1,250+ Legal & Compliance Jobs in New York, NY

Observed metro wage data for the broader legal occupational family is high: the mean was $182,690, the median was $150,990, the 25th percentile was $83,890, and the 75th percentile was $238,830 in 2025. The metro legal occupational group also showed an average hourly wage of $87.83. A more current posting-based read centers on about $134k to $185k, with a broader 25th-75th band of about $97k to $250k, while hourly-paid roles center on about $45 to $58 an hour.

Full September 2026 market report

Advertised pay

Across the 1,138 openings that disclose pay, the advertised range midpoint runs $102,500 at the 25th percentile, $150,000 at the median and $205,000 at the 75th. These are advertised ranges, not earned pay.

Active openings as of October 15, 2026

Senior roles | Entry level | Remote | Posted this week

Live from the Callings.ai index of over 13 million postings, refreshed hourly and re-checked here nightly. Roles that close are dropped at the next refresh.

Showing 30 of 250+ openings.

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What our analysts see this month

Competitive market | next 3-6 months

This is a real market, but not an easy one. The metro backdrop improved, with unemployment at 4.7% in August 2026, metro employment up 0.8985% year-over-year, and Professional and Business Services employment up 0.5641% year-over-year. But the occupation-specific hiring picture is tighter than the general economy: Revelio Public Labor Statistics shows New York legal, compliance & risk employment up 3.2% year-over-year in September 2026 while active postings were down 1.7%. That usually means good odds for proven specialists and slower odds for generalists, career switchers, and brand-new entrants.

Best positioned: Your best odds are as a mid-career or senior candidate with a clear lane in law-firm practice support, investigations/compliance, contracts, or regulated-industry risk work, because the local sample skews about 55% mid-level, 25% senior, and 10% lead+ and recent moves concentrated in M&A, employment/benefits, and investigations/compliance teams.

Main caution: Do not confuse New York's headline pay with broad access: salary bands are strong, but only about 5% of sampled roles are remote and the typical active posting has been open around 41 days.

From the September 2026 market report

Who is hiring here

Counted across all 1,359 openings in this market. 10 of the employers below are hiring for more than one role right now.

1. City of New York: 87 open roles
2. Mark Litwak: 18 open roles
3. NYLAG: 16 open roles
4. Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP: 15 open roles
5. 24-Mag Llc: 14 open roles
6. Lewis Brisbois: 14 open roles
7. Capgemini Group: 10 open roles
8. Beacon Hill Solutions Group: 9 open roles
9. Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP: 9 open roles
10. Innovative Driven: 9 open roles

Where the openings are

• New York: 952
• Newark: 28
• White Plains: 24
• Stamford: 16
• Roseland: 16
• Garden City: 16
• Brooklyn: 16
• Queens: 12

Work arrangement

on-site 655 (50%), hybrid 555 (42%), remote 105 (8%)

Where the demand is

Opportunity is spread across a long tail, not one or two dominant employers. Over the last 90 days, the market showed more than 2,200 postings across more than 1,000 companies, and employer concentration was fragmented. The most-active industry buckets were legal services at about 35%, law practice at about 15%, financial services at about 10%, legal at about 10%, and insurance at about 10%. That makes this a multi-lane market. Law-firm demand is showing up in expansion moves: Michael Best entered New York by combining with Kane Kessler and added approximately 40 lawyers, while Holland & Knight said its New York office had more than 240 lawyers and was adding a fifth contiguous floor. September practice moves also pointed to M&A, employment/compensation/benefits, and investigations, white-collar defense, and compliance as active niches. The weak spot is entry access. Only about 10% of sampled postings were entry level, compared with about 55% mid, about 25% senior, and about 10% lead+. If you do not fit a clear lane such as law-firm support, in-house compliance/risk in regulated sectors, or public/legal-service employers, your search will likely take longer.

• Law firms and legal services (high): This is the biggest visible lane, with legal services and law practice making up about half of the local posting mix combined and recent expansion signals coming from Michael Best and Holland & Knight.
• Financial services and insurance compliance/risk (moderate): Financial services and insurance each account for about 10% of the local posting mix, making regulated-industry compliance and risk a meaningful second lane even when law-firm hiring slows.
• Public-sector and legal-information employers (moderate): The sample's named active employers include Justia with more than 150 postings and the City of New York with more than 100, which suggests steady openings outside the classic large-firm path.

Where to focus: Pick one lane and signal it aggressively. In this market, a narrow, credible story beats a broad legal-interest pitch.

