US heads of legal shrugged off the corporate slowdown of 2001 with relative ease according to new research that shows the top US company lawyers last year averaged near 6% rises in take-home pay.

Corporate Counsel magazine’s pay survey of the 100 highest paid US in house lawyers, reveals that leading general counsel earned an average median salary of $432,000 (£275,159), against $416,877 (£265,526) the previous year.