As natural evaluators of risk and reward, in-house counsel like to choose their battles. The time and money that flow in to warring with other parties through litigation is no one’s first choice, but there is one area where corporate counsel may benefit from a good fight: the recruitment process. A seasoned and skilled in-house attorney looking for work appears increasingly to be a candidate worth fighting over, which fortunately for the lawyer (but perhaps not for the legal department looking to hire) can lead to better compensation.
The latest edition of an annual report by legal and compliance recruitment consultancy Laurence Simons indicates that when it comes to recruiting talented and well-qualified in-house counsel in North America, the salary wars are on. The “Global Legal and Compliance Salary Survey,” which culled responses directly from legal and compliance professionals during the last quarter of 2014, also shows that—thanks in part to increasingly competitive hiring processes—in-house counsel are continuing to see measured but healthy increases in base salary.
