Recession Whacks Top GCs In The Wallet

In a year when discretionary bonuses for corporate counsel dropped nearly 40 percent, it might seem hard to find a silver lining — or even an aluminum one.

As the recession battered markets over the past couple of years, and publicly traded companies saw their profitability hammered, it was reasonable to think compensation would tank, too, for the top lawyers at major corporations. And as Corporate Counsel’s 2010 GC Compensation Survey shows, big chunks of take-home pay did take a beating.

The new world of compensation has less love for discretionary bonuses, and stock options, too — two components of GC pay that, pre-recession, knew nothing but good times. Options awards were lower this year and given to fewer GCs. And forget those days of the $9 million cash bonus.

This year’s top award came in at $3.6 million — to Johnson & Johnson’s Russell Deyo — while the bulk of the 100 lawyers on our list received in the mid-to-high six figures. OK, so those sums don’t quite warrant a trip to Hallmark for a keep-your-chin-up-in-the-recession card. But they mark a 37.1 percent drop in traditional cash bonuses, and a 10 percent drop in its newer variant, non-equity incentive compensation (bonuses tied to specific financial metrics, like profits or revenue).

What partially saved the day for the chief legal officers of the nation’s largest corporations is the reemergence of some old compensation favorites. Like salary — up 3.8 percent. And stock awards — up 5.6 percent. These aren’t huge increases, but they helped hold the doom and gloom at bay, at least for now.

‘Need To Incentivize’

So what should we make of all this — bonuses hammered, but salaries and stock holding their own? “The days of super excessive pay may be over,” said one compensation expert. “But companies still need to incentivize and re ...