Dive Brief:

• Salaries for in-house counsel rose 4.4% this year over 2023, to a median $274,000, with cash bonuses paid at 95% of the targets, according to an annual survey of in-house counsel compensation. The pay raise slightly outpaced the 4.1% U.S. inflation rate last year.
• Women general counsels continue to lag on total compensation, reporting a median of $576,000 annually, about 4.3% below their male peers. Still, the gender gap continued to narrow into 2024, with the pay difference decreasing to 4.3% from 4.9% last year.
• Job switching declined last year to 9% of in-house counsel, down from a high of 12% in 2021 amid the pandemic, according to the 2024 In-House Counsel Compensation Report from executive search firm BarkerGilmore LLC.

Dive Insight:

Despite the advance in median salaries, the prevalence of sign-on bonuses has declined markedly for both managing and senior counsel, according to BarkerGilmore. Only 25% of new hire counsel received a signing bonus in 2024, compared to 45% the previous year.

General counsel were the most likely to see a signing bonus at 28%, with senior counsel least likely to receive one, at 23%. The general counsel median bonus of $75,000 was steady in 2023, while signing bonuses for managing and senior counsel rose slightly, $30,000 and $27,000, respectively.

Counsel working in banking and finance topped the median total compensation ranks, at $410,000, followed by those in energy ($390,000) litigation ($381,000) and tax ($380,000).

Among all three groups, lawyers with a background working at the 50 largest firms — which are typically considered the most elite — topped the median income. General counsel compensation was $760,000, or $110,000 more than lawyers with experience in the American Lawyer 51-100 firms. 

The survey shows “the premium earned for those with top credentials and work experience at Big Law,” John Gilmore, managing partner of the firm, said in an email to Legal Dive. “The bottom line is hiring and retaining lawyers with this combination requires higher compensation,” he said. “Solutions-minded, in-house lawyers with high emotional intelligence, good judgment, and business savvy, are worth their weight in gold.”

The sign-on bonus decline generally speaks to a stabilizing market, with job changes decreasing. The motivation to find a new job because of compensation declined by 22% this year, according to the survey. 

Among those seeking a change, in-house counsel with 25-29 years of experience were the least satisfied with their compensation and most likely to search out a new position.

On the topic of job hunting, one-fifth of lawyers (20%) with an intellectual property practice were most likely to seek a new job based on their compensation, according to the survey. That compares with 10% of attorneys working in commercial contracts, who cited compensation as the reason their desire for a new role was “very high.

The 2024 compensation report was compiled using online survey data from 3,700 general counsel, managing counsel and senior counsel and was conducted in March 2024. It assesses pay trends from 2023 into this year.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to add additional salary information in the first bullet item.