For the first full month of shelter-in-place and work-from-home orders for millions of U.S. residents, April saw significantly fewer general counsel announcements as companies navigate through the COVID-19 coronavirus crisis. 

March had a healthy number of new top lawyers at the height of spring hiring, but most of those general counsel and chief legal officers received their job offers prior to the novel coronavirus pandemic that has spurred mandated social distancing orders across the country and hurt the year’s economic outlook for many businesses. While companies reel from the impact of COVID-19, many executives, including top lawyers, have been taking pay cuts to keep corporate operations afloat.