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By staff level:
Base salary (median)/Total compensation (median)*:
Attorneys:
Chief Legal Officer**: $450,000/$1,502,057
General Counsel: $365,749/$1,001,393
Deputy General Counsel: $257,371/$573,062
Subsidiary General Counsel: $213,676/$382,997
Section Head: $201,495/$339,594
Expert Counsel: $175,600/$268,728
Senior Counsel: $161,246/$233,200
Staff Attorney: $130,000/$159,041
Associate Staff Attorney: $105,111/$107,852
All Attorneys: $165,494/$246,683
Non-Attorney Professionals:
Director, Legal Management and Operations: $129,726/$187,141
Manager of Legal Administration: $88,786/$100,226
Financial Manager: $97,525/$103,775
Information Systems Manager: $102,330/$122,761
Records Manager: $59,787/$65,290
Other Manager: $92,802/$125,762
Intellectual Property Professional: $102,230/$129,249
Contracts Management Professional - Supervisory: $123,065/174,980
Contracts Management Professional - Non-supervisory: $93,565/$100,970
Compliance Professional - Supervisory: $102,614/$114,719
Compliance Professional - Non-supervisory: $69,050/$67,989
Investigator: $77,900/$76,814
Other Non-legal Professional/Additional Staff: $71,415/$81,404
Legal Assistants:
Senior Legal Assistant: $69,772/$75,016
Certified Legal Assistant: $59,363/$64,762
Legal Assistant: $54,604/$57,100
Support Staff:
Legal Secretary (at least 5 years experience): $52,894/$56,105
Legal Secretary (at least 2 years experience): $46,401/$47,998
Legal Secretary (entry level): $41,144/$42,046
Librarian: $81,000/$97,097
Clerical Staff: $42,614/$45,136
Information Systems Support Staff: $63,589/$66,293
Information Center or Library Staff: $51,860/$52,251
Other Support Staff: $51,356/$58,204
*Total compensation includes base salary, cash bonus and the face value of the long-term incentives.
**As Hildebrandt defines it, a chief legal officer is the senior-most legal officer of the corporation who has ultimate responsibility for practicing law and setting legal policy, and also has responsibility for other substantial corporate units (e.g., compliance, governmental affairs, environmental, etc.). For purposes of this survey, responsibility for corporate secretary alone (in addition to the law department) does not constitute substantial other corporate unit responsibility.
For other definitions consult Hildebrandt International.
By practice area:
Base salary (median)/Total compensation (median):
Antitrust/Trade regulation: $181,371/$288,264
Bankruptcy: $173,012/$236,022
Companywide compliance: $166,664/$247,761
Contracts - commercial: $160,754/$236,017
Contracts - government: $161,097/$228,052
Capital markets: $166,000/$254,253
Employee benefits/ERISA/Executive comp: $167,175/$248,805
Employment & Labor: $165,000/$231,352
Environmental (Regulatory only): $169,347/$261,139
General corporate/commercial: $160,008/$255,113
Generalist/Non-specialist: $162,000/$216,362
Government relations: $151,205/$193,695
Industry-specific specialist: $152,138/$233,268
International: $172,590/$252,378
IP - general: $174,350/$264,074
IP - licensing: $174,000/$259,249
IP - patent: $174,367/$267,255
IP - trademark: $168,529/$244,415
Litigation - commercial: $168,500/$259,473
Litigation - environmental: $172,556/$246,401
Litigation - patent: $190,193/$327,461
Litigation - product liability: $158,820/$263,102
Litigation - securities: $159,500/$246,873
Litigation - other: $138,650/$186,196
Merger & acquisitions: $181,795/$295,734
Property & casualty: $104,615/$119,472
Real estate: $156,500/$210,784
Regulatory (excluding environmental): $165,344/$246,457
Securities/finance: $166,400/$260,188
Tax: $170,422/$223,943
Other: $162,540/$251,461
By class year:
Total cash compensation (median)***:
1967 and prior: $185,003
1970: $254,430
1975: $268,700
1980: $236,045
1985: $236,617
1990: $228,748
1995: $206, 100
2000: $159,200
2005: $105,044
2007: $92,316
***Total cash compensation includes base salary and cash bonus.
By staff level:
Percent Change in Base Salary (median)/Total cash compensation (median):
Attorneys:
Chief Legal Officer: 4.6%/5.0%
General Counsel: 5.0%/8.5%
Deputy General Counsel: 4.3%/6.2%
Subsidiary General Counsel: 3.9%/2.2%
Section Head: 4.0%/5.5%
Expert Counsel: 3.7%/5.3%
Senior Counsel: 4.0%/5.7%
Staff Attorney: 3.9%/6.8%
Associate Staff Attorney: 5.1%/5.4%
All Attorneys: 4.0%/5.8%
Non-Attorney Professionals:
Director, Legal Management and Operations: 4.0%/4.7%
Manager of Legal Administration: 4.0%/4.7%
Financial Manager: 4.0%/5.0%
Information Systems Manager: 4.0%/6.0%
Records Manager: 3.6%/4.8%
Other Manager: 4.0%/4.6%
Intellectual Property Professional: 4.1%/5.8%
Contracts Management Professional - Supervisory: 3.3% 3.0%
Contracts Management Professional - Non-supervisory: 3.5%/3.2%
Compliance Professional - Supervisory: 3.7%/3.7%
Compliance Professional - Non-supervisory: 3.7%/3.7%
Investigator: 3.9%/3.7%
Other Non-legal Professional/Additional Staff: 4.0%/4.2%
Legal Assistants:
Senior Legal Assistant: 3.8%/4.0%
Certified Legal Assistant: 3.8%/4.6%
Legal Assistant: 4.0%/3.8%
Support Staff:
Legal Secretary (at least 5 years experience): 3.5%/3.9%
Legal Secretary (at least 2 years experience): 3.7%/3.7%
Legal Secretary (entry level): 4.0%/5.4%
Librarian: 3.8%/3.0%
Clerical Staff: 3.7%/3.7%
Information Systems Support Staff: 3.7%/3.7%
Information Center or Library Staff: 4.1%/3.6%
Other Support Staff: 3.7%/3.7%
