ALMResearchBlog

Survey: GCs Like Their Job, Plan to Hire More In-House Help

According to a recent survey report by the Association of Corporate Counsel, 85% of chief legal officers and general counsel find their careers rewarding, despite increased corporate governance demands and sometimes tense relationships with independent auditors. A report of the eighth annual survey of CLOs and GCs by ACA,  appeared in National Law Journal, which noted that nearly a third of the respondents expected to add staff over the next year and that records management would be an emerging issue for in-house attorneys this year. NLJ also reported that, while 59% of CLOs and general counsel revealed that increased monitoring by law enforcement and regulators had only a modest influence on their career satisfaction, 30.6% said it would make a "considerable impact" on their future decisions, such as looking for a new CLO job or retiring.

Salaries: In-House Counsel in Southern California

As mentioned on the Wall St. Journal Law Blog, a survey of 324 members of the Southern California chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, conducted by First American CoreLogic revealed the following information about their compensation:

• Average 2007 Salary + Bonus for In-House Attorneys: $181,810 + $56,13
• Average 2007 Salary + Bonus for General Counsel: $220,164 + $82,640
• Male vs. Female Pay for In-House Jobs: Men were paid a cash salary of 13% more than women in 2007 (and men hold 60% of general counsel jobs.)
• Private Company vs. Public Company Pay: Counsel at private companies were paid slightly better than their public counterparts in 2007.

Salaries and Compensation: Corporate Counsel

A new survey report in the March 2008 issue of Inside Counsel says that, “as starting salaries for law firm associates continue to skyrocket, law departments are hard-pressed to keep up.” Inside Counsel’s 2008 Comp Report uses Hildebrandt’s Law Dept. Survey and Altman Weil’s Law Dept. Compensation Benchmarking Survey to offer a sampling of compensation at in-house legal departments.

CLOs/GCs in departments with more than 25 attorneys earned $645,000 in median total cash compensation in 2007, though there seems to be a huge variance between public and private companies and NGOs. Extra incentives such as bonuses and stock options are an important element of in-house compensation packages, according to the report, and the percentage of total cash compensation that comes from bonus is greater the higher one is in the department. Though billed as a “sampling,” there is a lot of useful information in the report, which can be accessed by clicking here.

For those interested in more information about in-house compensation, ALM Research offers the 2007 GC Compensation Survey (as well as data for the same from 1993 – 2006), which includes the 100 highest-paid General Counsels at major corporations, rank in the Fortune 500, salary, bonus, and where applicable, other forms of remuneration for each of the GCs ranked.

Survey: GCs in Large Depts Earn More; In-House Counsel Salary Climbed 7% in the U.K.

According to a recent survey by Altman Weil and reported in The Daily Report, to earn top dollar—more than $600,000—GCs need to supervise legal departments of more than 25 lawyers. For GCs in one-lawyer departments, the average cash compensation was $200,000. The AW Law Dept. Compensation Benchmarking Survey shows GC median pay climbed to $300,000 for two- to five-lawyer departments, $400,000 for six to 10 lawyers, about $500,000 for 11 to 25 lawyers and more than $600,000 for more than 25 lawyers. According to the report, GC pay stood fairly close to law firm pay for most categories, according to another Altman Weil survey. The one notable exception was the biggest star at the biggest firms. The highest-paid partners at the biggest law firms generally earn substantially more than their own managing partners or the general counsel of their biggest clients. Managing partners in the biggest firms—130 lawyers plus—averaged $700,000.

Meanwhile, In-house lawyers in the U.K are earning more than ever before, according to new research from Incomes Data Services that reveals salaries for corporate counsel in the U.K. are rising at an inflation-busting average of almost 7 percent. The average salary for in-house lawyers in the U.K. is £114,658 (US$228,138), representing an increase of 6.8 percent on the year before. The highest salary referred to in the poll was £277,000 (US$551,173).

Surveys of U.K. Corporate Counsel: Not on Their Company’s Boards, Ignorant of DOJ Practices

A poll of U.K. general counsel conducted by top international firm Lovells found that less than a third (28%) have a seat on their company’s board of directors, despite widespread belief that it should be accepted practice. A report of the results appeared in Legal Week.

In a separate report that appeared on the BLT: Blog of Legal Times, a survey of some of the 350 largest British companies found nearly half of them don't know much about the U.S. Department of Justice's prosecution of foreign firms suspected of corrupt practices. KPMG Forensic polled the heads of legal departments, BLT reported, and found that 46 percent of them are unaware of the long arm of the U.S. law or believe that they are exempt from scrutiny.

