General Counsel Pay Trends

General Counsel Pay Trends, an Equilar publication, analyzes the compensation of General Counsel (GC) disclosed in the SEC filings by Equilar 500 companies over the past five fiscal years. The publication explores how companies structure General Counsel compensation, highlights pay key trends and the breakdown of compensation by tenure and gender. In addition, BarkerGilmore has provided an independent analysis on the role, offering insight into the factors that influence how organizations attract and retain top legal talent.

Key Findings

• Median total compensation for Equilar 500 General Counsel has increased by 20.5% since 2020
• The CEO-to-GC pay ratio was 5.0 in 2024, marking an increase from 4.2 in 2020
• Performance incentives made up 35.4% of the average Equilar 500 General Counsel pay mix in 2024 
• The most common tenure rate for the study is six to 10 years, with 39.4% of Equilar 500 General Counsel falling in this range