Total compensation for in-house lawyers in management roles jumped by 8% to 14% this year, and by 4.5% to 23% for non-management lawyers, according to a new survey by law firm consultancy Altman Weil, reports the National Law Journal.

"These increases, even after adjusting them for inflation, were very solid," said Altman principal James Wilber.

For chief legal officers, salaries rose by 5.8% to a median $300,000 (£149,140) in 2007, while bonus dollars spiked 43% to $157,400 (£78,250). Division general counsel collected a 10.2% salary increase for a median of $232,000 (£115,330) plus a median $104,600 (£52,000) bonus.

Specialised non-management attorneys captured the highest salary increases.

Salaries for staff attorneys with at least one year of experience jumped by 23%, while recent grads are collecting 10.8% more, with a median salary of $70,600 (£35,100) and a $4,000 (£1,990) bonus.

The 2007 Altman Law Department Compensation Benchmarking Survey includes data from 343 law departments with 8,148 lawyers and 72 one-lawyer departments.

The National Law Journal is a US sister title of Legal Week.