It's A Good Time To Go In-House -- Salaries Are On The Rise

The amount of money that in-house counsel take home is on the rise! According to a new survey by BarkerGilmore, salaries increased, on average, 4.4 percent from 2017 to 2018.

Despite that relatively good news, there is still some bad news in the report. That’s because the pay gap is alive and well in-house. Women who work in-house make an average of 85 percent of what their male counterparts make. And if you look at General Counsel positions, men make on average $630,000, while women GCs make just an average of $537,000. Though it should be noted the pay gap is beginning to narrow, as Bob Barker, managing partner at BarkerGilmore said, “As predicted, the data show that the in-house counsel pay gap between men and women is beginning to narrow.” But as the gap only decreased .2 percent from 2017 to 2018, something tells me we need to do better, faster.

But, just because lawyers in-house are getting paid more, on average, than they were last year it doesn’t mean they are satisfied with their compensation. Indeed, as reported by Law.com, a hefty chunk of in-house lawyers are dissatisfied with their salary:

Grass is greener syndrome? Despite the finding that most in-house lawyers are getting larger checks, 41% of all respondents believed their pay was “below or significantly below” that of their peers at other firms.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, 38% of in-house counsel indicated the desire for better pay would spur them to consider taking a new position within the next year.

So, if money is your thing (and — no judgment — it’s the whole reason for being a lawyer for many of you) maybe think twice — and rethink your budget — before deciding to leap in-house.

---

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, and host of The Jabot podcast. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).