Dive Brief:

• As base pay remained flat and bonuses dropped sharply, the median total compensation for in-house counsel declined 3% last year to $375,000, a report found.
• Overall, bonuses for surveyed in-house lawyers fell 23% in 2022, according to the 2023 In-House Counsel Compensation Report from legal and compliance executive search firm BarkerGilmore. 
• Roughly 11% of the surveyed respondents obtained a new position in 2022, a decrease of one percentage point from 2021. The report features information from a combined 3,800 general counsel, managing counsel and senior counsel who participated in the online survey in March 2023.

Dive Insight:

The slight decline in median total compensation across in-house counsel at different levels of their organizations last year was a stark contrast from the 21% pay increase reported in 2021.

The BarkerGilmore report suggests smaller bonuses was a major contributor to the pay drop in 2022.

In 2021, annual short and long-term incentive bonuses paid out well above target. But last year, lofty EBITDA and equity targets “were out of reach,” the report said. 

The median cash bonus for male senior counsel dropped from $53,000 two years ago to $36,000 last year, a 32% decline.

Meanwhile, female managing counsel saw their average bonus fall from $74,000 in 2021 to $65,000 in 2022, a 12% reduction.

Signing bonuses was one area where there was upward trajectory in the realm of bonus pay.

Approximately 40% of those who started new positions last year reported receiving sign-on bonuses, an 8% increase from 2021, according to BarkerGilmore.

Managing counsel were the most likely to receive a sign-on bonus at 46%, while general counsel were the least likely to receive one, at 36%.

“However, the general counsel median sign-on bonus was significantly higher ($75,000) than that of managing counsel ($28,000) and senior counsel ($20,000),” the report said.

Long-term incentive pay across all positions and industries increased by 10% in 2022. General counsel at public companies with more than $10 billion in revenue reported a median long-term incentive of $985,000.

As for industry specific information, the energy industry realized the only total compensation increase at 3%. In a related vein, the energy industry also was the only industry to see bonus pay rise (3%).

On the other end of the spectrum, the consumer industry saw median total compensation decline 7%, the largest drop. A key contributor to this reduction was a 35% decline in bonus pay compared to the prior year.

Meanwhile, the financial industry saw long-term incentive pay drop 26% amid a rocky year for that sector.