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Straight to the point here: what is a typical/average severance amount for an in-house counsel who's been laid off as part of mass layoffs?

In summary, I was at a relatively late-stage start up for about a year. In recent months the business has collapsed and the company finances have become a mess. There have been large layoffs, and now it's caught up to me. They're offering two weeks. I would have expected more severance in a typical scenario, but when the company is at risk of closing up shop, I'm not sure there's any room, and I think I just need to eat it.

Curious if anyone has experience or insight. Appreciate it!

Sorry to hear about your company and layoff. It varies, unfortunately unless you have an employment agreement outlining severance, a start up is probably going to offer you less. No harm in asking for more though.

At my last company, I had 3 months' minimum severance written in my agreement. At my current company, I do not have that, but pay bump was good enough that I didn't push. No idea what severance would be now. Wouldn't be shocked if it were 2 weeks up to 5 or 6 months. Meta offered 16 weeks, Twitter has been offering 3 months. I think that is typical for established companies.

I’m not really sure what you can do besides accept it. Unfortunately, if things are that dire, there are not a lot of options and they likely aren’t particularly concerned about the reputation hit from not offering much severance.

Unless you have an agreement that requires more, it’s whatever they’ll give you. That said, if they’re asking for a release in return for severance, then you can try to leverage that for more. You’re not obligated to sign anything, so they should pay for it.