Day in and day out, associates slavishly bill their hours at Biglaw firms across the country, wondering if perhaps someday they’ll be able to move in-house where the grass must surely be greener. After all, a life without billable hours is, dare we say, actually a life.
As it turns out, the grass there is actually greener for many in-house attorneys, as cash seems to grow on trees in this mythical, magical fairy-tale land where money and prestige converge.
While a great number of people believe that in-house lawyers earn less than their Biglaw counterparts, top in-house attorneys — the general counsel of America’s largest companies — often earn sums that exceed Biglaw partner pay.
How much more are general counsel earning than Biglaw partners? Let’s take a look at Corporate Counsel’s latest survey of the nation’s best-paid general counsel, a ranking that pulls together all the money that GCs make in total cash compensation, which is a combination of base salary, cash bonus, and nonequity incentives.
Here’s how general counsel compensation has changed since last year’s survey:
Average total cash comp for 2018’s top 100 paid GCs rose by 17.9% since 2017, up to $2,390,754 from $2,028,221. Median general counsel pay also rose for the top 100, to $1,915,452 from $1,660,405. [John] Gilmore, [co-founder and managing partner at legal recruiting firm BarkerGilmore], noted the rise in pay is part of a multiyear trend. In 2011, the average top-paid GC made $1,736,869 in cash comp. …
Average bonus and nonequity incentive packages for this group saw bigger jumps, up 5.9% and 20.9%, respectively.
Outside of the top 100, things seem little less rosy, but they’re still seeing green:
Those numbers aren’t as large when expanded outside of the 100 top-paid general counsel to include all 438 legal execs included in this year’s survey. On average, GCs on the full list earned $1,228,526 in total cash comp last year, up from $1,190,837 in 2017. The median general counsel cash comp for the entire surveyed group was $988,237, down 0.6%.
Average salaries went down by 2.4% for the total GC group to $525,024 from $538,174 in 2017. But bonuses and nonequity incentives are up, rising by 2.6% and 8.5% respectively.
And, of course, despite the fact that in-house counsel are clamoring for diversity and inclusion in the Biglaw firms they hire and within their own ranks as well, the gender wage gap for GCs is still wide open:
While average general counsel cash comp is on the rise as a whole, most women aren’t seeing those pay gains. Average cash comp for women actually dropped last year, falling to $1,088,788 from $1,147,793 in 2017. The average male GC earned $1,277,971 last year.
There was a nearly $600,000 gap in average bonus amount for women and men. Women GCs earned an average bonus of $285,754, while men brought home an average bonus of $826,131. Average compensation in nonequity had a smaller but present gap, women earning $598,896 and men $669,631. Women’s average salary clocked in at $497,958 versus $534,601 for men.
All that having been said, here are the top 10 highest-paid GCs in the country. All the GCs present here had total cash compensation of more than $4 million:
| Top Paid General Counsels | |||
| Rank | Name | Company | Compensation |
| 1 | Eric Grossman | Morgan Stanley | $8,057,786 |
| 2 | David McAtee II | AT&T | $7,752,333 |
| 3 | Alan Braverman | Walt Disney | $6,350,213 |
| 4 | Bruce Campbell | Discovery Communications | $5,580,850 |
| 5 | Ehsan Zargar | Spectrum Brands Holdings | $5,315,384 |
| 6 | J. Michael Luttig | Boeing | $5,285,081 |
| 7 | Katherine Adams | Apple | $4,888,615 |
| 8 | Lawrence Tu | CBS | $4,850,000 |
| 9 | Lisa Kunkle | PolyOne | $4,735,307 |
| 10 | Michael Sharp | Jefferies | $4,500,000 |
Congratulations to those taking home these impressive salaries. It’s certainly encouraging for everyone looking to make the leap in-house.
The 2019 GC Compensation Survey: Pay’s Moving On Up [Corporate Counsel]
Chart: Who Made the 2019 Top-Paid GC List? [Corporate Counsel]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.