Typical In-House Salary Package for Junior Lawyer? Forum

[Anonymous User]

c/o 2019, was at a midsized firm for under 2 years. Currently at my first in house job at a financial services firm in NYC as regulatory counsel. 110 base, 10% bonus, 20k equity (took a hefty comp hit to go in house and before realizing I could have negotiated). Fully remote, super chill culture. Honestly work 20-25 hours a week. Underpaid for NYC, but WLB is really hard to beat.

Somehow landed two very different offers, both of which I am punching above my weight and I am certain I am not qualified for either but here we are.

Offer 1: Private Equity Megafund (Blackstone, KKR)
- Assistant VP in legal and compliance
- Base 175k. Bonus 65k. Eligible for carry in 2-3 years (I believe their carry is paid out over 7 years)
- in office M-Th
- culture is more 'suit and tie'. Definitely will be working more - interviewers outright said they work hard (though anywhere I will be working more since I barely work in my current position)

Offer 2: Big Tech, but not FAANG (Airbnb, Lyft, Microsoft etc)
- Privacy Counsel
- Base 145k, equity 40k/yr over 4 years, bonus 20k
- hybrid: 2/3 days in office
- free onsite breakfast/lunch and plenty of perks in the office
- culture appears to be pretty close to "Google" culture

Single and live in NYC, so my responsibilities are low. Seriously have no idea which offer to take.

PE:
Comp ceiling in PE seems to be much higher with carry (IF I actually end up getting it down the line). PE also seems to promote pretty quickly (every ~2 years) and there appears to be good mobility within the organization. Admittedly, having the megafund on my resume is something that is alluring, if that's worth anything.

Tech:
The tech culture and WLB is likely going to be better. Privacy Counsel --> Senior Privacy Counsel could take some time though. But privacy work is decently hot right now and will likely be for a few years and moving around to other tech in privacy roles shouldn't be an issue in the future.

As someone working in your first bucket but in investment banking, I would much rather pick tech. The white-shoe culture is soul-crushing and servicing finance folks really sucks. The attitude is work takes precedent and when your clients work a lot, so will you. Honestly your fully remote 25 hour gig sounds pretty good right now. I'm leaving my job to take more of a remote flexible position for a pay-cut so make of that what you will.

[Anonymous User]

Bumping this thread as it was useful during both my in-house searches. C/O 2017, 5+ years in big law and 1+ in-house. Received several offers during two in-house searches for securities/corporate governance roles.

Offer 1 (Accepted 2024): late-stage, pre-IPO tech company
$225k base
15% bonus
Equity (difficult to value given private company)
Generous benefits (75% paid for insurance, 401k matching)
Fully remote

Offer 2 (declined): F100 financial services pubco
205k base
27% bonus
Equity determined year-end case-by-case
6% 401k matching
Hybrid, requiring hour-long commute

Offer 3 (declined): F500 insurance pubco
235k base
17.5% bonus
35k in equity per-year
3% 401k matching
Hybrid, requiring hour-long commute

[Anonymous User]

I am curious how you guys put value on option grants. I get options but they're effectively 0 dollars at grant (only upside is if share price goes up from grant date), so I just assume it's worthless when comparing comp packages.

I’m a c/o 2018 with biglaw experience in a major market.

Have an offer from a Silicon Valley late-stage tech co (maybe going public in the next 18-24 months), unicorn valuation. They’re offering $180k base and about $50k in options vesting over 4 years. Top of the line tech co tech benefits otherwise. How this generally sound?

Depends what practice group you’re in and what other options you have. $50K over four years (so $12.5K a year) sounds really, really low. Base seems more or less normal for a private late stage start up.

Agreed - for comparison, I’m class of 2019 and started a few months ago at a slightly earlier stage startup (also unicorn valuation but probably a bit further away from IPO) in a smaller/less expensive market at $190k base with $133k in options over four years.

[Anonymous User]

Currently counsel at a non-FAANG big tech company, and moving to a FAANG. Both hybrid.

Current non-FAANG:
Base: 210k
RSUs: 130k over 4 years
Bonus: 12.5%

FAANG:
Base: 260k
RSUs: 300k over 4 years
Bonus: 20%

[TexasJones]

Thought I'd add a data point for Texas/energy. I recently moved in-house as a Big Law 6th year from an energy M&A/projects practice (I know, not exactly a junior....) to a F50 energy company as Senior Counsel. Here's where we landed:

Base: $180k
Sign-on cash: $30k
Sign-on equity grant (no vest): $25k
Target annual cash bonus: 30% of base but this year, it ended up being 1.5x+ base
Guaranteed annual equity grant (3 year vest): $25k
Target annual equity grant (3 year vest): 30% of base but this year, it ended up being 1.5x+ base
Benefits: funded DBP pension, <$50/month HSA saver plan (includes dental and vision), $1000+ HSA contribution, 7% 401(k) match, 3x base life insurance coverage (regardless of preconditions), parking, travel benefits, etc. The pension is what really sold me. If I retire at 50, assuming ~4% annual raises, I'm looking at a ~$3.2MM cash payout (per our pension calculator). If I retire at 65, it's $6MM+.
Hours: I support Operations, not M&A/BD, so ~8:30-5:30 is my usual. On Fridays, the office is clear by 3. Weekend work is rare, although the expectation is that you're always available for emergencies.

No regrets taking the pay cut, my life is so much better.

[nealric]

I am curious how you guys put value on option grants. I get options but they're effectively 0 dollars at grant (only upside is if share price goes up from grant date), so I just assume it's worthless when comparing comp packages.

I’m a c/o 2018 with biglaw experience in a major market.

Have an offer from a Silicon Valley late-stage tech co (maybe going public in the next 18-24 months), unicorn valuation. They’re offering $180k base and about $50k in options vesting over 4 years. Top of the line tech co tech benefits otherwise. How this generally sound?

Depends what practice group you’re in and what other options you have. $50K over four years (so $12.5K a year) sounds really, really low. Base seems more or less normal for a private late stage start up.

Agreed - for comparison, I’m class of 2019 and started a few months ago at a slightly earlier stage startup (also unicorn valuation but probably a bit further away from IPO) in a smaller/less expensive market at $190k base with $133k in options over four years.

If it's a public company with decent trade volume, you can price out the value of the option for yourself if you have a brokerage account with options trading enabled.

[Hick4Life]

Gonna revive this thread to give some numbers.

C/o 2021, did regional big law M&A in a mid-size city, went in house doing commercial contracts in March 2024 in same mid-size city. 135k base, 10% bonus, no equity at a pubco