Two benchmark reports reveal in-house counsel salary trends
By Jaclyn Jaeger2018-11-16T11:30:00
Two new reports offer benchmarking data for in-house counsel looking to see how their annual salaries stack up against their peers.
As the role of the top legal officer at public companies continues to evolve, median total direct compensation (TDC) has increased 6.7 percent, according to the “2018 General Counsel Compensation Report” published by Equilar & BarkerGilmore. The report examines the 500 largest (by reported revenue) U.S.-headquartered companies that trade on one of the three major U.S. stock exchanges (Nasdaq, NYSE, or NYSE American).
When analyzed by revenue to identify variances, general counsel (GC) at companies with less than $5 billion in revenue received the largest percentage increase of 21.8 percent from fiscal years 2016 to 2017, or a median $2 million in total compensation. Comparatively, GCs at companies reporting $5 billion to $10 billion in revenue experienced a 3.3 percent decrease in total compensation to $2.0 million.