Salary benchmarks · 2026 proxy season
General counsel salary at Fortune 500 scale
What the general counsel of a very large US-listed company is paid, read from each proxy statement: salary, cash incentive and equity. Two readers, one table: the lawyer who is paid and the company that pays.
Proxy-statement pay, 2026 proxy season.
236 general counsel and chief legal officers who are named executive officers and held the role for a full year, at the 500 largest US-listed companies by public float. Grant-date values from the Summary Compensation Table.
| Measure (2026 proxy season) | Figure | Spread or base |
|---|---|---|
| Median total compensation, 2026 proxy season | $4.76M | Interquartile range $3.19M to $7.21M; 236 full-year sitting GCs |
| Median salary, 2026 proxy season | $660,473 | Interquartile range $569,726 to $799,999 |
| Median equity share of total, 2026 proxy season | 60.5% | Grant-date value of stock and option awards |
| Median cash incentive share of total, 2026 proxy season | 19.3% | Bonus plus non-equity incentive |
| Median salary share of total, 2026 proxy season | 14.7% | Other pay is a median 1.6% |
| Mean total compensation, 2026 proxy season | $6.58M | Pulled up by 10 totals above $19.27M |
| GC totals of $5M or more, 2026 proxy season | 106 of 236 (44.9%) | $10M or more: 35 of 236 (14.8%) |
| GC total as a share of the CEO's, 2026 proxy season | 25.5% (median) | Interquartile range 19.8% to 33.1%; 229 companies |
Proxy statements filed October 2, 2025 to September 25, 2026, fiscal years ending mid-2025 to mid-2026. Totals are the SEC Summary Compensation Table figure with stock and option awards at grant-date fair value.
Source: Sartori & Partners analysis of SEC proxy filings, 2026 proxy season
On the name. “Fortune 500” ranks companies by revenue. Our dataset ranks the 500 largest US-listed operating companies by public float, which overlaps heavily with the Fortune list but is not the same list. Every figure on this page is for the float-ranked 500, in the 2026 proxy season.
Five findings, each with its segment, base and window.
Every finding below is our own computation from the filings, stated with the companies it rests on.
- Equity is the package. Among 236 full-year sitting GCs in the 2026 proxy season, 60.5% of median total pay is equity at grant-date value, 19.3% is cash incentive and 14.7% is salary. A committee that benchmarks base alone is looking at about a seventh of the number.
- Size moves total pay 2.9 times, and salary 1.5 times. At 44 companies with $100bn or more of public float the 2026 median total is $10.26M; at 79 companies under $25bn it is $3.53M. Median salary is $870,162 against $595,270.
- The GC earns about a quarter of the CEO. Across 229 companies with a CEO table total of at least $1M, the 2026 proxy-season median ratio is 25.5%, and 9 GCs are paid more than their CEO.
- The mean misleads. The 2026 mean total is $6.58M against a median of $4.76M: 106 of 236 GCs (44.9%) are at $5M or more, 35 (14.8%) at $10M or more, and 10 totals above $19.27M are outliers.
- Only about half the seats disclose. At 262 of the 490 companies whose 2026 proxy table we read (53.5%), a GC or CLO is a named executive. The other 228 are invisible in proxy data, which is why these medians should be read as a ceiling for the group.
General counsel pay by company size, 2026.
Public float on the latest Form 10-K cover. Full-year sitting GCs only; the bands are defined on the 500.
| Public float (2026) | Full-year rows | Median total | Middle half of totals | Median salary | Equity share (median) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $100bn and above | 44 | $10.26M | $5.90M to $15.65M | $870,162 | 63.9% |
| $50bn to $100bn | 43 | $4.98M | $3.76M to $6.94M | $700,000 | 60.3% |
| $25bn to $50bn | 70 | $4.18M | $3.28M to $6.25M | $664,142 | 61.2% |
| Under $25bn | 79 | $3.53M | $2.61M to $5.03M | $595,270 | 59.1% |
Source: Sartori & Partners analysis of SEC proxy filings, 2026 proxy season
Below $100bn the median total steps down from $4.98M to $4.18M to $3.53M while salary moves from $700,000 to $595,270: a company pricing a seat one band down saves mostly in equity, not in cash. Only above $100bn does cash climb visibly, to an $870,162 median salary.
Sector and title change the total, less cleanly.
Sectors with fewer than 10 full-year rows are not shown; media and telecom (8 rows) is one of them.
| Sector (2026) | Full-year rows | Median total | Median salary | Equity share (median) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Financials | 23 | $6.66M | $730,000 | 57.8% |
| Technology | 48 | $5.79M | $570,036 | 80.1% |
| Healthcare & life sciences | 28 | $5.34M | $720,616 | 62.2% |
| Energy & resources | 14 | $5.19M | $736,398 | 60.0% |
| Consumer & retail | 19 | $4.21M | $681,250 | 54.4% |
| Real estate | 15 | $4.19M | $560,000 | 57.4% |
| Industrials & business services | 59 | $3.74M | $663,624 | 57.4% |
| Utilities | 22 | $3.17M | $673,995 | 47.4% |
Source: Sartori & Partners analysis of SEC proxy filings, 2026 proxy season
| Title (2026) | Full-year rows | Median total | Median salary | Equity share (median) | Median public float |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chief Legal Officer | 122 | $5.54M | $670,962 | 64.7% | $44.5bn |
| General Counsel | 114 | $4.06M | $650,000 | 57.6% | $32.1bn |
Source: Sartori & Partners analysis of SEC proxy filings, 2026 proxy season
Technology pays 80.1% of the median GC total in equity across 48 companies, against 47.4% in utilities across 22. That is why a technology GC with a $570,036 median salary, the lowest of the eight sectors except real estate at $560,000, still out-earns an industrials GC by $2.04M at the median ($5.79M against $3.74M). Financials lead on total at $6.66M across 23 companies, but only 33.8% of the 74 financial companies in the universe have a GC among their named executives.
