Historic attitudes favouring globalisation are fundamentally changing....
| 1yr
| 1yr
Historic attitudes favouring globalisation are fundamentally changing....
YOUR PRIVACY - PLEASE READ CAREFULLY DATA PROTECTION STATEMENT
Below we explain how we will communicate with you. We set out how we use your data in our Privacy Policy.
Global City Media, and its associated brands will use the lawful basis of legitimate interests to use
the
contact details you have supplied to contact you regarding our publications, events, training,
reader
research, and other relevant information. We will always give you the option to opt out of our
marketing.
By clicking submit, you confirm that you understand and accept the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy
Fortune magazine cites the recent pay survey conducted by the publication Corporate Counsel as heralding a fresh round of big-business belt tightening, predicting that the ‘pain’ senior in-house lawyers are feeling today will spread to chief executives tomorrow.
Nose dive
The survey points out that the nearly 29 per cent rise in cash bonuses doled out on average to general counsel in 2010 more than dried up last year, nose diving by nearly 8 per cent to an average of $1.13 million. Analysts explain the volte-face in remuneration by simply claiming that the sector misjudged the economic climate by assuming a recovering was rolling along when it clearly was still stalled.
‘The drop reflects the retrenchment in the larger economy,’ James Wilber, of legal sector specialist consultants Altman-Weil told the magazine. ‘You saw significant compensation increases in 2010 because people thought the recovery was beginning, and issues like what is happening in Europe were not even on the radar. Now it is becoming common to see companies giving less guaranteed money.’
The report and the survey point out that last year corporate counsel salaries slumped by 1.8 per cent to an average of $611,411. But cash wasn’t the only part of remuneration deals that was shrinking – average stock awards for top in-house lawyers dropped by nearly 11 per cent to $1.43 million, with, according to the survey, average stock options for in-house teams generally plummeting by nearly 19 per cent to $732,453.
Belt tightening
To highlight the changing environment, Corporate Counsel magazine makes Charles Kalil --general counsel at global giant Dow Chemical – the poster boy for belt tightening. In the previous survey, Mr Kalil took home a total pay packet of $2.67 million. But sadly for the lawyer – and whichever brand of sports car is his manufacturer of choice – that remuneration deal sank to $1.56m in 2011, the direct result, according to the magazine, of a $1m cut in bonus.
Still, as Fortune says, there won’t be many in main street USA shedding tears for the Dow man or any of the country’s top in-house players. ‘Top company lawyers,’ writes the magazine’s Elizabeth Olson, ‘make great money.’
Email your news and story ideas to: [email protected]