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Companies pay big bucks signing bonuses to lure legal chiefs; who received more than $10M?

By Debra Cassens Weiss

September 4, 2024, 11:38 am CDT

Legal chiefs are being enticed to join new companies with big signing bonuses and stock opportunities that sometimes exceed millions of dollars.

The big payments help offset cash, unvested stock grants and stock options that that general counsels give up when they leave their current companies, Law.com reports.

Companies increasingly want to hire general counsels with a proven track record, said Jason Winmill, managing partner at Argopoint, a legal department consultancy, in an interview with Law.com.

“To attract them, you have to address the fact that they’re usually walking away from a big pile of money. A big pile, like ‘Scrooge McDuck-style’ money. And a way to do that is with the signing bonus. We’re seeing more of it,” Winmill said.

The statistics confirm Winmill’s observation. Sixty-one percent of Fortune 500 companies filled general counsel positions with outside hires last year, compared to 50% who hired outsiders in 2020, the article reports.

The bonus trend is evident in the Corporate Counsel and ALM Intelligence 2024 General Counsel Compensation Report. Among the 20 highest-paid legal chiefs on the 2024 list, four had signing incentives above $10 million.

The incentives included cash bonuses and first-year awards of stock or stock options. Typically, subsequent-year compensation for general counsels decreases because signing sweeteners are no longer counted.

The four general counsels with the highest signing incentives were:

  • Sabastian Niles of Salesforce, who received a $3 million bonus and stock/option awards of $10,160,436. Total 2023 compensation was $14,078,444.

  • Stuart Levey of Oracle, who received a $650,000 bonus and stock/option awards of $11,537,388. Total 2023 compensation was $12,757,189.

  • Juliette Pryor of Lowe’s, who received a $3,050,000 bonus and stock/option awards of $7,884,157. Total 2023 compensation was $12,141,833.

  • Sam Khichi of CVS Health, who received a $2 million bonus and stock/option awards of $8,499,944. Total 2023 compensation was $11,886,503.