As the economy shrinks, so do paychecks of in-house counsel, if they are still employed

At Silicon Valley Bank, the legal department’s 10 attorneys did not receive merit salary increases this year. Leslie A. Gordon, GC California Mag., April 16, 2009, noted this reverberation from the economic slump. Many other law departments have experienced such restrictions as company-wide holds on salary increases, bonuses, matches to 401Ks, and other cash-conserving measures. (See my post of Feb. 5, 2009: recession’s downsides.).

Even so, a pay freeze beats no pay at all (See my post of March 1, 2009: layoffs by law departments.).