In-house Lawyers See Healthy Increases in Compensation, New Survey Reports
The Altman Weil Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey of U.S. corporate law departments has just been released. The survey, published in partnership with the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC), shows healthy increases in total cash compensation for most in-house lawyers.
“The data seem to reflect the general upswing in the nation’s economy over the past year or so and appears to signify a movement away from the strong buyer’s market in which in-house lawyers have found themselves since 2000,” notes Altman Weil principal James Wilber.
Base Salaries Improve
Salaries for senior positions in law departments, including Chief Legal Officers (CLOs), Deputy CLOs and Division General Counsel, were up between 5.3% and 7.8% this year. Lawyers in more senior non-management positions also saw increases, with High-Level Specialist, Senior Attorney and Attorney positions reporting increases from 3.9% to 5.2%. Staff Attorney and Recent Graduate salaries were down 3.5% and 1.9% respectively.
The survey reports national median salary for Chief Legal Officers in 2004 at $275,000. The High-Level Specialist position drew $138,105, while a new law school graduate earned a salary of $60,000.
Bonuses Up Across the Board
Nationally, all in-house positions reported increases in median annual bonuses this year. CLOs reported the smallest relative increase – up 4.9% – perhaps reflecting the fact that their bonuses have increased steadily for the last several years. Other positions showed bigger increases, from 14.5% up to 45.4%, coming back from two prior years of declining bonus awards.
The national median bonus for Chief Legal Officers was $120,000, according to the Survey. Division General Counsel (a mid-level management position) received $78,750 in bonus dollars, and Senior Attorneys with eight or more years of experience took home a $22,000 bonus.
“Double-digit increases in cash bonuses reflect the movement of the past two or three years by companies to make more compensation subject to performance – both the performance of the company itself and that of the lawyers,” explains Wilber.
Stock Options Rebound
After dramatic decreases in stock option values last year, option values rebounded in 2004. The survey reports CLO options up 12.5% to $618,800 in value, Deputy CLO options up 60.2% to $367,200 and Division GC options up 57.9% to $248,300.
Other Variables
The survey found a correlation between industry sector and compensation for the top three officer positions in corporate law departments. CLOs, Deputy CLOs and Division General Counsel in the Finance / Insurance sector earned between 9.6% and 10.4% more in total cash compensation than their peers nationally.
Size of law department was also a factor in the top officer compensation. Chief Legal Officers in departments with over 25 lawyers took home 55% more than the national median in total cash. Deputy CLOs earned 11% more, and Division GCs earned 9.7% more than their peers in smaller departments.
Regionally, Chief Legal Officers in the New York/ Northern NJ / Long Island area took home 17.3% more than the national median in total cash compensation. CLOs in Washington DC / Baltimore earned 8.7% more, while top in-house lawyers in San Francisco / Oakland / San Jose received 8.5% less in total cash compensation.
Survey Methodology
The complete Altman Weil Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey, Fall 2004 edition contains data from 302 law departments providing compensation data for 7,654 lawyers. Information on an additional 60 one-lawyer departments is included separately.
The Survey reports data on nine in-house positions: Chief Legal Officer, Deputy Chief Legal Officer, Division General Counsel, Managing Attorney, High Level Specialist, Senior Attorney, Attorney, Staff Attorney and recent law school graduate. Data are analyzed by industry, company size, law department size, region, years of experience and other key parameters. Data are reported as of March 1, 2004.
The survey is available from Altman Weil Publications for $650. Altman Weil Publications conducts and publishes numerous surveys of the legal profession including the Law Department Management Benchmarks Survey, the Survey of Law Firm Economics, and the Annual Paralegal Compensation Survey. For additional information visit the Altman Weil website at www.altmanweil.com.
