The pay gap is narrowing between legal chiefs and CEOs, according to a recent study from Equilar.
The data company analyzed the 500 largest public companies in the U.S. by revenue, 179 of which included general counsel pay on their proxy statements, per an Oct. 9 law.com report.
Median CEO pay was 4.1 times the pay of general counsel in 2022, down from 4.3 times in 2018, the study found. General counsels are also seeing their pay rise at a faster rate than CEOs; in 2022, median pay for legal chiefs was $3.1 million, a nearly 20% increase from 2018.
This pay growth was especially noticeable in highly regulated industries, Equilar found. Michael McAlevey — the senior vice president and chief legal officer of Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare — was the system's second-highest earning executive in 2022 behind CEO Samuel Hazen.
The general counsel's role is becoming increasingly strategic as legal environments grow more complex, lawyers told law.com. Cyberattacks, regulatory investigations and leadership scandals could all plausibly require their attention. As pressure mounts, so does pay.
"Investor demand for improved quarterly performance remains great, activism is strong, legal and regulatory changes are driving higher levels of disclosure and compliance, and geopolitical crises and social activism have created additional business and reputational complexities for companies to manage," Kristin Campbell, a former general counsel for Hilton Hotels who now advises legal executive search firm BarkerGilmore, said in the report. "And that’s on a good day."