| BACK TO LIST $599.00Survey Name: GC Compensation Survey Corporate Counsel Magazine's annual salary survey of the 100 highest paid
General Counsels at major corporations. The survey, which appears each year in July/August,
includes the name, rank, salary, bonus, and where applicable, other forms of remuneration
for each of the GCs ranked.
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| Methodology/Sources: |
Public companies must disclose the compensation packages for their CEOs and their four other
highest-paid executives in the annual proxy statements they file with the Securities and
Exchange Commission. General Counsel are frequently among the highest-paid executives whose
pay packages must be disclosed.
Corporate Counsel magazine combs through Fortune 500 companies' proxies in order to
compile the list. They then rank the 100 best-paid according to cash compensation, which
includes salary, bonus and non-equity incentive compensation (a column added four years ago
on the proxy statement in which companies record bonuses for hitting performance targets).
For our chart and rankings, we’ve combined both types of bonuses in one column
labeled “Bonus/Nonequity Incentive Compensation.”
Data in the spreadsheet also includes stock,option and cash-out awards.Cash-outs include
stock value realized as well as options exercised in our “Stock” column in an effort to paint
a more complete picture of equity compensation.
This compensation is not exhaustive. Some well-paid top legal officers do not make the list
simply because the five highest-paid executives earn more than the GC. Others don't make
the list because their company filed its proxy statement after May 31, and Corporate Counsel
couldn't research it because of their publishing deadline. Businesses in bankruptcy or have
merged in the past year may not file proxies. And Fortune 500 corporations that are not
publicly traded, such as insurance companies, don't file proxy statements with the SEC.
Several new SEC rules were enacted between the 2006 and 2007 reports - there was a change in
how bonuses are reported, in order to achieve more transparency; restricted stock is now
included with other stock awards; stock and option awards filed under the new rules include
only the vested amount, regardless of what year it was awarded; and the value of exercisable
options is no longer reported on proxies.
Data from additional years may be available
in our archives. Please contact customer service for more information.
888-770-5647 |
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