New York City. TTstudio/Shutterstock.com.

Start spreading the news: If you're an in-house lawyer looking to make the big bucks, it may be time to move to the Big Apple.

Data newly released by HBR Consulting, which advises law departments on productivity and profitability, showed that those who go in-house in New York City are out-earning their counterparts in other parts of the country.  The survey had 300 company respondents nationwide, with 15 based in New York, and looked at data from 2016 to 2017.

According to region-specific data taken from HBR Consulting's 2017 Law Department Survey, New York's in-house counsel earn an average of $480,596 per year. That's nearly $150,000 more than the national average, $321,000. The median total compensation nationwide was $282,000. The New York City median was $352,004.

In-house counsel earnings, as defined by the survey, include salary, cash bonus and long-term incentives.

So, why is working in New York so lucrative? It could be due to the city's comparatively high cost of living, or because it's home to a cluster of Fortune 500 companies' headquarters.

Lauren Chung, HBR's managing director and survey editor, says that New York's role as a global financial center also boosts in-house pay.

“Financial service is [an] area where the compensation compared to other industries would be higher,” Chung said. “You've got the region geographic aspect and the industry.” 

New York's companies also saw a slightly higher increase in legal needs last year than the rest of the country. The survey showed an 83 percent rise in legal needs in NYC, versus 82 percent nationally. Respondents determined their own company's change in legal needs based on their experience.

But, perhaps counterintuitively, legal departments in America's largest city are appear to be hiring fewer lawyers, according to the HBR data. While 43 percent of legal departments nationwide reported their legal staff and in-house lawyers both increased this year, only 40 percent of New York respondents reported the same.

And the number of in-house legal staff, including nonlawyers, actually decreased for 40 percent of companies in New York, compared to 39 percent nationwide.

That stagnation may actually be a good sign for New York, or at least part of a natural progression, according to Chung.

“New York law departments have become more mature,” she said. “In other regions you see law departments that are still on the developing end of the spectrum or maturity model.
So law departments need to spend more on investing and growing in other parts of the country because they haven't been the forerunners in that investing historically. They're catching up to what New York has already done.”

HBR reported broader results from the survey last month that showed a nationwide small increase of 4 percent for internal legal spending. The median total legal spend nationwide was $32.5 million, with respondents' companies earning a median revenue of $10.7 billion. New York City companies evaluated in the survey had a median revenue of $7.8 billion.

Most respondents were from Fortune 500 companies.

Correction: This story has been corrected to clarify the New York City sample size and to clarify attorney hiring trends.

New York City. TTstudio/Shutterstock.com.

Start spreading the news: If you're an in-house lawyer looking to make the big bucks, it may be time to move to the Big Apple.

Data newly released by HBR Consulting, which advises law departments on productivity and profitability, showed that those who go in-house in New York City are out-earning their counterparts in other parts of the country.  The survey had 300 company respondents nationwide, with 15 based in New York, and looked at data from 2016 to 2017.

According to region-specific data taken from HBR Consulting's 2017 Law Department Survey, New York's in-house counsel earn an average of $480,596 per year. That's nearly $150,000 more than the national average, $321,000. The median total compensation nationwide was $282,000. The New York City median was $352,004.

In-house counsel earnings, as defined by the survey, include salary, cash bonus and long-term incentives.

So, why is working in New York so lucrative? It could be due to the city's comparatively high cost of living, or because it's home to a cluster of Fortune 500 companies' headquarters.

Lauren Chung, HBR's managing director and survey editor, says that New York's role as a global financial center also boosts in-house pay.

“Financial service is [an] area where the compensation compared to other industries would be higher,” Chung said. “You've got the region geographic aspect and the industry.” 

New York's companies also saw a slightly higher increase in legal needs last year than the rest of the country. The survey showed an 83 percent rise in legal needs in NYC, versus 82 percent nationally. Respondents determined their own company's change in legal needs based on their experience.

But, perhaps counterintuitively, legal departments in America's largest city are appear to be hiring fewer lawyers, according to the HBR data. While 43 percent of legal departments nationwide reported their legal staff and in-house lawyers both increased this year, only 40 percent of New York respondents reported the same.

And the number of in-house legal staff, including nonlawyers, actually decreased for 40 percent of companies in New York, compared to 39 percent nationwide.

That stagnation may actually be a good sign for New York, or at least part of a natural progression, according to Chung.

“New York law departments have become more mature,” she said. “In other regions you see law departments that are still on the developing end of the spectrum or maturity model.
So law departments need to spend more on investing and growing in other parts of the country because they haven't been the forerunners in that investing historically. They're catching up to what New York has already done.”

HBR reported broader results from the survey last month that showed a nationwide small increase of 4 percent for internal legal spending. The median total legal spend nationwide was $32.5 million, with respondents' companies earning a median revenue of $10.7 billion. New York City companies evaluated in the survey had a median revenue of $7.8 billion.

Most respondents were from Fortune 500 companies.

Correction: This story has been corrected to clarify the New York City sample size and to clarify attorney hiring trends.