It must be galling for senior in-house lawyers on this side of the pond to see the packages on offer for leading GCs in the US. Of course, America is far ahead of other major jurisdictions in treating a career in-house as a serious option, and the greater litigation threat to companies means that chief legal officers are always likely to enjoy greater rewards than those on offer in the UK.
But the annual compensation survey from Legal Week sister title Corporate Counsel underlines not only the enormous gap between GC pay in the US and the rest of the world but also the extent to which it is growing. In 2007, bonuses at America’s top 100 best-paid GCs were up no less than 17% annually to hit an average of $1.1m (£559,000), a level which is roughly twice the average bonus of this group in 2002.