Survey: Corporate Counsel Costs Up 7 Percent

According to this report in The National Law Journal of a new survey from Altman Weil and LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, corporate law department internal spending climbed by 7 percent while outside spending edged up by 1.4 percent at American companies with more than $5 billion in revenue. The increase translates to costs of $346,497 per lawyer, driven chiefly by an average 19.2 percent bump in lawyer compensation and benefits. Outside expenditures now average $616,519 per lawyer, ranging from above $1 million in the chemical manufacturing industry to $251,405 per lawyer in the insurance industry. The survey data, collected from 144 companies in the spring, reflects fiscal year 2006 spending.

Surveys: Corporate Legal Depts. Are Conducting Their Own

Corporate legal departments are starting to survey their own lawyers and company executives about the performance of outside law firms to keep better tabs on the relationships, according to this report in The National Law Journal, based on reports by attorneys attending the Association of Corporate Counsel annual meeting in Chicago. According to NLJ, more companies, especially those that are small and midsized, may be turning to a formal survey process as they seek to foster stronger ties and better communication with their law firms. One example provided in the story was that of Ullico Associate Inc. General Counsel Patrick McGlone said his insurance company for the first time this year sent a three-page survey to legal staff and executives, asking questions about a firm's communications, timeliness, qualities and deficiencies. It has been following up with face-to-face meetings. According to the NLJ report, the eight firms working with Ullico took the survey "very seriously" and were eager to see how they performed relative to the other firms.

Survey: In-House Counsel Require More of Their Outside Counsel

According to an Associated Press report about the 2007 ACC/Serengeti Managing Outside Counsel Survey counsel have become more systematic in the ways that they manage their work with outside counsel and are applying basic vendor management practices in their evaluations.” Another major change during the past three years, according to the report, has been the increase in resources spent on compliance issues, “including periodic reporting on legal spending and developments.” Benchmarks from the survey available free through SerengetiLaw.com. The full report is $500 for ACC members, and $750 for non-members.

Salaries: 2008 Guide from Robert Half Legal

Thanks to Geoffrey Gussis, who writes on Careers for the In-House Blog, for the tip that the 2008 Robert Half Legal Salary Guide  is now available. Gussis focused on the news for corporate attorneys: “In-house attorneys will see average gains of 3.8 percent over 2007 levels. First year associates can expect annual base compensation to rise 4.9 percent to between $63,750 and $91,000. Average starting salaries for licensed attorneys with 10 or more years of experience will rise 4.1 percent, to the range of $126,000 to $210,750 annually.” But the guide provides information for law firm attorneys also, as well as for paralegals, legal secretaries, and other legal support staff.

And don't forget that we offer a free Associate Salary Update spreadsheet to subscribers, which is free to non-subscribers with the purchase of one other product from the ALM Research Store. For more information, contact almresearch@alm.com or call 888-770-5647.

ALM Research E-Newsletter: Tech Focus

The October/November issue of the ALM Research e-newsletter, NewsLine, went out today. The focus of this issue is Technology. Technology surveys, technology studies, technology reports. Ratings of products, rankings of law firms, products law firms and legal departments are using, trends in budgets and salaries, trends in purchasing.

If you're not already a subscriber to the newsletter, you can access the current NewsLine by clicking here and you can subscribe to the newsletter by clicking here.

Survey: Skadden is the Standard-Bearer, DC Firms Lag

According to this report from the blog of our sister publication in Washington, DC, Legal Times, a new survey report published by BTI Consulting Group reveals the unsurprising news that Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom is the standard-bearer among corporate law firms. BTI’s survey asked corporate counsel, among other things, what firms were getting the most work. Their research identified eight other firms as power players in the transactions market: Baker & McKenzie; Jones Day; Mayer Brown; McDermott Will & Emery; Sidley Austin; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz; and Vinson & Elkins. As for Washington-based firms, they aren’t leading the pack, the blog writer said.

In-House Law Departments: Salaries, Spending

According to Altman Weil’s  2007 Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey, total compensation for in-house lawyers in management jumped 8% to 14% this year, and 4.5% to 23% for non-management lawyers. A report of the survey appeared in the National Law Journal. For chief legal officers, salaries rose 5.8% to a median $300,000 in 2007, while bonus dollars spiked 43% to $157,400. Division general counsel collected a 10.2% salary increase for a median of $232,000, plus a median $104,600 bonus. The survey includes data from 343 law departments with 8,148 lawyers and 72 one-lawyer departments.

