Dramatic US and UK compensation differentials for the top in-house lawyer

Corp. Counsel, Vol.16, Jan. 2008, at 57, which cites compensation data from Incomes Data Services Ltd. Based on data from 83 organizations (more than 900 in-house lawyers) the average base pay for a U.K. head of legal is now roughly $200,000, while the average salary for a deputy general counsel is about $135,000. The article mentions bonuses of a third or so of base.

The contrast to US pay levels in-house is striking. InsideCounsel’s January issue has data from Jonathan Bellis, the comp specialist at Thomson/Hildebrandt. His survey for pay levels through about March 2008 found the following median figures for three titles in large law departments. The first figure is the base median and the second figure is the total compensation median.

Chief Legal Officer: $450,000 $1,502,057;
General Counsel: $365,749 $1,001,393; and
Deputy GC: $257,371 $573,062.