Legal Services Award Pay Rates 2026-27: Every Level
Minimum rates under the Legal Services Award 2020 (MA000116), effective from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026.
The short answer
A Level 1 legal clerical and administrative employee is paid $28.24 an hour or $1,073.10 a week full-time. A casual at the same classification is paid $35.30 an hour, including the 25% casual loading. On that full-time wage, take-home pay after income tax and the Medicare levy is $47,425 a year, or $1,824 a fortnight.
A law graduate is paid at Level 5 and a law clerk at Level 6, $36.03 an hour. Office staff of a law firm are on this award, not the Clerks Award, whose clause 4.4(q) stands aside for it. The Clerks scale is on Clerks Award Pay Rates.
MA000116 rates by classification.
All 7 classifications, with the casual rate the award publishes and what each one actually takes home after tax.
| Classification | Weekly | Hourly | Casual hourly | Take-home a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1—Legal clerical and administrative employee | $1,073.10 | $28.24 | $35.30 | $47,425 |
| Level 2—Legal clerical and administrative employee | $1,119.10 | $29.45 | $36.81 | $49,051 |
| Level 3—Legal clerical and administrative employee | $1,182.10 | $31.11 | $38.89 | $51,279 |
| Level 4—Legal clerical and administrative employee | $1,241.40 | $32.67 | $40.84 | $53,376 |
| Level 5—Legal clerical and administrative employee | $1,291.80 | $33.99 | $42.49 | $55,158 |
| Level 5—Law graduate | $1,291.80 | $33.99 | $42.49 | $55,158 |
| Level 6—Law clerk | $1,369.20 | $36.03 | $45.04 | $57,895 |
Across this table, full-time gross pay runs from $55,801 to $71,198 a year, which is $47,425 to $57,895 after income tax and the Medicare levy, or $62,497 to $79,742 once the 12% Superannuation Guarantee is paid on top. Select any take-home figure to open it in the Wage Calculator with that rate already entered.
Take-home is an estimate for a single Australian resident for tax purposes with no study loan debt and no Medicare levy surcharge, calculated with the same Wage Calculator used across this site. Superannuation is paid by your employer on top of these rates and is never deducted from them.
What $28.24 an hour leaves on a payslip.
A full-time week at the Level 1 legal clerical and administrative employee rate is $1,073.10 before tax. The ATO weekly withholding schedule for 2026-27 takes $161.00 from it when the tax-free threshold is claimed, so $912.10 reaches your account. Paid fortnightly, it is $1,824.20.
| 38 hours a week | Gross a week | Tax withheld | Take-home a week | Take-home a fortnight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time$28.24 an hour | $1,073.10 | $161.00 | $912.10 | $1,824.20 |
| Casual, same hours$35.30 an hour | $1,341.40 | $248.00 | $1,093.40 | $2,186.80 |
Withholding is the payslip figure, not the year’s tax: the schedule rounds each pay to the dollar and leaves offsets to the tax return, which is why it differs a little from the take-home a year above. Super is paid on top. For a different number of hours, the Weekly Pay Calculator opens with $28.24 and 38 hours filled in, and the Overtime Calculator adds hours at time and a half and double time to the same rate, before any award-specific overtime rules.
MA000116 junior rates by age.
The award pays a junior employee a percentage of the adult rate. The percentages below are read from the award text, and the dollar figures are worked out from the adult weekly rate. Each table says exactly how, and which of its figures were checked against rates the award itself prints.
Clause 15.2: Junior employee rates
What each percentage is a percentage of, in the words of the clause: “Junior employees must be paid the following percentage of the appropriate wage rate in clause 15.1, Adult employee rates:”
| Age | Percentage of adult rate |
|---|---|
| Under 16 years | 45% |
| 16 years | 50% |
| 17 years | 60% |
| 18 years | 70% |
| 19 years | 80% |
| 20 years | 90% |
| Classification | Under 1645% | 1650% | 1760% | 1870% | 1980% | 2090% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level 1, Legal clerical and administrative employee | $12.71$482.90 a week | $14.12$536.55 a week | $16.94$643.86 a week | $19.77$751.17 a week | $22.59$858.48 a week | $25.42$965.79 a week |
| Level 2, Legal clerical and administrative employee | $13.25$503.60 a week | $14.73$559.55 a week | $17.67$671.46 a week | $20.62$783.37 a week | $23.56$895.28 a week | $26.51$1,007.19 a week |
| Level 3, Legal clerical and administrative employee | $14.00$531.95 a week | $15.56$591.05 a week | $18.67$709.26 a week | $21.78$827.47 a week | $24.89$945.68 a week | $28.00$1,063.89 a week |
| Level 4, Legal clerical and administrative employee | $14.70$558.63 a week | $16.34$620.70 a week | $19.60$744.84 a week | $22.87$868.98 a week | $26.14$993.12 a week | $29.40$1,117.26 a week |
| Level 5, Legal clerical and administrative employee | $15.30$581.31 a week | $17.00$645.90 a week | $20.39$775.08 a week | $23.79$904.26 a week | $27.19$1,033.44 a week | $30.59$1,162.62 a week |
| Level 5, Law graduate | $15.30$581.31 a week | $17.00$645.90 a week | $20.39$775.08 a week | $23.79$904.26 a week | $27.19$1,033.44 a week | $30.59$1,162.62 a week |
| Level 6, Law clerk | $16.21$616.14 a week | $18.02$684.60 a week | $21.62$821.52 a week | $25.22$958.44 a week | $28.82$1,095.36 a week | $32.43$1,232.28 a week |
Each cell is the hourly rate, with the full-time weekly rate beneath it. The award prints the percentages. The dollar figures are worked out from them, as follows.
