Survey: Performance incentives drive general counsel compensation rise

Compensation among general counsel at some of the nation’s top corporations increased about 8.1 percent in 2021, compared to 2020 levels, according to the latest annual benchmarking report from corporate leadership data provider Equilar.

This year’s “General Counsel Pay Trends” survey analyzed the compensation of GCs as reported in filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission by 175 of the 500 largest companies by revenue that trade on one of the three major U.S. stock exchanges, said Equilar.

Incentive awards, rather than salary raises, were largely responsible for the overall increase in GC compensation from $2.9 million in 2020 to $3.1 million in 2021. The fiscal year time range observed by Equilar was from March 1, 2021, to Feb. 28, 2022.