The Robert Half Legal Salary Guide, which forcasts compensation trends in the law business, found that a GC at a large company with more than 10 years of experience can expect between US$179,000 and US$251,500. Compensation is growing fastest among mid-sized companies, where lawyers with more than a decade of in-house experience can expect a 3.7 per cent increase in pay. At the lower end of the scale, a company paralegal with two to three years of experience can expect a salary of between US$40,000 and US$57,000, depending on company size.

Regulation

'In corporate legal departments, general counsel are expanding internal teams to handle more legal matters in-house and also to contain spending on outside counsel,' noted the Robert Half report, which argues that an increase in regulation requires in-house lawyers to have strong backgrounds in compliance alongside contract law and transactions.

World's highest paid GC

Disney general counsel Alan Braverman is the world's highest paid GC. The lawyer earns US$6.7m per year in cash, with equity options taking his compensation above US$12m, adding extra relevance to the Disney slogan, 'where dreams come true'. Sources: Bloomberg; Robert Half Legal.