Roles worth searching next

• Legal operations specialist: Legal operations sits close to this market because employers are explicitly calling out legal operations, CLM implementation, and workflow modernization as demand areas.
• eDiscovery project coordinator: eDiscovery is listed as a specialized legal skill, and it converts legal research and case-management experience into a more operational lane.
• Contracts administrator or procurement contracts lead: Local demand includes contract negotiation, and CLM-related work gives a practical bridge from commercial or vendor-side experience into legal-adjacent work.
• AI governance or policy operations specialist: The upcoming New York AI compliance timeline and rising demand for AI literacy create a bridge between legal/compliance judgment and program execution.

What postings ask for

• Admission to the New York State Bar (table_stakes | immediate): It is the most commonly named formal credential in the local posting sample, which tells you that attorney-track access is gated early by licensure rather than trainability. Who: Attorneys, counsel candidates, and anyone aiming at court-facing or advisory legal roles.
• Legal research (table_stakes | immediate): It is the most-requested hard skill locally, appearing in about 35% of sampled postings. Who: Entry-level candidates, litigators, paralegals, and switchers trying to prove core legal execution.
• Regulatory compliance (table_stakes | immediate): It appears in about 15% of local postings and travels well across in-house, risk, and investigations roles. Who: Compliance managers, risk analysts, in-house counsel, and candidates coming from regulated industries.
• Legal writing and case management (differentiator | immediate): Both show up in about 15% of local postings, making them useful proof that you can manage throughput, not just theory. Who: Paralegals, legal assistants, junior attorneys, and investigators.
• Contract negotiation and CLM implementation (premium | near-term): Contract negotiation appears in about 10% of local postings, and Robert Half flags contract lifecycle management implementation as a specialized skill tied to compensation growth. Who: In-house counsel, contracts managers, procurement-to-legal switchers, and commercial compliance staff.
• Risk management and investigations (differentiator | near-term): Risk management appears in about 10% of local postings, and recent New York partner moves point to active investigations, white-collar defense, and compliance demand. Who: Risk analysts, internal-controls professionals, white-collar support staff, and compliance investigators.

Questions about this market

What do Legal, Compliance & Risk roles pay in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ?

Observed metro wage data for the broader legal occupational family is high: the mean was $182,690, the median was $150,990, the 25th percentile was $83,890, and the 75th percentile was $238,830 in 2025. The metro legal occupational group also showed an average hourly wage of $87.83. A more current posting-based read centers on about $134k to $185k, with a broader 25th-75th band of about $97k to $250k, while hourly-paid roles center on about $45 to $58 an hour. This is strong pay, but it spans very different submarkets. The same category includes paralegal work, contracts roles, compliance managers, and senior counsel; for example, paralegal median pay in the metro was reported at $75,330, with a 90th-percentile figure of $121,170.

Where is demand for Legal, Compliance & Risk roles in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ concentrated?

Opportunity is spread across a long tail, not one or two dominant employers. Over the last 90 days, the market showed more than 2,200 postings across more than 1,000 companies, and employer concentration was fragmented. The most-active industry buckets were legal services at about 35%, law practice at about 15%, financial services at about 10%, legal at about 10%, and insurance at about 10%. That makes this a multi-lane market. Law-firm demand is showing up in expansion moves: Michael Best entered New York by combining with Kane Kessler and added approximately 40 lawyers, while Holland & Knight said its New York office had more than 240 lawyers and was adding a fifth contiguous floor. September practice moves also pointed to M&A, employment/compensation/benefits, and investigations, white-collar defense, and compliance as active niches. The weak spot is entry access. Only about 10% of sampled postings were entry level, compared with about 55% mid, about 25% senior, and about 10% lead+. If you do not fit a clear lane such as law-firm support, in-house compliance/risk in regulated sectors, or public/legal-service employers, your search will likely take longer.

Which employers are hiring the most Legal, Compliance & Risk talent in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ?

Recent postings show the most activity from Justia (150 postings), City of New York (100 postings). See the full market report for the complete employer landscape.

Can Legal, Compliance & Risk roles in New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ be done remotely?

Of recent postings, 5% are remote and 40% hybrid, with 50% on-site. Use the Remote filter above to see only remote openings.

How current are these listings?

Openings come from the Callings.ai live index of over 13 million jobs, refreshed hourly. This page searches postings from the last 30 days; run the search yourself to filter by anything else in plain language.

Browse New York openings by job title

• General Manager: 224 open roles statewide
• Vice President: 186 open roles statewide
• Senior Manager: 173 open roles statewide
• Associate Director: 167 open roles statewide
• Director: 99 open roles statewide
• Executive Director: 83 open roles statewide
• Manager: 71 open roles statewide

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