Are You Underpaid?

If you feel like your salary increase this year did not outpace inflation, you’re not alone. Many inside counsel feel as though they are underpaid in 2023.  Whether they actually are underpaid depends on their role.

Mike Evers, a legal recruiter at Evers Legal, writes that compensation culture centers around a desire to pay the “at market” price of the role. Leadership will review data to confirm that the company’s salaries remain competitive, but the benchmarking data often paints an incomplete picture. Salary data becomes outdated the moment it is published, and is often based on small sample sizes.

Evers advises that employees do their own research and discuss salaries with recruiters. They could even confidentially discuss compensation with other in-house counsel peers to gather their own data points. Since it’s a difficult question to ask, Evers recommends offering your own compensation as information to exchange. The information gathered will help an employee negotiate their own raise, or it might help them learn that their pay is adequate or higher than the typical salary in their position.

Are you interested in learning more about compensation at law companies? Read more in this law.com article.