Another recent NLJ article (In-house costs outpace outside counsel spending) reported on Hildebrandt International’s 2007 Law Department Survey and said that corporate legal spending increased 6% over the past year, with increases in internal spending (8%) outpacing external expenditures (3%). Total cash compensation for in-house attorneys, including salaries and bonus, climbed 10% last year, compared with 7.5% during the previous year, according to Hildebrandt’s study, which included 202 companies employing an average of 4.2 lawyers. They also surveyed companies' U.S. and international operations, and found that the median company has global revenue of $10 billion, spends nearly $30 million on legal matters and staff and has a U.S. law department with almost 30 layers and 60 staffers. The median company also shells out 58% of its U.S. legal spending on outside counsel and 40% on inside legal costs. Chief Legal Officer's total cash compensation rose $50,000 to nearly $900,000, with the median total at $800,000. General counsel's average cash compensation spiked 19% to $700,000.

Minority Law Journal Now Soliciting Free Directory Listings

The National Directory of Minority Attorneys is getting ready to update the directory for publication in early 2008. Listings are free. Sections in the directory – which is both a print publication and an online database – include corporate legal departments, government agencies, minority-owned law firms, minority attorneys at majority-owned law firms, and minority bar associations. The deadline for submitting directory listings is August 24^th. Click here to access the directory site online and to create or update a listing.

2007 GC Compensation Survey: Just Released!

Just released! Corporate Counsel Magazine's salary survey of the 100 highest paid General Counsel at major corporations, the 2007 GC Compensation Survey. This year there were 193 GCs listed among the top five earners at Fortune 500 companies, four less than the previous year. The top 100 are ranked according to cash compensation, which includes salary and bonus. Data in the spreadsheet also includes stock grants, option grants, and stock cash-outs. Download the searchable, sortable, electronic spreadsheet directly from the ALM Research Store.

Best Legal Department: General Electric

Last month (May) Corporate Counsel magazine unveiled its annual winner of its Best Legal Department review. The winner was General Electric, and the three finalists were Accenture, Allstate, and J.C. Penney. Some of the most interesting reading in the article describing what led the editors to select GE this year was reporter Jill Nawrocki's description of how General Counsel Brackett Denniston and his team reviewed and whittled down their roster of outside counsel. If you haven't read it yet, click here.

It's interesting also interesting to note that in the 2007 Corporate Representation data (aka/ "Who Counsels Who") in the ALM Research Online database, so far only three firms have shown up as having represented General Electric in a significant transaction: King & Spalding, Hunton & Williams, and Sidley Austin Brown & Wood - all mentioned in the April 2007 issue. The Corporate Representation data is updated monthly, and is based mainly on the Big Deals and Big Suits columns in The American Lawyer and Corporate Counsel. 

Salaries: Clients are Not Happy Campers re Associate Raises

Although Altman Weil's recent Survey on Recent Increases in Associate Salaries is marked "confidential," I've now read about it on two different sites, and its available on AW's site. Gerry Riskin, on his Amazing Firms, Amazing Practices blog can't help but have a "harsh" message, as he puts it himself. "If killing the golden goose is stupid, then this is not harsh at all." And Patrick Lamb writes on his blog In Search of Perfect Client Service that he views every announcement of increased starting salaries for new associates "as good news. The firms who march to that beat are putting their client relationships at risk. And for those of us who view our relationships with clients differently," he says . Well, read the survey results.

Salaries: What In-House Lawyers Make

The results of a new survey - the first put out by the Bay Area chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel was presented by the group recently and covered by ALM's newspaper in San Francisco, The Recorder/CalLaw. According to the report, the average base salary during the last fiscal year was $188,616, with a yearly bonus of $49,011. This fiscal year, the average Bay Area corporate counsel hopes to receive a $52,707 bonus. Bonuses for attorneys at the most senior levels of public companies, such as senior vice presidents, are more tied to company performance than those for lower-level lawyers, the survey found. Also of note: Corporate attorneys are increasingly receiving restricted stock, typically linked to specific performance targets, and are less often getting stock options.

Salaries: What CEOs and General Counsel Make

According to an Associated Press report, half of the Standard & Poor 500 CEOs earned more than $8.3 million last year - and some earned far, far more than that. Salary, cash bonuses are a small portion of total compensation, the report said, and the increasing payout from stock options looks to have no end in sight. The most highly-compensated CEOs were named in the report. 

Information about the highest-paid GCs is available in the annual General Counsel Compensation Survey, published by Corporate Counsel magazine, and archived in the ALM Research Online database.

Survey Names “Power Elite” Firms

The BTI Consulting Group has released its “Client Relationship Scorecard” for 2007 and named 20 firms in its “Power Elite.” The firms in the “Power Elite” pass four tests with their clients, the report said – they have an established, primary relationship with their clients, enjoy “go-to” status, receive “enthusiastic” recommendations by peers, and have “superior” levels of client satisfaction. The top five firms in the “Power Elite” include: Jones Day, Sidley Austin, Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, and Davis Polk & Wardwell.

