Corporate Counsel?s 2008 GC Compensation Survey

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Corporate Counsel?s 2008 GC Compensation Survey

Corporate Counsel’s 2008 GC Compensation Survey
What the nation’s 100 best-paid general counsel earned in 2007

How do we find out how much the highest-paid general counsel make?

Corporations tell us. Public companies must disclose the compensation packages for their CEOs and their four other highest-paid executives in the annual proxy statements they file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We comb through the Fortune 500 companies' proxies in order to compile our list.

At many of these businesses, general counsel are among the executives whose pay packages must be disclosed. We looked at all of these GCs' pay packages. Then we ranked the 100 best-paid according to cash compensation, which includes salary, bonus, and non-equity incentive compensation -- a column added last year on the proxy statement in which companies record bonuses for hitting performance targets. Bonuses not tied to performance goals go in the traditional bonus column. For our chart and rankings, we've combined both types of bonuses in one column labeled "Bonus/Non-equity Incentive Compensation." We also note stock grants, option grants, and cash-outs for the top 100.

But while we do our best to find out what GCs make, it's important to note that our compensation survey is not exhaustive. Some well-paid top lawyers did not make our list simply because there were other executives who made more at their company; if the GC wasn't among the top five highest earners, we don't have his or her compensation data. We miss other chief legal officers because of timing. If their company filed its proxy statement after May 31, 2008, we couldn't report it because of our publishing deadline. Plus, businesses that are in bankruptcy or have merged may not file proxies. And Fortune 500 corporations that are not publicly traded, such as insurance companies, don't file proxy statements with the SEC.

