The Highest-Paid GCs In New York (2023)
Legal chiefs at New York's top financial powerhouses took home the most cash.
As we reported late last month, despite news of increasingly tight budgets coming from corporate law departments across the country, general counsel are still doing quite well when it comes to their own compensation. In fact, as noted in Corporate Counsel’s latest GC compensation survey, the top attorneys at many of America’s leading companies are taking in millions upon millions each year, with the highest paid GC collecting $28 million.
But which leading legal minds are topping the compensation charts in New York?
For that, we turn to the New York Law Journal, which dug into the Securities and Exchange Commission pay disclosures of the Fortune 1000 to discover (perhaps unsurprisingly) that private equity rules the roost in the Empire State.
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Legal chiefs from the worlds of finance, insurance and media dominate the highest rungs of New York’s highest-paid list, as in past years. The only legal chief from outside those industries to crack the top 10 was Verizon’s Craig Silliman.
In fact, the report likely understates the true dominance of finance, since it excludes such industry giants as American Express, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Mastercard and Morgan Stanley, none of which reported total compensation for their legal chiefs. Under SEC rules, companies generally have to report pay for only their five highest-paid executives. For sprawling enterprises with many division heads, legal chiefs often aren’t among them.
Topping the list is Blackstone chief legal officer John Finley, who received $22.2 million total compensation in 2022. Following just behind is KKR’s Kathryn “Katie” King Sudol, who brought home $18.6 million in total compensation. Kathryn Ruemmler of Goldman Sachs placed third on the list, with total compensation of $17.1 million.
In comments given to the NYLJ, Jason Winmill, managing partner of in-house consultancy Argopoint, had this to say of the compensation packages New York’s top finance firms offered their legal chiefs: “Their GCs have gold-plated resumes, and those resumes command a lot of gold.”
Without further ado, here are the top 10 highest-paid GCs in New York:
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- John G. Finley, Blackstone: $22,210,851
- Kathryn K. Sudol, KKR: $18,647,258
- Kathryn Ruemmler, Goldman Sachs: $17,129,562
- Bruce L. Campbell, Warner Bros. Discovery: $13,744,045
- Viet D. Dinh, Fox Corporation: $11,189,469
- Lucy Fato, AIG: $10,603,300
- Craig Silliman, Verizon: $8,634,497
- John Suydan, Apollo Global: $8,390,052
- Daniel Emerson, Take-Two Interactive: $8,123,367
- Avrohom J. Kess, Travelers: $6,818,623
Click here to see the full list.
It pays to be a GC in New York. Congratulations to all of the well-paid attorneys that made the list. The grass really is greener in-house.
2023 GC Compensation Survey: Find Out Who’s Atop New York’s Rankings [New York Law Journal]
Earlier: General Counsel Can Take Home Millions (But Will Still Endlessly Gripe About Your Bill!)
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Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter and Threads or connect with her on LinkedIn.
