New Association for Corporate Counsel report studies female pay gap

Female general counsel earn only 78 percent of their male counterparts’ total pay, according to a new compensation survey by the Association of Corporate Counsel. However, women appear to be gaining ground, especially for those who received a law degree after 2010.

The 168-page ACC 2018 Global Compensation Report, released July 11, includes salary and benefits data from more than 5,000 in-house counsel and legal operations professionals in 65 countries. The report features data on base salaries, performance-based bonuses, total compensation, equity-based pay, benefits, and retirement plans.

Veta T. Richardson, ACC president and CEO, said the group’s members purchase a lot of salary and compensation data and the association believed it could provide better data.

“We heard from our members that it’s a real need, and that no one is really able to provide really comprehensive data that is global in scope,” she said. “We decided to fill a void.”

At the chief legal officer and general counsel level, median total compensation for women is $210,000, which is 78 percent of the median total compensation earned by men holding these titles, or $270,000, according to the report. The report also states that the gap in median compensation among general counsel who received a law degree after 2010 is less than half of the gap among general counsel who graduated law school prior to 2000.

In California, the report states that male general counsel and chief legal officers earn a median base salary of $240,000, a median performance-based bonus of $50,000 and a median total compensation of $285,000. Females in the same role earn a median base salary of $222,500, a median performance-based bonus of $40,000 and a median total compensation of $267,000.

“While it was not a surprise, it was certainly disheartening to see the extent of gender pay disparities in the in-house community,” Richardson said. “Yet we are optimistic that the gap appears to shrink for newer generations of corporate counsel leaders and hope the data in the survey will yield more transparency.”

Globally, the largest gender pay gaps are in Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, where women in-house lawyers made between 38 and 45 percent of what their male colleagues earned, respectively. The United States, Canada and Australia had the smallest gaps of 85, 83 and 81 percent, respectively.

Richardson said entry-level in-house lawyers have the most gender parity in compensation, with women earning 91 cents on the dollar compared to their male colleagues. The pay gap peaks for lawyers who have 11 to 20 years of in-house tenure; female in-house lawyers receive 69 percent of their male counterparts’ compensation.

“I think there’s a strong story for the impact of programs and professional development,” she said. “There are a lot of men and women who are investing in young women lawyers and young men lawyers. It’s a strong story of looking at talent equally.”

Richardson added that the survey will be conducted every two years. She said she hopes female general counsel start their careers on more equal pay footing to men.

“Within the last 10 years, companies, boards of directors and consumers have been a lot more vocal, stressing that diversity matters to them, and I believe that as more women have performed in the job and do outstanding work, they have also been able to reach back and mentor other women,” Richardson said. “So, those coming up since 2010 are able to see more role models than those who graduated in 2000, and as a result, project themselves more in the position, and other women can serve as guides to other women.”