WSJ Posts CEO Compensation Scorecard

Available for free, this Wall Street Journal CEO Compensation Scorecard has all the compensation info for over 90 Fortune top executives. As noted at the top of the chart: “Starting with this year's proxies, the SEC has changed how companies report pay. For companies whose fiscal year ended after Dec. 15, 2006, the SEC now mandates a table that includes salary, bonus, the accounting cost of stock and stock-option awards, incentive-plan payments, change in pension value and deferred-compensation earnings, and all other compensation -- typically perquisites. It also includes, for the first time, a ‘total compensation"’ column, which attempts to make pay across companies more comparable. NOTE: Because it follows the SEC total, this chart's ‘total’ number states what the CEO cost the company in a year, rather than what the CEO actually received.”

General Electric’s Winning Legal Department

For its second Best Legal Department competition, Corporate Counsel magazine asked corporate legal departments about everything from budgets to staffing to litigation strategy. Point values were assigned to key areas, such as outside counsel management, diversity and pro bono efforts. This year's winner stood out, according to CC editor Anthony Paonita. “The whole was greater than the sum of its parts. From using technology creatively, to managing its litigation proactively, to overseeing a select group of law firms, General Electric does it all.”

Practice Areas: Charting the Take-Privates

Our colleagues at The Deal have created several charts tracking companies that have gone private in the last year, including the buyer, date announced, and the deal value. Charts include the mega take-privates, U.S. companies taken private, and buyouts outside the U.S.

ALM Survey: How U.S. Companies Select International Outside Counsel

ALM Media, in association with Silvia Hodges, founder of Legal Marketing Italia, has published a report called How U.S. Companies Select International Outside Counsel, based on surveys and interviews with 219 U.S. key corporate decision-makers involved in the purchasing of overseas legal services. Findings include the fact that very few U.S.businesses maintain formal or informal lists for their overseas legal advisors; a lot of the selection takes place through personal referrals and recommendations instead of formal RFPs; international outside counsel are most frequently sought in the U.K.(59%), Canada (50%) and China (46%).  The report is available for free by clicking on the title above.

Corporate Counsel Story on Non-Licensed GCs Leads to Firing

As mentioned in one of our recent blog posts, Corporate Counsel magazine's story on Fortune 250 GCs who are not licensed to practice in the state in which they work set off buzz across the industry. One result:  Toledo-based Dana Corporation replaced general counsel Michael DeBacker six days after the story reported that he was not properly licensed to practice law in Ohio, according to a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 12. Corporate Counsel's follow-up article can be read here.

Corporate Counsel: 2007 In-House Law Dept Guide

This is a handy reference book published each year by ALM. The In-House Law Dept Guide is available through ALM Research Online in spreadsheet format, and through LawCatalog.com in book format. It includes GC contact and biographical info and department size for in-house law departments at Fortune 500 companies, and  info about chief outside counsel in five practice areas.

Survey Results: The European Mid-Tier Corporate Market

A third major study of the European legal services market has just been released by LexisNexis Martindale-Hubble and written by Silvia Hodges, this one focusing on European mid-tier corporations, and what matters most in the delivery of legal services by outside counsel. According to the report, the survey establishes that, while few of these companies have formal annual legal budgets, they require the same full range of legal services as their larger competitors, and a significant number intend to increase their external legal spending in the next year.

   

Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in the study, with 194 companies responding to a questionnaire, and 31 companies participating in in-depth face-to-face interviews. Of importance to marketers and business development professionals were the findings that selections of new firms were made mostly through referrals, that decision-makers took a dim view of marketing “gimmicks,” and that most decisions were made based on the reputation of an individual practitioner, rather than the firm’s reputation. In addition, respondents emphasized that their outside counsel were expected to display an in-depth knowledge of the client’s own business and industry, to the point of matching the expertise of the in-house counsel.

   

Request for copies of the survey may be addressed to Silvia Hodges (hodges@silviahodges.com).

Survey Shows Client Satisfaction Remains Low

BTI Consulting is set to release the results of its sixth annual survey of corporate counsel, the BTI Client Service A-Team, and BTI reports that client satisfaction remains low, though spending on outside counsel is projected to grow by almost 10% in the coming year. An executive summary is available on their web site for free.

