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It depends, but generally more than big law associates and less than big law partners.

Does this help?

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ajax adonis wrote:I was just wondering for my own information and future reference, but how much do in-house lawyers at big companies usually make? Say you work for around 5-10 years in big law and then lateral in house to a company like IBM, WB, or Pixar. Do you usually make more than big law associates?

Approximately 1/2 (or 2/3) of what your contemporaries are making at biglaw.

anon168 wrote:

ajax adonis wrote:I was just wondering for my own information and future reference, but how much do in-house lawyers at big companies usually make? Say you work for around 5-10 years in big law and then lateral in house to a company like IBM, WB, or Pixar. Do you usually make more than big law associates?

Approximately 1/2 (or 2/3) of what your contemporaries are making at biglaw.

Stock options.

ninereal wrote:

anon168 wrote:

ajax adonis wrote:I was just wondering for my own information and future reference, but how much do in-house lawyers at big companies usually make? Say you work for around 5-10 years in big law and then lateral in house to a company like IBM, WB, or Pixar. Do you usually make more than big law associates?

Approximately 1/2 (or 2/3) of what your contemporaries are making at biglaw.

Stock options.

The majority of inhouse lawyers do not get stock options. GCs do, but there are only soapy of those.

People also tend to severely underrate the benefits that come with working in-house. Medical/dental/stock options/MATCHING 401(k)/etc all add up fast. While you're never going to make the same $$ amount in-house as you would in a firm, with bennies included you can come damn close.

You don't get medical/dental/matching 401(k) in private practice?

Depends. Lots of biglaw places don't match 401(k)s and I know someone who has to pay for his own health insurance (smaller firm, mind you - a very good firm for the market, but not true biglaw).

Jimbo_Jones wrote:You don't get medical/dental/matching 401(k) in private practice?

Typically they offer a 401(k) but don't match funds, and medical/dental is available through the firm but for purchase.

At least, this is based off the firm I'm at this summer, and the firms of my friends, all of which are top 100 firms.

the_phoenix612 wrote:

Jimbo_Jones wrote:You don't get medical/dental/matching 401(k) in private practice?

Typically they offer a 401(k) but don't match funds, and medical/dental is available through the firm but for purchase.

At least, this is based off the firm I'm at this summer, and the firms of my friends, all of which are top 100 firms.

Of course, anywhere you get health insurance you have to pay in at least partially. Do these places make you pay for all of it? (My friend's does, so I know it's possible, just curious what you meant.)

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

the_phoenix612 wrote:

Jimbo_Jones wrote:You don't get medical/dental/matching 401(k) in private practice?

Typically they offer a 401(k) but don't match funds, and medical/dental is available through the firm but for purchase.

At least, this is based off the firm I'm at this summer, and the firms of my friends, all of which are top 100 firms.

Of course, anywhere you get health insurance you have to pay in at least partially. Do these places make you pay for all of it? (My friend's does, so I know it's possible, just curious what you meant.)

I believe you pay for all of it, but it's not really my top concern as a 1L SA.

holdencaulfield wrote:It depends, but generally more than big law associates and less than big law partners.

I don't think so. A fifth year on the Cravath scale is making $230,000, and it goes up sharply from there.

sometimes a lot, depends on your experience, company, location and other factors, for example:

http://abovethelaw.com/2013/04/in-defen ... pensation/

eight years at a top 10 firm as an associate

a signing bonus and relocation package that totaled over $150k;

Salary: $250k
Stock Grants: Variable, but the past two years, I’ve received over $100k per year
401(k): Matching up to 6% contribution
Cash Bonus: Variable, but I average $80k per year for the last two years
Pension: Upon retirement, I have a pension (a very nice one)"

Anonymous User wrote:sometimes a lot, depends on your experience, company, location and other factors, for example:

http://abovethelaw.com/2013/04/in-defen ... pensation/

eight years at a top 10 firm as an associate

a signing bonus and relocation package that totaled over $150k;

Salary: $250k
Stock Grants: Variable, but the past two years, I’ve received over $100k per year
401(k): Matching up to 6% contribution
Cash Bonus: Variable, but I average $80k per year for the last two years
Pension: Upon retirement, I have a pension (a very nice one)"

Based on the info I have received from departing associates, this is definitely not normal and shouldn't be expected.

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Biglaw_Associate_V20 wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:sometimes a lot, depends on your experience, company, location and other factors, for example:

http://abovethelaw.com/2013/04/in-defen ... pensation/

eight years at a top 10 firm as an associate

a signing bonus and relocation package that totaled over $150k;

Salary: $250k
Stock Grants: Variable, but the past two years, I’ve received over $100k per year
401(k): Matching up to 6% contribution
Cash Bonus: Variable, but I average $80k per year for the last two years
Pension: Upon retirement, I have a pension (a very nice one)"

Based on the info I have received from departing associates, this is definitely not normal and shouldn't be expected.

You are totally right. However, the point that poster at ATL was making is that while base salary might be lower for in-house lawyers, they get other benefits such as higher 401(k) matching, pension, stock grants and etc. that might make up the difference or even allow you to make more than big-law associates. Again that depends on your experience and company but people should not ignore these additional incomes from in-house.

Sorry if this is a bit outside the scope of the OP and if it is egregiously naive but is there a difference between in-house and general counsel? Is GC more like a board of advisers ?

toothbrush wrote:Sorry if this is a bit outside the scope of the OP and if it is egregiously naive but is there a difference between in-house and general counsel? Is GC more like a board of advisers ?

GC (often accompanied with other titles such as executive vice president of the company or chief, chief legal officer, etc) is the boss of all in-house lawyers in a company. If you are talking about the board of directors of a company, they usually have their own outside counsel. GC is part of the company's management.

toothbrush wrote:Sorry if this is a bit outside the scope of the OP and if it is egregiously naive but is there a difference between in-house and general counsel? Is GC more like a board of advisers ?

GC is generally the top lawyer for the company, basically the head of the in-house legal department. If you have a small company, they may be the only lawyer on the company's payroll. A huge company will have a single general counsel for the parent corp, but will also likely have a general counsel for subsidiaries or lines of business as well. The GC position is generally a C-level/VP position.

When someone is talking about going in-house they are generally not talking about jumping to a GC position. They are usually talking about going to company that has a legal department. Legal departments can be flat and small or large and hierarchical (or anything in between). Titles vary widely, so an Associate General Counsel in one company could get paid less and have less responsibility than a Senior Counsel in another.

As far as health care is concerned, the difference is the number of employees on the plan. More employees means lower rates for everyone. The difference can be huge. HP has 300,000 employees, for example, while the biggest law firms have a couple thousand lawyers (with many of those lawyers overseas and not on the same plans) Guess who's getting the lower group rate?

I worked in-house my 1L summer in a smaller market for 1 of the big 4 train companies. The starting salary was just shy of 90K coming in with 0-3 years of experience. They also offered insane benefits and retirement options.