How to read these numbers against your own offer.
Compare totals to totals. A $660K base sits at the median of a package whose median total is $4.76M. An offer that quotes base and bonus only, at a company of this size, leaves about three-fifths of the market package undescribed.
Ask for the grant value, the vesting schedule and the performance metrics. The proxy figure is the accounting value at grant in the 2026 season. What you receive depends on vesting, performance and the share price.
Place yourself by float, not by title. The CLO median ($5.54M) and the GC median ($4.06M) differ in part because CLOs sit at larger companies ($44.5bn against $32.1bn median float). At the same size, the gap is smaller than the title suggests.
Know what you cannot see. If your employer does not name the GC as an executive, your pay is not in this data, and the medians above likely sit above it.
How a board or CEO should use the table.
Start from your float band and sector, then set the equity. The 2026 median total for a $25bn-to-$50bn company is $4.18M across 70 companies, with a middle half from $3.28M to $6.25M. The spread inside a band is wider than the gap between neighboring bands, so the committee’s choice of percentile matters more than the band.
Benchmark against the CEO as a cross-check. A GC package near 25.5% of the CEO’s is the 2026 median; 19.8% and 33.1% bound the middle half. A ratio far outside that range is a reason to ask why.
Price the search on total compensation. Sartori & Partners runs retained GC, CLO and CCO searches; the fee is 25-30% of first-year total compensation and the retainer is 30% of the fee, with a 12-month guarantee. In 400+ placements since 2017 (230+ in-house), 52 were GC or CLO seats, at a median of 24 days to shortlist and 11 weeks to accepted offer, and 96% of offers were accepted.
Fund the seat below the large-cap tier separately. Stage-by-stage pay for startups through mid-cap companies is in the general counsel salary guide; the cost of the seat in five company-size bands is in what a general counsel costs.
What proxy data cannot see.
The method is published in full, including a blind re-extraction of 68 companies in which 691 of 693 numeric cells matched after adjudication. Read it, and download the rows, on General Counsel Pay at the Largest US-Listed Companies.
Where every figure comes from.
Sources
3 references- Sartori & Partners — General Counsel Pay at the Largest US-Listed Companies (2026 proxy season) sartoriglobal.com ↗
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — Regulation S-K, Item 402 (executive compensation disclosure) ecfr.gov ↗
- U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission — EDGAR full-text search sec.gov ↗
General counsel salary at Fortune 500 scale: common questions
What is the average general counsel salary at a Fortune 500 company?
In the 2026 proxy season, the median base salary of a full-year general counsel or chief legal officer named in the proxy statement of one of the 500 largest US-listed companies is $660,473 (interquartile range $569,726 to $799,999; 236 companies). Base is about 14.7% of median total compensation of $4.76M. The 500 in our data are ranked by public float, not by revenue as the Fortune list is.
How much does a Fortune 500 general counsel make in total?
The median total is $4.76M in the 2026 proxy season, with a middle half of GCs between $3.19M and $7.21M. At companies with $100bn or more of public float the median is $10.26M; under $25bn it is $3.53M. Totals are the Summary Compensation Table figure, with equity at grant-date value, not what the GC later realizes.
How much of a general counsel's pay is equity?
At the median, 60.5% of the 2026 proxy-season total is stock and option awards at grant-date value, 19.3% is cash incentive and 14.7% is salary. Technology sits at 80.1% equity (48 companies) and utilities at 47.4% (22 companies).
Do chief legal officers earn more than general counsel?
Yes, in the 2026 proxy season the median CLO total is $5.54M (122 companies) against $4.06M for GC titles (114 companies), while median salary is close: $670,962 against $650,000. The CLO group also sits at larger companies (median public float $44.5bn against $32.1bn), so the data cannot separate title from size.
What percent of the CEO's pay does a general counsel earn?
The median GC total is 25.5% of the CEO's total in the 2026 proxy season (interquartile range 19.8% to 33.1%; 229 companies where the CEO's table total is at least $1M). At 9 of the 229 the GC's total is above the CEO's, usually because the CEO took little or no equity that year.
Does every Fortune 500 company disclose its general counsel's pay?
No. Proxy rules require pay disclosure for the CEO, the CFO, the three other highest-paid executive officers and up to two former officers. Of the 490 companies whose table we read in the 2026 proxy season, 262 (53.5%) have a GC or CLO among them. The other 228 do not disclose, and we expect the medians here to overstate GC pay across all 500.
How is a general counsel search priced?
Sartori & Partners runs retained searches only. The fee is 25-30% of the first-year total compensation, and the retainer is 30% of the fee. A 12-month guarantee applies to every placement.
Keep reading.
General Counsel Pay at the Largest US-Listed Companies
The full dataset: one row per company, each linked to its SEC filing, with CSV and JSON.
Open the dataGeneral counsel salary by company stage
Base, bonus and equity from a first legal hire to a large-cap chief legal officer.
See the stage tableWhat a general counsel costs
Base, bonus, equity, benefits and the search fee in five company-size bands.
Read the cost guideGeneral counsel search
Retained searches for general counsel, chief legal officers and compliance leaders.
Explore the serviceFor boards and chief executives
Pricing a general counsel seat?
Tell us the float band, sector and remit. We will set the package against the proxy record before anyone is approached.