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O well 🍀🐝
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I started as associate counsel at a media company with 1000ish employees in nyc at 3 years experience in 2018. I got 120k and in hindsight I probably should’ve received a bit more. In 2019 at 4 years experience I got 150k as counsel at a different media company. Now making about 170 and wanting to leave for more. Does that help?
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Viacom corporate counsel role in NYC was $140K. It’s super low because it’s entertainment and people want to be in the industry really badly.
Pro
Nope, that sounds right. Was $95k a few years ago as far as I knew. Counsel is more like $150k.
If a few means less than 4 no that’s not below market. Look at the salary guides
seconded - I kept ignoring salary guides because they seemed way too low and I know plenty of people who left biglaw and make more than the guides said, but over time I realized they’re largely accurate except for a few “hidde gems”. The salary gap between biglaw and other jobs is larger than you’d think. I hear people say they’ll only take a 10-20% paycut to leave, but realistically most jobs require a 50%+ pay cut
Remember when doing your math to add in equity. I’m not saying it will make up the difference between big law and IH but it helps narrow the gap. Bonus should be 15% (+/-). Try for 1000-1250 shares. Even if shares are at $50 you add another 50k-62k (although those are usually restricted so vest after year 1, then yearly or quarterly depending on the comp). Also ask if stock refreshes are a potential part of the bonus….that’s an easy way to add to your yearly salary and it doesn’t impact the department’s budget. Granted it still only puts you at about $140k but if they refresh and stock is solid over time you can gain an extra 40-60k each year.
Attorney 1, fair point about my title (I’m about 20 years out) but I hire/approve offers. And yes, benefits vary be industry and location. With that said, I would never be comfortable with my team offering an attorney $110k. Heck, previous company (where I was not HoL) hired a literal first year (he was an intern first and they don’t do that often) with a starting salary of $100k plus bonus (no equity but definitely for those with 3-4 years out). But to your point, that was a F100 tech company in the Bay.
This is interesting. I work in tech and make 170K base, so I assumed this was way below marketing.
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NYC
Forgot to add…ask for a sign-on bonus. While it only bridges the gap for a year, usually sign on incentives come from a different “bucket” of funds.