Purchase the Electronic 2008 GC Compensation Survey from ALM Research

				2007 Cash Compensation			Stock	Total Take Home	Value of Equity
Rank FY '07	Rank FY '06	GC Name, Company	State	Salary	Bonus Plus Nonequity Incentive Compensation	Total Cash	Value Realized	Total Cash Plus Stock Value Realized	Stock Awards	Option Awards
1	1	Jon Walton Allegheny Technologies Incorporated	PA	$413,733	$7,720,000	$8,133,733	$0	$8,133,733	$917,316	$0
2	-	Gary Lynch Morgan Stanley	NY	300,000	6,308,375	6,608,375	0	6,608,375	5,266,625	1,046
3	2	Thomas Russo Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.	NY	450,000	4,550,000	5,000,000	5,398,733	10,398,733	6,106,862	639,600
4	3	Alan Braverman The Walt Disney Company	CA	1,000,000	3,450,000	4,450,000	0	4,450,000	2,083,860	985,364
5	12	Louise Parent American Express Company	NY	524,591	3,445,000	3,969,591	1,425,654	5,395,245	124,995	1,986,478
6	19	Richard Massey Alltel Corporation 1	AR	516,154	3,343,338	3,859,492	117,862	3,977,354	1,591,988	2,114,110
7	4	Paul Cappuccio Time Warner Inc.	NY	1,000,000	2,600,000	3,600,000	0	3,600,000	2,002,267	501,677
8	9	Russell Deyo Johnson & Johnson	NJ	769,616	2,746,200	3,515,816	1,518,000	5,033,816	579,872	2,020,505
9	6	Louis Briskman CBS Corporation	NY	1,305,000	2,000,000	3,305,000	591,985	3,896,985	692,231	450,737
10	8	Gary Jacobs MGM Mirage	NV	700,000	2,560,332	3,260,332	18,770,979	22,031,311	0	1,077,770
11	26	Carrie Dwyer The Charles Schwab Corporation	CA	498,333	2,701,715	3,200,048	0	3,200,048	629,880	292,353
12	23	Charles Wall Altria Group, Inc. 2	VA	1,060,750	2,100,000	3,160,750	3,996,998	7,157,748	2,458,979	446,456
13	-	Alan Schnitzer The Travelers Companies, Inc.	MN	448,106	2,500,000	2,948,106	0	2,948,106	3,125,000	322,615
14	11	Michael Fricklas Viacom Inc.	NY	1,084,875	1,725,000	2,809,875	811,431	3,621,306	1,355,016	1,058,692
15	13	C. Thomas Harvie The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company	OH	472,333	2,260,000	2,732,333	338,666	3,070,999	251,145	954,242
16	-	Carol Ann Petren Cigna Corporation	PA	535,962	2,175,000	2,710,962	4,953,326	7,664,288	20,434	184,362
17	14	Lawrence Jacobs News Corporation 3	NY	1,400,000	1,250,000	2,650,000	1,162,149	3,812,149	856,231	0
18	-	Kenneth Frazier 4 Merck & Co., Inc.	NJ	876,335	1,627,150	2,503,485	0	2,503,485	1,882,165	753,133
19	18	Douglas Sgarro CVS Caremark Corporation	RI	558,750	1,835,022	2,393,772	2,968,667	5,362,439	1,055,578	963,555
20	17	Neal Wolin 5 The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.	CT	762,000	1,620,000	2,382,000	2,315,451	4,697,451	1,453,647	482,548
21	68	Lawrence Fisher 6 Fluor Corporation	TX	591,658	1,649,800	2,241,458	0	2,241,458	812,501	442,698
22	20	Richard Baer Qwest Communications International Inc.	CO	633,981	1,429,695	2,063,676	0	2,063,676	674,317	688,580
23	21	Albert Cornelison, Jr. Halliburton Company 7	TX	550,000	1,458,465	2,008,465	0	2,008,465	650,858	365,757
24	59	Rob Sharpe, Jr. ConAgra Foods	NE	600,000	1,350,000	1,950,000	0	1,950,000	1,783,352	896,062
25	-	John Junek Ameriprise Financial, Inc.	MN	375,000	1,518,314	1,893,314	0	1,893,314	475,899	1,094,516
26	23	William Barr Verizon Communications Inc.	NY	840,000	1,008,000	1,848,000	887,228	2,735,228	7,480,222	0
27	37	Robert A. Armitage Eli Lilly and Company	IN	741,667	1,045,750	1,787,417	0	1,787,417	1,995,000	716,400
28	-	Hyun Park PG&E Corporation	CA	475,000	1,311,149	1,786,149	0	1,786,149	381,410	0
29	42	David Horn AK Steel Holding Corporation	OH	550,000	1,126,858	1,676,858	1,285,435	2,962,293	484,317	66,908
30	-	Andrew Hendry Colgate-Palmolive Company	NY	630,333	933,075	1,563,408	427,594	1,991,002	564,508	763,680
31	-	Lauri Shanahan The Gap Inc.	CA	650,000	907,116	1,557,116	528,737	2,085,853	759,428	253,023
32	34	J. Barclay Collins II Hess Corporation	NY	775,000	775,000	1,550,000	3,438,971	4,988,971	1,762,998	1,381,142
33	54	Sheldon Cammaker Emcor Group, Inc.	CT	460,000	1,007,875	1,467,875	1,032,000	2,499,875	462,724	221,521
