Corporate Counsel’s 2018 General Counsel Compensation Survey provides insight into trends and growth areas for the legal market as a whole. In addition to showing a rise in compensation for top lawyers in middle market companies and the dominance of the finance and entertainment industries, the survey also highlights another issue across the legal industry—fewer women in high-level roles and a persistent pay gap. However, the raw numbers belie some positive trends as women progress through the corporate legal ranks.

Among the 100 most highly compensated GCs surveyed by Corporate Counsel, 23 are women. The Top 10 for 2018 has only one—Laureen Seeger of American Express. In addition, executive search firm BarkerGilmore’s 2018 In-House Counsel Compensation Report showed that women GCs make about 78 percent of the average total compensation that their male counterparts receive.