Last week, we took a quick look at Corporate Counsel's 2021 GC compensation survey, which is based on CC affiliate ALM Intelligence's analysis of SEC filings by Fortune 1000 companies. Let's look a little deeper. First, don't get all choked up about GC compensation, which for many went sideways or downin the Year of the Pandemic. As one law department consultant said, "It's still good to be the general counsel." That's especially the case for the GCs of companies in the entertainment sector, who closed in on their counterparts in financial services, which generally has led the comp pack. Finance firms paid out $67M to their top legal dogs, while entertainment GCs took down more than $60M. Both sectors slumped, but it was a lopsided downturn, with finance firms dropping by $23M and entertainment dropping by a mere $4M. You can feel the impact of the pandemic in the overall rankings. Half the legal chiefs in the Top 10 weren't on the prior year's list, and four of those names are in entertainment outfits such as Netflix and Warner Music. The highest paid GC last year, Alan Braverman of Disney, fell to #73 this year, with Viet Dinh of Fox supplanting him as cash king with $6.8M. Eric Grossman, the previous #2 from Morgan Stanley, fell off the list completely, which means he was not a top 5 earner at Morgan Stanley. To check out the full list, go to Law.com.
