UPDATE (7/19/16, 4:18 p.m.): When Corporate Counsel first published the general counsel compensation chart yesterday, it contained a great number of technical errors, many of which were republished here. Corporate Counsel has since revised its chart, and we have updated this post accordingly.
Here are the top 10 highest-paid general counsel for 2016, per Corporate Counsel. They are ranked based on total cash compensation for 2015, which includes salary and bonus compensation but does not reflect stock options exercised or stock value realized.
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This year’s top 10 list reflects even more movement than last year’s list. Five of the listed lawyers — Thomas P. Mason of Energy Transfer Equity, Laureen E. Seeger of American Express, Bruce Sewell of Apple, Bruce Campbell of Discovery Communications, and Maryanne R. Lavan of Lockheed Martin — didn’t crack the top 10 last year, and four more — Brackett Denniston of General Electric, Paul Cappuccio of Time Warner, Gary Lynch of Bank of America, and David Drummond of Google — have disappeared from the top 10 altogether. (As a side note, Seeger and Lavan are the only women in the top 10; every other GC listed here is a man. Last year, the top 10 didn’t include a single woman.)
UPDATE (7/19/16, 9:26 p.m.): It would appear that Paul Cappuccio was left off the list in error. If you look at the most recent Time Warner proxy statement (page 83 of the PDF), you’ll see he had 2015 total cash compensation in excess of $6.1 million, which should place him at #4 on the list. If you know of any other possible errors or omissions, please email us (subject line: “Best-Paid General Counsel”) or text us (646-820-8477). Thanks.
Congratulations to these top general counsel on their impressive pay packages. In-house life might be stressful, but millions of dollars in compensation surely makes up for it.
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Staci Zaretsky is an editor at Above the Law. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments. Follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.