News
Pay packets for US in-house lawyers rose across the board this year, according to a new report.
The 2007 Altman Weil Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey, published with LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, reports that in-house lawyers in management positions saw their pay rise between 8% and 14% this year, while non-management lawyers took home up to 23% more.
Altman Weil principal James Wilber says these increases, even after adjusting them for inflation, were solid: “Generally, as in recent years, base salary increases were relatively modest, with bonuses increasing more than salaries.”
Chief legal officer (CLO) salaries rose 5.8% to a median $300,000 in 2007, with a 43% increase in bonuses of $157,400. Total cash compensation for CLOs was up 14.3% overall.
Lawyers in non-management positions also saw increases, with high-level specialists earning 6.4% more in salary, at a median $168,000, plus a 5% bump in bonuses of $44,000. Attorneys with eight or more years’ experience took home 4.5% more in total; those with four or more years earned 11.2% more; and attorneys with at least one year’s experience saw an increase of 23%.
For senior attorneys, attorneys and staff attorneys, a copyright, trade mark or patents specialty is the most lucrative.
