LEGAL SALARY DATAPOINTS Forum

[RBlackLaw]

Just went through annual comp so thought I'd add a data point here.

Class of 2013.
Legal/Compliance role at an F500. Tech.
Base: $285,000
Bonus: $100,000
Equity: Target $80,000/year vesting over 3.
Hours: 8-5, fully remote. Weekend work is exceedingly rare. Like 1-2 times a year.

Other stuff: On-site at the office once a month or so (paid for by company), international travel 3-4 times a year for projects. 4% 401(k) match. Solid cash signing bonus when I joined a few years back. Benefits are just okay, but comp overall feels really good with my hours. 5 weeks vacation and I use it all every year.

Awesome! Did you have any prior big law experience, or did you lateral from another in-house role, etc.? What kind of work do you do on the legal side and the compliance side? Is it a mix of legal and compliance?

I spent about 5 years in biglaw doing white collar work mostly, and had a previous in-house stint prior to this role. My role is a mix of compliance advising, investigations, reporting, due diligence, policy development, it kind of runs the gamut.

What type of background would lend itself best to landing in house compliance roles? Would a transactional background be better than a litigation background?

[Anonymous User]

Just went through annual comp so thought I'd add a data point here.

Class of 2013.
Legal/Compliance role at an F500. Tech.
Base: $285,000
Bonus: $100,000
Equity: Target $80,000/year vesting over 3.
Hours: 8-5, fully remote. Weekend work is exceedingly rare. Like 1-2 times a year.

Other stuff: On-site at the office once a month or so (paid for by company), international travel 3-4 times a year for projects. 4% 401(k) match. Solid cash signing bonus when I joined a few years back. Benefits are just okay, but comp overall feels really good with my hours. 5 weeks vacation and I use it all every year.

Awesome! Did you have any prior big law experience, or did you lateral from another in-house role, etc.? What kind of work do you do on the legal side and the compliance side? Is it a mix of legal and compliance?

I spent about 5 years in biglaw doing white collar work mostly, and had a previous in-house stint prior to this role. My role is a mix of compliance advising, investigations, reporting, due diligence, policy development, it kind of runs the gamut.

What type of background would lend itself best to landing in house compliance roles? Would a transactional background be better than a litigation background?

OP here. My team has a pretty broad range of backgrounds - mostly litigation but a few transactional/corporate governance backgrounds as well, and one second-career lawyer who never practiced at a firm but came from an investigations background in a prior life. For my team, at least, we handle a lot of different things that come in the door, and being a bit of a generalist and quick learner is something I value regardless of background when I'm hiring. That said, across the folks I have worked with at other companies before my own, I've found many more former litigators in these roles than former transactional lawyers, so you'd want to have a clear story about why you want to make this type of move I think.