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State of the Market Report Summer 2006
An Active In-House Legal Recruiting Market |
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As the summer nears its end, we have started to tally what has been a very busy recruiting season for companies in the first half of 2006. We have seen a marked increase in attorney hiring, which is up by nearly 20% from last year's numbers. These figures are not surprising when we look at the attrition rate for mid-level law firm associates. According to NALP, the number of law firm associates with about five years of experience leaving their firms in 2000 was 60 percent, while in 2005, it was an astonishing 78 percent.
In the last three months, General Counsel Consulting has also followed several trends in the in-house legal market, including the rise of General Counsel compensation and the steady growth of certain industries and their legal departments.
In terms of General Counsel compensation at Fortune 500 companies, base salaries remained very steady--an average of $564K, which represents a 1% increase over last year's numbers. However, we saw bonuses increase by an average of 15% and restricted stock rise by a staggering 35%.
The range of salaries for other legal counsel continued to depend on the size, location, and industry of the companies they served. Base salaries ranged between $150-$175K. Bonuses and restricted stock continued to be very strong, often equaling the salary size of more senior counsel.
Some of the industries that have been very profitable in the first half of 2006 and have been steadily growing their legal departments include Energy, Entertainment, Healthcare, and Aerospace.
General Counsel Consulting is also expanding with the opening of an Atlanta office in September 2006. We have also increased our placement activity by nearly 60% in the first half of 2006, which has included several prominent General Counsel placements.
As always, we stand ready to meet your hiring needs. If you have any current attorney searches, or will be engaged in an attorney search in the near future, we hope you will consider enlisting our services again.
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Article ID: 120072
Article Title: An Active In-House Legal Recruiting Market
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