce competition from larger firms and have fewer attorneys available to do the work that is brought in.
While lawyers must juggle these pressures, there are many opportunities available in the Iowa legal market. Attorneys have a chance to build relationships with legal department personnel at client firms. Since law departments have only a limited number of lawyers, this is a way to get more work and better relationships. This is clearly the way to go if this is an avenue to getting better work. The market for legal staffing is also expanding in response to the basic demand for lawyers and paralegals to be on call for cases. Iowa lawyers have the qualifications to fill this need.