Equilar's findings show that in 2011, general counsel pay of S&P 1500 increased by 12.8 percent, while the median pay of CEOs increased by 6.2 percent and that of CFOs by 8.9 percent. The survey also found that the number of general counsel working as executive officers among the S&P 1500 has grown by a staggering 20.9 percent over the recession.
While the S&P 1500 companies employed 494 general counsels in 2007, in 2011 the number stood at 591. Equilar created its report based on surveys of the compensation of about 400 general counsels from Fortune 1000 companies and S&P 1500 companies.
The growth in the numbers and salaries of general counsel confirms the trend that big businesses are shifting their business in-house from the hands of private practice law firms. It means the business is out there, and the demand for legal services is there, and rising, but what analysts project as a drop in legal services is actually a drop for the demand for services of private law firms, while businesses keep seeking ways to have the same services provided in-house. And the task seems to be a very high priority for Fortune 1000 businesses, because otherwise, nothing can explain general counsel experiencing a higher salary growth than that of CEOs and CFOs.
According to Equilar, while the median compensation for general counsels was $1.41M, the median pay in technology, media, and telecom industries was $1.68M. On the other hand, though general counsels in the retail and consumer industries received a median pay of $1.15M, they had the third-highest level of perquisite eligibility, at 76.5 percent.
Another interesting find of the Equilar survey was of men outnumbering women as general counsel, but women did better than men did when it came to paychecks. Out of 175 general counsels included in the survey from Fortune 500 companies, a staggering 148 were men, but on an average, a female general counsel earned close to $1.3 million, while mean earned about $1.1 million. Equilar found the differences in pay between male and female general counsel by examining the public filings of Fortune 500 companies.
As far as law schools are concerned, Harvard seems to be placing the highest number of general counsel at the top slots in Fortune 500 companies with 16 out of 175 being from Harvard Law School, and Georgetown University placed the second-highest number of general counsels at 12 out of 175 in the Fortune 1000. The University of Virginia stands at the third spot with 9 alumni working as general counsels among 176 in Fortune 500 companies.
The survey report by Equilar can be downloaded here http://www.equilar.com/knowledge-network/research-reports/2012-research-reports/2012-in-depth-top-general-counsel-compensation-report.php
