The research – undertaken by Corporate Counsel magazine in connection with their GC Compensation Survey – looked at donations made by the 10 top in-house lawyers at public companies.

Political campaigns

Donald de Brier, GC at California-based Occidental Petroleum Corporation, led the way with a whopping $40,800 given to political campaigns during 2011-2012. Mr de Brier gave $5,000 each to Californian Senator Dianne Feinstein and Representative Nancy Pelosi (both Democrat), whilst also donating $30,800 to the Republican National Committee. For undisclosed reasons, he was also refunded a previous $2,500 donation to presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
GC of New York media giant Viacom, Michael Fricklas, also donated a significant figure, giving $30,630 to a host of Democratic candidates – including $5,000 to President Barack Obama’s campaign.
Diane Keane, GC at Altria Group, was the third highest donator, giving a total of $14,320. Ms Keane was ranked first in Corporate Counsel’s 2011 GC compensation survey.