Compensation, Market

What’s Going on with Startup Comp?

  • On March 30, 2025
Carta just reported on the state of startup compensation! The good news: Average salaries and equity grants rose slightly. Layoffs are at the lowest point in 3 years. These industries grew headcount: energy, hw, med device. Ready for the bad news? Startups “haven’t been this reluctant to hire in at least 5 years.” Net headcount […]
Read More
Compensation, Offer

How to Negotiate Comp Avoiding Common Pitfalls

  • On February 17, 2025
I often click on career tips to see if they are any good. And I liked this one, 4 Red Flags to Avoid When Discussing Salary, by career guru Sho Dewan. I go through his tips below and customize them for in-house counsel negotiating their comp: Be confident, but not aggressive or hostile. Yes. While […]
Read More
Compensation, GC

Top Paid GCs? Yes, They’re in California

  • On February 5, 2025
Law.com reported the top paid GC as of 2024 is Alphabet’s top lawyer Kent Walker, who made $27.3M. A close second is Apple’s Kate Adams at $27.18M. Her base was $1M (where it’s been the last 6 years), stock valued at $22.16M, and cash incentive compensation at $4M. Her total comp has been “virtually unchanged […]
Read More
Compensation

Don’t Expect Much of a Raise This Year

  • On October 20, 2024
WSJ reports flat raises and higher healthcare costs ahead per Mercer’s survey of 1,100+ companies. Key points: Merit raises in 2025 are projected to remain largely flat at an average of 3.3%. Job changers aren’t getting as big a pay bump as they used to. People who changed jobs in September made 6.6% more than […]
Read More
Compensation

Can You Get a Sign-On in This Market? 

  • On October 6, 2024
Although the recent September job report was positive, the in-house market has not yet recovered. But even so, the Wall Street Journal reports signing bonuses are still possible. How can you do it? You must ask. Always ask for a signing bonus, “even in a soft market.” When to ask? 70% of those who got […]
Read More
Compensation, GC

Best Bay Area In-House Comp Numbers

  • On September 29, 2024
I’ve posted a couple compensation rules of thumb for in-house lawyers: the GC generally makes 24.3% of the CEO and won’t make more than the CFO. But how to get more granularity than that? For the best Bay Area in-house comp numbers, fill out this survey https://forms.gle/ogDnyb9d3RNUHHGQ8 anonymously, and you will get the complete report after numbers are […]
Read More
Compensation, Inhouse

Rule of Thumb on In-House Comp

  • On September 22, 2024
The top lawyer’s pay at a company generally won’t be more than the top financial exec’s. So a general rule of thumb to figure out comp somewhere you can’t get insight into a legal team’s pay is look at what your financial counterpart is getting. Also, you know you won’t make more than your GC. […]
Read More
Compensation, GC

GC Comp Trends from Law.com Report

  • On August 18, 2024
Law.com analyzed the top 526 GC pay from Fortune 1000 companies’ proxy statements covering fiscal year ending after June 30, 2023. (Note: this is “an imperfect snapshot of the pay landscape” because companies disclose pay for only their top 5 most highly paid execs, so GC/CLO data is missing from Microsoft, Meta, and Tesla.) The […]
Read More