Debra Frank Montero, regional vice president with Robert Half Legal, in Miami.

Pay packages are declining for legal department leaders in the U.S., according to data recently released from ALM's 2018 GC Compensation Survey. But the pay for top in-house lawyers in South Florida seemingly is bucking that national trend.

A quick word on methodology: Daily Business Review affiliate ALM Legal Intelligence sifted through 2017 proxy filings from the Fortune 1000 to determine pay for companies' top legal officers, and others from publicly traded companies were added when companies listed their GCs as top executives.

Despite being paid well, some prominent South Florida-based general counsel and chief legal officers like Carnival Corp.'s Arnaldo Perez and Office Depot Inc.'s David Bleisch do not appear in the 2018 General Counsel Compensation Survey because they are not among the five most highly paid executives at their companies. Similarly, others are omitted — JM Family Enterprises Inc.'s Carmen Johnson, for example — because they are at the helm of private companies' legal departments.

Acknowledging the limits of the quantitative data, the DBR discussed big-picture trends with Debbie Montero, the South Florida-based regional vice president at legal search consultancy Robert Half International Inc. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The ALM data demonstrate that, nationally, average total cash compensation—which includes base salary, cash bonus and nonequity incentives (a form of pay made popular after the Dodd-Frank Act; it is discretionary and often performance-based)—for GCs decreased about 4.2 percent in 2017. (That figure goes down to only 0.5 of as percent if one outlier is omitted from the analysis.) Is that the case in South Florida?

No, this is not the case in South Florida. Here, our GC base salaries and bonuses are increasing. In some cases, it may be marginal, but it still is increasing and companies are performing well. We are also seeing total cash compensation that is more in-line with CFO salaries.

To what do you attribute this growth?

We've seen South Florida, specifically, become a vibrant and more sophisticated market. The economy's growing, the software market's matured, and global companies are opening headquarters in South Florida.

What about by industry? Are there some that pay their companies' top lawyers better than others or not necessarily?

Yes, some industries pay more based on specialization. Health care has been extremely busy for us. I've seen a lot of private equity money coming in to buy, grow and sell companies.

On the energy front, we've seen global companies setting up their headquarters here in South Florida, a trend that also applies to technology. In addition, transportation and shipping [work] has also increased for us. These industries have been in a growth and hiring mode.

In addition to the economy and industry, what are some factors that can affect GC compensation in a given year?

In my conversations with general counsel peers, business in general has more regulations and is more complex right now. GCs are handling bigger workloads and are doing more work in-house. As a result, they are receiving higher salaries. So the more regulated the industry, the more that a GC may be paid for his or her industry experience. For instance, the specialization in pharmaceutical, energy and health care industries can lead to higher salaries.

Another factor in the GC compensation is how the board and chief executive officer view the role of the GC. To the extent that the GC is viewed as part of the company's revenue-generating process rather than purely as an expense, then higher compensation is more likely.

Nationally, there was only one woman among the top 10 highest paid legal executives named in 2017 proxy filings: American Express Co.'s Laureen Seeger. How have women fared in the top legal roles at South Florida companies in recent years?

I believe the number of women in GC roles here in South Florida definitely has increased over the years. Although I think that women are still working toward pay equity with male GCs, the good news is that there seems to be more women in leadership roles and in the boardroom than in the past. Companies are taking a hard look to ensure they have a diversity and inclusion plan to ensure they are attracting this talent.

Do you have any observations about trends in GC compensation in South Florida-based private companies?

Most GCs at private companies in South Florida are not making a million dollars. They're making a base salary between $175,000 and $325,000 and a bonus between 25 and 70 percent of their base salary.

What role do bonuses play in GC compensation?

The bonus is a critical component of the GC compensation. Where you have a GC's comp tied to cash flow or another metric, that is always viewed very favorably by the stakeholders, as well as any corporate watchdogs. The bonus remains an important piece of a GC's compensation.