4th year biglaw looking into inhouse - what's good pay?

[Anonymous]

Wow, those salaries seem low. I'm a lawprof in my 12th year and make over 200k, plus summer pay. I always assumed in house counsel folks made way more than me. No? What do senior law firm associates make these days?

[Anonymous]

I'm in-house (tech company) and I agree many of these are low. I'm at $275 plus bonus, stock options. Lot's of potential upside and a good lifestyle.

[Anonymous]

Market has changed....watch it you maybe be replaced by a more experienced person at lower pay....the supply of lawyers wanting to go in house is very high.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Market has changed....watch it you maybe be replaced by a more experienced person at lower pay....the supply of lawyers wanting to go in house is very high.

But the skills to do it well are hard to find. It isn't just about being a great lawyer (although that's important). It's also about being a strong leader/manager and a pragmatic business person. I've hired 3 other in-house lawyers for our company and, trust me, it is NOT about finding a lawyer who wants "out" of a law firm. It is hard to find a great in-house lawyer. That is why companies poach each other's in-house pros rather than hiring directly from firms. If you are a company with a great in-house lawyer, you pay to keep them. Hiring a cheaper lawyer just isn't good business and successful companies know that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Market has changed....watch it you maybe be replaced by a more experienced person at lower pay....the supply of lawyers wanting to go in house is very high.

But the skills to do it well are hard to find. It isn't just about being a great lawyer (although that's important). It's also about being a strong leader/manager and a pragmatic business person. I've hired 3 other in-house lawyers for our company and, trust me, it is NOT about finding a lawyer who wants "out" of a law firm. It is hard to find a great in-house lawyer. That is why companies poach each other's in-house pros rather than hiring directly from firms. If you are a company with a great in-house lawyer, you pay to keep them. Hiring a cheaper lawyer just isn't good business and successful companies know that.

There's one big exception to the rule. When companies are looking for a new general counsel, if they don't promote someone from the internal legal department, they will tend to look at law firm partners with whom they have worked closely and who are familiar with their business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in-house (tech company) and I agree many of these are low. I'm at $275 plus bonus, stock options. Lot's of potential upside and a good lifestyle.

At the same time, I know general counsels in the DC area with $1 BN revenue companies who are under $300K base. Compensation varies widely.

[Anonymous]

When we went to hire an experienced assistant counsel last year, we received over 500 resumes from an Internet posting. Many of them were quite qualified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Market has changed....watch it you maybe be replaced by a more experienced person at lower pay....the supply of lawyers wanting to go in house is very high.

But the skills to do it well are hard to find. It isn't just about being a great lawyer (although that's important). It's also about being a strong leader/manager and a pragmatic business person. I've hired 3 other in-house lawyers for our company and, trust me, it is NOT about finding a lawyer who wants "out" of a law firm. It is hard to find a great in-house lawyer. That is why companies poach each other's in-house pros rather than hiring directly from firms. If you are a company with a great in-house lawyer, you pay to keep them. Hiring a cheaper lawyer just isn't good business and successful companies know that.

There's one big exception to the rule. When companies are looking for a new general counsel, if they don't promote someone from the internal legal department, they will tend to look at law firm partners with whom they have worked closely and who are familiar with their business.

That's true or they poach GCs from other companies.

[Anonymous]

It's too hard to speculate because there are many different types of orgs of varying revenue sizes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, those salaries seem low. I'm a lawprof in my 12th year and make over 200k, plus summer pay. I always assumed in house counsel folks made way more than me. No? What do senior law firm associates make these days?

I'm also a law prof and make far less than you. Those in-house salaries look pretty good to me.

[Anonymous]

I went in-house ten years ago as a fifth year corporate type from amlaw 50 - I started at $155k plus bonus.

[Anonymous]

Damn I am lucky