Chart: Who Made the 2019 Top-Paid GC List?
We have a familiar face leading the list for the second year in a row as America’s top paid legal executive.
August 01, 2019 at 01:00 AM
3 minute read
Cash is king here: Our ranking of the highest-paid general counsel is based on total cash compensation in 2018. But most of these lawyers received big equity payouts too.
|Where We Get Our Numbers
ALM Legal Intelligence combs through Fortune 1000 companies’ proxies in order to compile a list of general counsel salaries. We then rank the 100 best-paid according to cash compensation, which includes salary, bonus and nonequity incentive compensation (a column added in 2007 on the proxy statement in which companies record bonuses for hitting performance targets).
Public companies must disclose the compensation packages for their CEOs and their four other highest-paid executives in the annual proxy statements they file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. General counsel are frequently among the highest-paid executives whose pay packages must be disclosed.
This compensation ranking is not exhaustive. Some well-paid top legal officers do not make the list simply because the five highest-paid executives earn more than the GC. Others don’t make the list because their company filed its proxy statement after May 31, and Corporate Counsel couldn’t research it because of our publishing deadline. Businesses in bankruptcy or that have merged in the past year may not file proxies. And Fortune 1000 corporations that are not publicly traded, such as insurance companies, don’t file proxy statements with the SEC.
For our chart and rankings, we’ve combined bonus and nonequity incentive compensation in one column labeled “Bonus+Nonequity.” The chart also includes stock, options and cash-out awards. Cash-outs include stock value realized as well as options exercised in our “Stock Awards” column in an effort to paint a more complete picture of equity compensation.
We have a familiar face leading the list for the second year in a row as America’s top paid legal executive. See what other top legal department leaders made our list. Our survey ranks GCs by total cash compensation, which is a combination of base salary, cash bonus and nonequity incentives. See the complete story behind the numbers here.
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Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
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