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1 février, 2008 10:02

Survey-For Higher Pay, GCs Need Larger Departments

Katheryn Hayes Tucker

January 31, 2008

To earn top dollar -- more than $600,000 -- GCs need to supervise legal departments of more than 25 lawyers, according to a survey by Altman Weil.

For GCs in one-lawyer departments, the average cash compensation was $200,000, according to the comparison posted on the consulting firm's Web site. The survey shows GC median pay climbed to $300,000 for two- to five-lawyer departments, $400,000 for six to 10 lawyers, about $500,000 for 11 to 25 lawyers and more than $600,000 for more than 25 lawyers.

GC pay stood fairly close to law firm pay for most categories, according to another Altman Weil survey, 2007 Senior Leadership Survey for Law Firms. The one notable exception was the biggest star at the biggest firms. The highest-paid partners at the biggest law firms generally earn substantially more than their own managing partners or the general counsel of their biggest clients.

Managing partners in the biggest firms -- 130 lawyers plus -- averaged $700,000.

In smaller firms and legal departments, the salaries for managing partners and highest-paid partners stayed fairly close to each other and to GC pay, although GC pay was a bit lower.

Both managing partners and highest-paid partners showed between $300,000 and $400,000 for the firms of up to 54 lawyers. Managing partners stayed about the same for the biggest firms.

"I think if you were to take average compensation in a law firm and average compensation in a legal department, clearly you're going to see higher compensation in a law firm," said James S. Wilber, an Altman Weil principal partner.

But that doesn't include stock options. And the value of stock options, of course, varies according to the company and the times.

"Back in the dot-com boom days, we got to a point where in-house employment in companies with highly valued stock got to be more attractive than law firms," Wilber said. "Then, after 9/11 and the dot-com bust, some of those stocks were almost worthless and the pendulum swung back."