How and why do GCs get raises? Two case studies

On January 31, 2026

How and why do GCs get raises? Two case studies: 1. Qualcomm GC Ann Chaplin’s comp has increased the last 3 years per Corporate Counsel. In 2025 she made $9M, up from $6.9M in 2024. Of her 2025 pay, the large majority was stock (78% of total pay at $7.1M), and her base rose from […]

Career Management, Networking

Applications to law school are up, but so are the risks

On January 24, 2026

These are extraordinary times, prompting law school applications to rise, but so is the risk, as reported by the New York Times today. Applications to law school shot up 44% from 2 years ago, and are up 17% this year alone. Why? Working as a lawyer can seem like a sure thing: “For decades, the […]

Compensation, GC

GC Pay: A Case Study

On January 18, 2026

GC pay and raises are often a black box, so I thought it’d be helpful to look at a case study. Pay is usually a mix of base + bonus + equity (the largest component). This scenario was the case with Jennifer Salinas, GC of Cerence, a small public technology company that does AI-powered voice […]

GC, Market

GC musical chairs

On January 10, 2026

Big GC moves this winter: Apple CLO Kate Adams announced she was retiring in December. Apple is replacing its CLO with Jennifer Newstead from Meta. Meta is replacing its CLO with CJ Mahoney, a VP from Microsoft. Former Microsoft CLO Hossein Nowbar, who left the company in the fall, joined ServiceNow this past week. Current […]

Compensation, Market

Who is paying extraordinary comp in 2026?

On January 4, 2026

No surprise, it’s AI and OpenAI in particular. WSJ reports the company is “paying employees more than any tech startup in recent history” at $1.5M each in stock-based pay on average, which is 7x higher Google’s pre-IPO levels and 34x the average for 18 large tech companies over the last 25 years. It makes up […]

Compensation, Market

Ending the year on a good note: Top-earning millennials (28-44) are likely Bay Area lawyers!

On January 4, 2026

WSJ reports top-earning millennials (28-44) “take strikingly similar paths to get there”: they work in “a small number of lucrative fields in a small number of superstar cities after attending a small number of top-tier universities.” To reach this top 5% in pay, law is the career path with the highest probability of getting there, […]

Interview

Google-suggested questions for interviews: do they work?

On December 20, 2025

A former Google recruiter lists his top four questions for candidates to always ask in interviews to set themselves apart. Let’s go through them. One of them I would never ask in a Bay Area in-house interview! “What is the company’s north star for the next 12 months?” I don’t recommend this one. While it’s […]

Compensation, GC, Inhouse

Roku & Snap land new GCs with huge stock grants

On December 14, 2025

Roku and Snap gave substantial equity grants to land their new GCs, per Corporate Counsel/Recorder. In November, Roku hired Chris Handman, a veteran GC including at Snap, and gave him a $9.2M equity grant that vested quarterly over two years. Two weeks after Roku’s hire, Snap hired Zachary Briers from Munger Tolles and awarded him a […]

Compensation

Proven scripts for negotiating in-house pay

On December 7, 2025

When you get an offer, it’s always worth negotiating respectfully! This post gives 10 good scripts. The ones that work best for Bay Area in-house jobs: Citing another offer (this is the strongest lever): “I have other offers but prefer here – can we align?” Bay Area companies are used to candidates getting multiple offers and […]

Interview

How to tweak Accenture’s top interview tips for in-house

On November 30, 2025

To glean tips for in-house interviews, I read what execs of top companies say they look for. Sometimes the advice applies and sometimes it doesn’t. This exact scenario was the case with the head of HR at Accenture discussing her red and green flags when interviewing job applicants. Half of what she says is spot […]

Page 1 of 6012 3 ›»