Law firm chief operating officers and comparable administrative professionals are seeing their pay rival those of equity partners in the post-pandemic era, as their duties have shifted from overseeing day-to-day administrative functions of their law firm to high-level strategic decisions.

Defined as base compensation as of Jan. 1, 2022, and bonuses paid through March 1, 2022, for the 2021 fiscal year, the average total cash compensation for COOs and executive directors, based on a survey of 159 law firms, comes out to $418,107, while the range was from $77,000 to $2.7 million.