34	-	Gilbert Klemann II Avon Products, Inc.	NY	533,088	926,119	1,459,207	0	1,459,207	962,490	627,592
35	39	Jay Stephens Raytheon Company	MA	635,461	780,000	1,415,461	2,490,761	3,906,222	2,491,128	161,916
36	79	Charles Tanabe Liberty Media Corporation	CO	850,000	563,126	1,413,126	0	1,413,126	287,234	833,617
37	45	Larry Hunter The DirecTV Group, Inc.	CA	774,276	625,000	1,399,276	0	1,399,276	784,827	0
38	38	Ira Lederman W.R. Berkley Corporation	CT	525,000	851,720	1,376,720	0	1,376,720	305,990	11,429
39	24	John Finneran, Jr. Capital One Financial Corporation	VA	666,667	690,000	1,356,667	42,029	1,398,696	1,543,816	2,679,920
40	-	Crane Kenney Tribune Company 8	IL	486,779	821,130	1,307,909	0	1,307,909	3,092,412	258,934
41	-	J.A. Bouknight, Jr. Edison International	CA	568,714	720,000	1,288,714	0	1,288,714	364,491	601,804
42	-	Marc Manly Duke Energy Corporation 9	NC	556,008	730,539	1,286,547	375,423	1,661,970	1,109,614	0
43	-	Roderick Palmore Sara Lee Corporation 10	IL	582,000	685,580	1,267,580	0	1,267,580	1,000,484	352,624
44	55	J. Michael Hemmer Union Pacific Corporation	NE	441,667	815,000	1,256,667	690,186	1,256,667	508,162	521,874
45	-	G. Edison Holland, Jr. Southern Company	GA	538,329	708,668	1,246,997	698,679	1,945,676	0	311,155
46	-	Stephen Gates 11 ConocoPhillips	TX	611,001	631,885	1,242,886	0	1,242,886	5,172,043	1,133,093
47	49	Mark Bobak 12 Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc.	MO	634,608	600,000	1,234,608	953,226	2,187,834	613,867	5,291,139
48	60	John Leekley Masco Corporation	MI	761,000	472,000	1,233,000	2,478,000	3,711,000	952,334	1,346,216
49	-	Thomas Zielinski Coventry Health Care, Inc.	MD	450,000	771,202	1,221,202	2,557,314	3,778,516	793,038	644,895
50	52	David Savner General Dynamics Corporation	VA	500,000	715,000	1,215,000	3,505,769	4,720,769	503,406	991,009
51	51	Terrence O'Donnell Textron Inc.	RI	525,000	682,500	1,207,500	4,509,097	5,716,597	1,330,705	523,214
52	-	Kathleen Karelis 13 L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc.	NY	650,000	550,000	1,200,000	0	1,200,000	79,977	414,484
53	-	Roger Cooke Precision Castparts Corp.	OR	392,500	798,875	1,191,375	5,010,386	6,201,761	0	490,827
54	-	J. Andrew Murphy NRG Energy, Inc.	NJ	400,000	784,225	1,184,225	0	1,184,225	230,675	239,004
55	57	Walter Withers Emerson Electric Co.	MO	520,000	660,000	1,180,000	254,387	1,434,387	3,704,349	211,000
56	-	David Sudbury Commercial Metals Company	TX	350,000	822,500	1,172,500	1,654,884	2,827,384	103,949	196,171
57	-	John Donofrio Visteon Corporation	MI	487,500	681,947	1,169,447	130,950	1,169,447	133,532	292,964
58	69	Kenneth Siegel Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.	NY	583,232	585,037	1,168,269	0	1,168,269	1,618,424	829,762
59	-	Britt Banks Newmont Mining Corporation	CO	475,000	686,790	1,161,790	781,454	1,943,244	171,592	439,551
60	70	Donald de Brier Occidental Petroleum Corporation	CA	551,000	600,000	1,151,000	20,468,455	21,619,455	3,659,202	4,950,598
61	58	Steven Cossé Murphy Oil Corporation	AR	522,917	627,500	1,150,417	0	1,150,417	559,135	746,690
62	62	Randall Mehrberg 14 Exelon	IL	580,385	562,960	1,143,345	1,478,435	2,621,780	3,045,650	641,170
63	56	Ellen Kaden Campbell Soup Company	NJ	530,417	596,960	1,127,377	0	1,127,377	1,250,233	173,225
64	-	Grier Raclin Charter Communications, Inc.	MO	464,634	654,708	1,119,342	43,118	1,162,460	331,221	68,893
65	-	William Torgerson Pepco Holdings, Inc.	DC	538,017	579,960	1,117,977	0	1,117,977	412,916	0
66	-	Gregory Butler Northeast Utilities	CT	382,244	731,950	1,114,194	0	1,114,194	319,716	0
67	88	Suzanne Bettman R.R. Donnelley & Sons Company	IL	392,824	700,000	1,092,824	0	1,092,824	302,581	38,188
68	65	Kenneth Vittor The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.	NY	533,500	546,000	1,079,500	2,700,201	3,779,701	646,139	394,044
69	10	James Ellis 15 AT&T Inc.	TX	425,167	650,264	1,075,431	6,534,774	7,610,205	12,389,605	698,044
