Law360 has published its 2025 Compensation Report, an annual survey focused exclusively on in-house counsel pay. The legal news publisher released the title in its newsletter, though the public listing doesn't disclose response counts, methodology notes or geographic splits.

The release lands as HR leaders handling 2026 compensation planning begin to benchmark corporate legal department pay. In-house counsel roles frequently sit inside HR's total rewards remit or share planning cycles with HR business partners, which puts Law360's data on the short list of inputs HR teams use when they counsel general counsel on offer letters and retention packages.

What does the in-house series cover?

Law360's in-house compensation reports typically break pay down by title, company size, geography and practice area. HR readers can expect separate cuts for general counsel, deputy GC, associate GC, senior counsel and counsel-level roles, with figures for base salary, bonus, equity and total compensation. The publisher has run a broader legal industry compensation report for years; the in-house focused version runs alongside it as a parallel product.

Why does in-house pay matter to HR?

Corporate legal departments have grown in scope and headcount since 2020, taking on more compliance, data privacy, AI governance and ESG work. That expansion has lifted salary bands, increased bonus pools and changed equity grant practices in ways HR leaders must track. The GC's seat at the executive table has climbed with the workload, which puts the legal department's compensation data under closer board scrutiny than a decade ago.

How does in-house pay compare with the broader legal market?

In-house counsel generally earn less than their law firm counterparts at equivalent seniority, though the gap narrows at the general counsel level once equity and deferred comp enter the math. HR leaders running blended talent strategies — where attorneys move between firms and corporate roles — need current figures to set competitive offers and avoid lowballing experienced hires coming off Big Law bonuses.

What's missing from the public listing?

Law360's headline confirms the report's focus but doesn't publish response counts, geographic split, company size mix or the data cut-off date. HR leaders who plan to cite the numbers in compensation committee materials should pull the full methodology note before quoting any figure to a CFO or board director.

How should HR teams use the data?

HR business partners supporting legal departments typically pull three inputs: current market base, total compensation trends, and equity grant practice. Law360's in-house report covers all three, which makes it a one-stop reference for HR teams building salary bands or modeling retention packages for senior counsel. Without methodology in the public listing, however, HR should pair Law360's figures with a second source — often a Radford or Mercer legal cut — before finalizing any band.

What should HR teams watch next?

Compensation planning for 2026 kicks off in late summer, and in-house counsel benchmarks typically arrive as one of the first legal-market data points HR pulls each cycle. HR teams that don't already subscribe to Law360 will need to weigh the access cost against the value of having current in-house pay figures when they sit down with GCs and build next year's salary bands, retention packages and promotion ladders.