GC Compensation Survey

ALM Intelligence combs through Fortune 1000 companies proxies in order to compile a list of general counsel salaries. They then rank the 350 best-paid according to cash compensation, which includes salary, bonus and non-equity incentive compensation (a column added in 2007 on the proxy statement in which companies record bonuses for hitting performance targets).

Public companies must disclose the compensation packages for their CEOs and their four other highest-paid executives in the annual proxy statements they file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. General Counsel are frequently among the highest-paid executives whose pay packages must be disclosed.

This compensation is not exhaustive. Some well-paid top legal officers do not make the list simply because the five highest-paid executives earn more than the GC. Others do not make the list because their company filed its proxy statement after May 31, and Corporate Counsel could not research it because of their publishing deadline. Businesses in bankruptcy or merged in the past year may not file proxies. And Fortune 1000 corporations that are not publicly traded, such as insurance companies, do not file proxy statements with the SEC.

For our chart and rankings, we have combined both types of bonuses in one column labeled Bonus/Nonequity Incentive Compensation. Data in the spreadsheet also includes stock, option and cash-out awards. Cash-outs include stock value realized as well as options exercised in our Stock column in an effort to paint a more complete picture of equity compensation.