Fulbright & Jaworski Annual Litigation Survey

Houston-based Fulbright & Jaworski recently released the results of its annual Litigation Survey. Some of the findings this year include: Companies with revenues of $1 billion or more each handled, on average, more than 550 legal actions in 2005. The Insurance industry is the most litigation-prone, confronting an average of nearly 1,700 lawsuits last year. Second and third places in the litigation sweepstakes go to retailers and energy firms, with companies in each sector averaging more than 330 cases, the survey said. Not all of the lawsuits are incoming – 70% of U.S. companies responding to the survey said they had brought actions in the past year.

   

For information about which are the “go-to” litigation firms for many companies and organizations, the ALM Research Online database accumulates that information from surveys conducted by ALM’s magazines and newspapers in their Client Representation data. Researchers may use the menu bars look for specific firms or clients. The 2006 Corporate Representation (Who Counsels Who) is available in searchable spreadsheet format.

Fortune 500’s Largest U.S. Corporations

Fortune magazine has made available the complete database of America’s largest corporations, 1955-2005. For information about which firms serve as counsel to many of these corporations, the 2006 Corporate Representation (Who Counsels Who) report is available from ALM Research for $900 to non-subscribers, and free to subscribers.

General Counsel Compensation: Southeastern GC’s Pay Soars

ALM magazine GC South published their third annual GC South Compensation Survey recently. The report notes that “A quick look at GC salaries across the Southeast might give the impression that nobody's getting any raises -- but don't be fooled. Though base pay and bonuses may be flat, the value of restricted stock awards has soared.” This trend follows the general trend across corporate America, “where executive pay is being more closely tied to performance.”

Find out more about GC Salaries from ALM Research Online.

Corporate Representation: Fortune 250’s Go-To Firms

For the past five years, Corporate Counsel magazine has conducted the annual Who Represents Corporate America Survey of Fortune 250 GCs, asking them to list their go-to firms. A remarkably stable group of law firms has repeatedly monopolized the top 10 spots in each practice area being examined, according to this year’s report. Why do a select few firms keep riding high? The newest survey reveals some answers to that question -- along with some surprise developments.

The World’s Best Brands

The new BusinessWeek/Interbrand Top 100 list is out, with the top five companies in the same positions as last year: Coca-Cola (1); Microsoft (2); IBM (3); GE (4); and Intel (5). Mercedes-Benz moved into the 10^th position, from 11^th last year, and Marlboro fell from 10^th to 12^th.  But the main story was about 69^th ranked Motorola, which the magazine says new products like the RAZR and SLVR have been a hit, and a hip marketing campaign behind them is adding luster to the Moto brand.”  That should be good news for their outside counsel, who – according to the ALM Research Online database (available to subscribers) – include Arnold & Porter for corporate transactions and other corporate representation, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary for products liability work, and Fish & Neave also for general corporate representation.

Just Published: GC Compensation Survey Report

Every year since 1994, Corporate Counsel magazine has researched and reported compensation for the chief legal officers of the nation's Fortune 500 companies in their annual GC Compensation Survey Report. The surveys have charted the rise and decline of stock options as the key to luring top legal talent -- followed by the comeback of cold, hard cash in the form of big-time bonuses. This year’s report by staff writer Jill Nawrocki shows that the latest trend is a surge in restricted stock grants. The average award to GCs of restricted stock rose by 35 percent, reaching almost $1 million. Read on to find out who got what.

   

This year’s report is available also in spreadsheet form from ALM Research Online for $350.00 (free to subscribers). The spreadsheet includes the name, rank, salary, bonus, and where applicable, other forms of remuneration for each of the 100 Fortune 500 GCs ranked. Data from previous years is available to subscribers. Call 888-770-5647 or email almresearch@alm.com for more information.

How to Become a Go-To Lawyer

The current issue of Corporate Counsel magazine includes sage advice from consultant Daniel DiLucchio from Altman Weil on how to be a “go-to” lawyer. As DiLucchio points out, go-to lawyers are not anointed; they earn the moniker, and his advice on how to earn it includes a list of eight key attributes: knows the law; excellent communicator; confident style; knowledge of the business; excellent judgment; willing to “put skin in the game”; good work ethic; and sense of urgency.

GCs Vent Their Frustrations About Outside Counsel

The Recorder, an ALM newspaper based in San Francisco, carried a report of a recent study conducted by BTI Consulting Group Inc., a Massachusetts-based legal consulting firm, in which only about 30 percent of general counsel nationwide said they were satisfied with their primary law firms in 2005, down from 43.5 percent the year before. And the GCs, squeezed by budget constraints and pressure from boards of directors, are reacting to shoddy work by demoting and replacing their primary law firms and spreading the wealth among more secondary firms. How do you keep your law firm from losing its spot on the speed-dial? Some top GCs share their pet peeves in this interview.