70	52	Maura Smith International Paper Company	TN	572,925	501,500	1,074,425	0	1,074,425	1,992,321	0
71	-	Thomas Boudreau Express Scripts, Inc.	MO	447,096	626,150	1,073,246	0	1,073,246	614,579	510,498
72	-	Lawrence Purtell Alcoa Inc.	NY	568,833	500,000	1,068,833	5,142,049	6,210,882	1,719,837	1,000,566
73	-	Javade Chaudhri Sempra Energy	CA	482,954	585,600	1,068,554	421,429	1,489,983	1,024,840	171,269
74	80	Robert Reeves Anadarko Petroleum Corporation	TX	449,231	614,772	1,064,003	0	1,064,003	871,180	928,539
75	-	Fay Chapman 16 Washington Mutual, Inc.	WA	752,000	310,000	1,062,000	0	1,062,000	1,174,079	719,249
76	-	James Breedlove Praxair, Inc.	CT	435,000	623,560	1,058,560	0	1,058,560	201,698	619,233
77	-	James Benson Automatic Data Processing, Inc.	NJ	405,017	638,200	1,043,217	815,200	1,043,217	685,953	254,113
78	-	Kevin Lilly SPX Corporation	NC	400,000	640,000	1,040,000	171,056	1,211,056	947,868	0
79	75	Bart Colli Aramark Corporation	PA	560,577	475,000	1,035,577	2,249,350	3,284,927	1,713,793	2,193,247
80	-	Mary Gustafsson 17 Trane Inc.	NJ	365,000	660,700	1,025,700	1,086,258	1,025,700	0	544,756
81	77	Terrence Linnert Goodrich Corporation	NC	487,000	536,818	1,023,818	1,742,404	2,766,222	1,600,411	686,006
82	71	Larry Appel Winn-Dixie Stores, Inc.	FL	433,333	583,795	1,017,128	0	1,017,128	53,780	89,451
83	-	Peter Janzen Land O'Lakes, Inc.	MN	395,508	616,608	1,012,116	0	1,012,116	0	0
84	-	Gregory Doody Calpine Corporation	CA	500,000	495,720	995,720	0	995,720	0	0
85	-	W. Douglas Brown 18 Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.	PA	450,000	535,000	985,000	9,161,935	10,146,935	1,622,018	1,132,751
86	-	Candace Cummings V.F. Corporation	NC	450,000	531,000	981,000	896,432	1,877,432	922,229	358,720
87	-	R. Edwin Selover Public Service Enterprise Group Incorporated	NJ	501,963	454,500	956,463	309,754	1,266,217	696,875	366,816
88	-	James Baehren Owens-Illinois, Inc.	OH	369,460	580,298	949,758	1,086,228	949,758	592,483	172,753
89	-	Hayward Fisk Computer Sciences Corporation	VA	469,800	473,700	943,500	137,295	1,080,795	349,720	310,554
90	98	Laura Stein The Clorox Company	CA	460,000	465,000	925,000	0	925,000	682,923	283,692
91	-	Vernon Baker ArvinMeritor, Inc.	MI	454,250	470,463	924,713	0	924,713	467,606	9,500
92	95	Wendell Willke II MeadWestvaco Corporation	VA	451,083	462,567	913,650	0	913,650	406,865	174,761
93	66	James Diggs PPG Industries, Inc.	PA	452,000	455,000	907,000	692,469	1,599,469	595,632	409,325
94	87	David Smith Archer Daniels Midland Company	IL	897,959	0	897,959	0	897,959	1,754,587	275,876
95	32	Robert van Schoonenberg Avery Dennison Corporation	CA	575,333	307,300	882,633	907,695	1,790,328	267,248	193,730
96	86	Dwight Rettig National Oilwell Varco, Inc.	TX	350,000	525,000	875,000	2,056,232	2,931,232	269,351	503,554
97	-	William Casazza Aetna Inc.	CT	475,066	385,583	860,649	529,094	1,389,743	339,117	1,259,410
98	-	Edward Nekritz ProLogis	CO	400,000	450,000	850,000	232,132	1,082,132	570,136	136,403
99	-	Robert Lavet 19 SLM Corporation	VA	300,000	550,000	850,000	0	850,000	311,714	135,517
100	-	Scott Rozell CenterPoint Energy, Inc.	TX	440,000	395,800	835,800	0	835,800	512,392	0
1 Spun off Windstream Corporation in July 2006.
2 Spun off Kraft Foods Inc. in March 2007.
3 Acquired Dow Jones & Company, Inc., in December 2007.
4 Resigned as GC in August 2007.
5 Resigned as GC in July 2007.
6 Retired in October 2007.
7 Spun off KBR, Inc., in April 2007.
8 Acquired by Samuel Zell in April 2007.
9 Spun off Spectra Energy Corp in January 2007.
10 Spun off Hanesbrands Inc. in September 2006.
11 Retired in January 2008.
12 Retired in December 2007.
13 Resigned as GC in May 2008.
14 Retired in October 2007.
15 Retired in June 2007.
16 Retired in June 2008.
17 Changed name from American Standard Companies, Inc., in November 2007.
18 Retired in October 2007.
19 Retired in January 2008.
(Corporate Counsel, August 2008)