Each weekly figure is the adult weekly rate multiplied by the percentage, rounded to the nearest cent with an exact half cent rounding up. Each hourly figure is the adult hourly rate multiplied by the percentage, rounded to the nearest cent with an exact half cent rounding up. That is how Schedule B of this award works out its own junior hourly rates, so this page does the same.
24 of the 42 junior rates are printed in Schedule B of the award, and each printed figure agrees to the cent. The other 18 are not printed anywhere in the award, so they could not be checked, and Fair Work’s pay guide may round them differently by a cent.
Where these figures come from.
Provenance
Verified- Award
- Legal Services Award 2020 (MA000116)
- Effective from
- 1 July 2026
- Consolidated to
- 1 July 2026
- Determinations
- PR799280, PR799396, PR799551
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-07
- Cross-checked
- 7 of 7 rates against Schedule B
Every rate above was read from the award text at the Fair Work award library and then checked a second time against Schedule B of the same award, which republishes the hourly rates. Casual rates are the award’s own published figures rather than our multiplication, because the award rounds differently from a calculator. The junior percentages were read from the award in the same way. The junior dollar figures are worked out from them, and each junior table says which of its figures were checked against rates the award itself prints. Nothing here is copied from another pay site.
What this page does not cover.
Listed as plainly as what it does, because a rate page that hides its gaps is how the wrong number ends up on a payslip.
Penalty rates and overtime
Shift, weekend, public holiday and overtime rates are set separately in the award and are not worked out here.
Junior casual and penalty rates
The junior figures on this page are ordinary-hours minimums. Casual loading, weekend and overtime rates for juniors are not worked out here.
Allowances
The award sets meal, uniform, vehicle and living away from home allowances in clause 18. None of them is published here.
Admitted lawyers
The award has no classification for a lawyer admitted to practice, so no solicitor rate is published.
Excluded employers
Community legal centres and Aboriginal legal services are outside this award under clause 4.3.
Classification definitions
The award sets a level by skills and duties in Schedule A, not by job title. This page publishes the rates, not the level test.
Legal Services Award Pay Rates questions, answered.
What is the Legal Services Award rate for 2026?
Under the Legal Services Award 2020, a Level 1 legal clerical and administrative employee is paid $28.24 an hour, $1,073.10 a week full-time, from the first full pay period on or after 1 July 2026. The scale runs through five clerical levels to $36.03 an hour, $1,369.20 a week, for a Level 6 law clerk. A casual Level 1 employee is paid $35.30 an hour, the rate Schedule B of the award prints with the 25% casual loading included.
What does a law graduate earn under the Legal Services Award?
A law graduate is classified at Level 5 and paid $33.99 an hour, $1,291.80 a week full-time, the same rate as a Level 5 legal clerical and administrative employee. A casual law graduate is paid $42.49 an hour. The award defines a law graduate as an employee who has completed a qualification in law and is training within a law firm to meet the requirements for admission as an Australian Lawyer.
Does the Legal Services Award cover lawyers?
Not at a rate of their own. The award's classifications stop at Level 6, law clerk, and its definition of a law graduate excludes a lawyer admitted to practice as an Australian Lawyer or in a foreign jurisdiction. No classification in Schedule A is for an admitted lawyer, so this page publishes no solicitor rate. A law clerk, in the award's words, spends the major part of their time interviewing clients, preparing documents and assisting a barrister or solicitor, and is paid $1,369.20 a week.
Who is covered by the Legal Services Award?
Employers in the legal services industry, meaning businesses providing legal and legal support services, and their employees in the classifications in Schedule A (clauses 4.1 and 4.2). Clause 4.3 leaves out community legal centres, Aboriginal legal services and any employer whose primary activity is not legal services. Labour hire firms placing staff into a law firm, and group training organisations hosting trainees there, are covered for those employees (clauses 4.4 and 4.5).
Is a law firm receptionist on the Clerks Award or the Legal Services Award?
On this one. Clause 4.4(q) of the Clerks Award says it does not cover employers covered by the Legal Services Award 2020, so the clerical and administrative staff of a law firm are classified at Levels 1 to 5 here. The same office work outside the legal services industry is paid on Clerks Award Pay Rates, at a different scale.
What are the junior rates under the Legal Services Award?
Clause 15.2 sets junior rates as a percentage of the adult rate: 45% under 16, rising to 90% at 20, with the full adult rate from 21. A 17-year-old at Level 1 is paid $16.94 an hour. Every age and level is in the junior table on this page, and the way junior percentages work across awards is set out on Junior Pay Rates.
When do Legal Services Award rates change?
From the first full pay period on or after 1 July each year, after the Fair Work Commission's Annual Wage Review. The 7 rates on this page apply from 1 July 2026 and were read from the award consolidated to 1 July 2026. What the 2026 review decided is on Minimum Wage Increase 2026.
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