I guess I can no longer make snarky comments about Pennsylvania. It’s still not the most scintillating place to live or work (admit it, it’s more Ohio than New York), but there are signs it might not be career-dullsville either.

Two pieces of news should make you rethink about building a legal career in the Keystone state. From the our sister pub, The Legal Intelligencer:

1. Pennsylvania law firms are outperforming competitors nationally in demand, profitability and rate increases, according to a survey from the Legal Specialty Group at Wells Fargo Private Bank. (The survey looked at 125 firms in the Pennsylvania region, including a few in Delaware).

2. At some big Pennsylvania firms, first year associates are making New York salaries ($160,000 for first year—in case you’re totally out of it)!

So is Pennsylvania giving New York a run for its money? Well, let’s not get that carried away. In fact, Pennsylvania/Delaware firms’ revenue growth was just 3.2 percent in the first half of this year—below the Am Law 100 firms’ 4.1 percent average growth. But the area firms “better managed their expenses compared to their national counterparts, increasing expenses only 2 percent,” resulting in an impressive 9.4 percent increase in net income.
What’s striking is that demand jumped by “an average of 6.7 percent in this region compared to just a 1.7 percent increase nationally,” reports The Intelligencer. Moreover, the area’s firms had rate increases that outpaced the national average—5 percent v. 3.3 percent. According to Wells Fargo’s Joe Mendola, Pennsylvania firms had been billing below market and is finally catching up.
Anyway you look at it, it’s mainly good news for the region. No wonder morale seems higher there too: 75 percent of the area’s firms expect revenue to increase between 2014 and 2015, while only 58 percent of their national counterparts said the same.
And to top it off, some of the big Philly firms are bumping up salaries. Dechert, DLA, Drinker Biddle and Morgan Lewis are paying $160k for first-years. (Sadly, Pittsburgh associates’ pay will be lower but they’re probably used to being treated like second class citizens.)
Fat salaries, fat demand, fat profits: the triple three! And remember, you can probably live in a nice, big house and not work nearly so hard as your New York counterparts.
Here’s hoping you like cheese-steak.