Law Departments Act to Retain and Reward In-house Lawyers: Survey Reports Significant Compensation Increases at Upper Management Level
(Newtown Square, PA, October 22, 2001) – The 2002 Altman Weil Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey of U.S. Corporate Law Departments has just been released. The Survey, published in partnership with the American Corporate Counsel Association (ACCA), shows substantial growth in compensation of Chief Legal Officer and top management positions in 2001. Salaries of reporting Chief Legal Officers grew by over 14% nationally. This appears to be directly related to the intense competition for top talent in the legal industry and the growing strategic value of an organization’s senior lawyer.
The complete 2002 Survey contains data from a total of 338 law departments, which provided compensation data for 5,860 positions. The report includes compensation data for nine positions: chief legal officer, deputy chief legal officer, division or group general counsel, managing attorney, high level specialist, senior attorney, attorney, staff attorney, and recent law school graduate. In addition, law department compensation data is reported for legal administrators and three levels of paralegals. All compensation data is effective as of May 1, 2001.
The 2002 Survey Shows a Significant Increase in Participation
“We are delighted with the continuing growth and interest in our Survey”, says Dan DiLucchio, Principal responsible for the Altman Weil Publications subsidiary. The 2002 Survey, already an industry standard, is even more robust this year with a 29% increase in positions reported. More data has resulted in a new Survey section providing ten Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area Analyses for salary, bonus and total cash compensation.
New Data on Metropolitan Areas
New York: The top in-house lawyers in the New York City / Northern NJ / Long Island area earn 21% more total cash compensation than the national average.
San Francisco: Total cash compensation for CLO’s in the metropolitan San Francisco / Oakland / San Jose area is 7% ahead of the national average, while salaries for other positions exceed the national averages by even greater percentages.
Chicago: Salaries for law department managing attorneys top national averages by 5%, while high-level specialists are almost identical to total cash compensation national averages.
Cash Bonuses Are Significant
Upper management positions also experienced significant bonus increases in 2002 over 2001. Chief Legal Officer bonuses were up 42% over 2001, while Deputy Chief Legal Officers experienced a 40% increase in bonus amounts. Over the past few years, corporations have revamped their pay-at-risk strategies, putting more compensation in the bonus category. These upper level bonuses, combined with healthy salary increases, resulted in total cash compensation increases of 20% to 30% in some cases.
Stock Option Eligibility is Significant Throughout the Organization
Stock options in U.S. law departments were tracked for the third year in the 2002 Altman Weil Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey, reporting the eligibility and value of stock options by position, region, size of company, size of law department and industry.
Nationally, the number of stock option shares awarded to eligible Chief Legal Officers ranged from the lower quartile (lower 25%) of 11,750 shares to the ninth decile (top 10%) of 100,000 shares.
While attorneys at all levels in the law department appear to be eligible for stock options, those in more senior positions are more likely to receive them. In the largest companies of 20,000 employees or more, over half of the Senior Attorneys and 80% of Chief Legal Officers receive stock options as part of their compensation packages.
The Survey is available from Altman Weil Publications for $595. The publishing firm also offers to Law Departments a Survey of Law Department Performance Metrics, and a monthly newsletter, In-House Practice and Management. Orders and inquiries may be placed by calling 1-888-782-7297.
