Growing In-House Counsel Salaries Are Not Enough

By: Leslie White

In-house counsel salaries are up, which we reported in our recent article “In-house counsel salaries for 2016 are on the rise” – but growing in-house salaries are not enough according to many in-house counsel.

According to a compensation trends survey from BarkerGilmore, the average salary for in-house lawyers across all levels and industries climbed 4.2% last year. However, despite the upward trajectory of salaries, this survey also revealed that 44% of in-house lawyers remain dissatisfied with their remuneration package, believing their compensation to be below or significantly below that of their peers.

Could they be referring to the 12.5% increase by some law firms such as Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP raising starting salaries to $180,000? The increase lifts pay from there: fourth-year lawyers, for instance, will make $235,000, and eighth-year lawyers will earn $315,000.

Are we likely to see an upward shift in the counsel salary range to minimize this newly created gap?

What do you think?

Written on: 09/07/16 PDF Version