Many senior-level in-house lawyers believed they would be getting something special under the Christmas tree in 2004–a big fat raise.
And it wasn’t a far-fetched assumption. Most had been working nonstop trying to deal with the myriad of new responsibilities brought forth by Sarbanes-Oxley, and have been doing so with smaller budgets and fewer staff. In addition, they were under pressure from board members, shareholders and their CEOs to ensure regulators had no reason to pry into their businesses. On top of that, the GC role has morphed into one of the most important positions in corporate America.
