LinkedIn GC Erika Rottenberg's shares and options in the company have been valued at approximately $27m (£16.6m) by the social networking site's initial public offering (IPO), reports The Recorder.

Shares in the company more than doubled in price after launching on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday (19 May), closing at $94.25 (£58) per share and giving the company a market cap close to $10bn (£6.1bn).

Rottenberg (pictured), who joined LinkedIn in July 2008, owned 323,275 options and shares before the IPO, and sold 30,000 shares at the opening price of $45 (£28), making about $1.35m (£831,000), according to LinkedIn's prospectus. That leaves her with 293,275 shares, including 88,900 that are unvested, worth about $27m as of 19 May.

"There's no reason the general counsel shouldn't benefit the way other LinkedIn executives have," said Peter Astiz, global co-head of DLA Piper's technology practice. "I don't think these numbers are out of whack in terms of expectations. It would be a different situation if she had just been hired in the last six months. She took a risk three years ago."

Rottenberg, who graduated from law school in 1992, was formerly general counsel for SumTotal Systems, a Florida-based talent development enterprise software company. She has also worked as general counsel at Creative Labs, a computer peripheral and digital entertainment product company. She began her legal career at US law firm Cooley, which represented the underwriters on LinkedIn's IPO.

"Clearly she's made a good decision," said Stephen Sonne, an M&A partner at O'Melveny & Myers in Silicon Valley. "There are a lot of people who take that same risk and don't make any money on it. It's hard to begrudge the winners."

US firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is advising LinkedIn on the IPO. The company has estimated that its legal fees and expenses related to the offering will reach $1.5m (£924,000).

The Recorder is a US affiliate title of Legal Week.