As the recession battered markets — and jobs — over the past couple of years, and publicly traded companies saw their profitability hammered, it was reasonable to think compensation would tank, too, even for the top lawyers at major corporations. And as Corporate Counsel 's 2010 GC Compensation Survey shows, big chunks of take-home pay — particularly those bonuses — did take a beating (discretionary bonuses dropped nearly 40 percent). The new world of compensation has less love for discretionary bonuses, and stock options, too — two components of GC pay that, prerecession, knew nothing but good times. In the end, the economy may return back to the good old days, but the process for determining top executive pay likely won't.  Read More

In an era when cost predictability reigns supreme, corporate law departments are increasingly using project- or contract-based attorneys to help handle an increased workload on a shrunken budget. General counsel are donning their business hats and looking at how they can handle a growing workload in an more highly regulated environment without adding to their permanent headcount, he said. Bringing on specialized, experienced attorneys for six months to a year to handle one set project in their area of expertise has become the solution. Project attorneys are a more viable answer to the budget problem in part because there are so many skilled lawyers out of work due to layoffs at AmLaw 200 firms and the consolidation of legal departments prior to the economic downturn, which led to cuts in those departments as well.  Read More

Recent law grads encountering a tough job market may want to consider some alternatives with a connection to law practice. A law grad in her own alternative career—legal placement—writes about the three possibilities in the New York Law Journal. Katherine Frink-Hamlett says she had little information about the realities of law practice when she entered law school and didn’t know much about alternative careers. She says there are several alternatives, including: Procurement. Purchasing goods and services for corporations has a legal tie because it often involves drafting, negotiating and reviewing contracts. Compliance. Making sure that company employees comply with state and federal regulations is a career choice that makes it possible to go back into traditional legal practice, according to Carol Baldwin Moody, chief compliance officer for a major insurance company. "I could easily become general counsel of a company,” she tells the New York Law Journal. Law firm administration. Law firms are hiring professionals in areas such as professional development and diversity.   Read More

Like most corporations, Hewlett-Packard hired its in-house lawyers after they got some experience at law firms. Now the company is trying a different tack. It is hiring four lawyers fresh out of law school and paying them $115,000 a year, plus a $15,000 hiring bonus, the Recorder reports. HP will train the lawyers in programs similar to the ones implemented at Howrey and Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. The new hires, who will start in September, are from law schools at Harvard, Northwestern and the University of California at Berkeley.  Read More

One thing is for sure. No matter where you live on the planet, being an in-house counsel is a steady gig. Paychecks are one of those taboos — just don't ask anyone about his or her salary. But we don't mind when other people do the asking. In fact, when we publish our annual GC Compensation survey, a lot of our readers seem very, very interested in what their counterparts elsewhere earn. We aren't the only nosy ones, poking around for paycheck info. The international recruitment firm Laurence Simons has just done its own survey (which it's billing as the first global salary survey of in-house counsel). The main finding? While many companies were slashing positions in the global economic downturn, most in-house legal departments opted to freeze rather than cut positions.  Read More

I changed jobs, companies and industries in April, moving from the world of semiconductors to cleaner and cheaper energy. Transitions are opportunities for change, and so recently I’ve been reflecting on lessons learned from my previous position as well as the range of possibilities in my new role. Accordingly, I offer the list below as a catalyst to your thinking in connection with any transitions that you make or create.   Read More