Litigation is big business for cigarette makers, and none are bigger than Altria Group Inc., the world’s largest tobacco firm. Not incidentally, Altria’s senior vice president and general counsel, Charles Wall, brought home the biggest overall pay package (though our rankings only take salary and bonus into account). Between salary, bonus and cashed-in stock options, Wall garnered a cool $20,016,952 in 2006, nearly $6 million more than the runner-up. Speaking to Wall, you wouldn’t think he has anything to do with his company’s achievements — he credits the company’s appellate successes rejecting smokers’ injury claims to the company’s main litigator, vice president and associate general counsel, William Ohlemeyer. But it’s safe to say that Altria’s board, which gave Wall a $55,000 raise this year, sees some value in his management of the 22 lawyers at Altria and the 200 others he supervises at its two operating companies, Philip Morris USA and Philip Morris International.
Wall began at Altria as a litigator in 1990, leaving a partnership at Shook, Hardy & Bacon, a firm that had long worked for what was then the Philip Morris Cos. Early on, he was involved in several landmark cases, including the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement, which resulted in new restrictions on cigarette sales and marketing. Wall was promoted to his current position in 2000.