Compensation, GC

Top Paid GCs? Yes, They’re in California

  • On February 5, 2025
Law.com reported the top paid GC as of 2024 is Alphabet’s top lawyer Kent Walker, who made $27.3M. A close second is Apple’s Kate Adams at $27.18M. Her base was $1M (where it’s been the last 6 years), stock valued at $22.16M, and cash incentive compensation at $4M. Her total comp has been “virtually unchanged […]
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Uncategorized

What’s the Deal with Unlimited Vacation?

  • On January 26, 2025
The WSJ recently reported on unlimited vacation. Ten years ago, 1% of US companies offered it, but now 7% do. (And I’ve found the Bay Area to have much higher rates.) Do workers actually take advantage? First, they need their managers to approve time off, and then they feel judged by coworkers. Also some workers […]
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Career Management, Career Tips, Market

2025 Recruiting Take-Aways

  • On January 19, 2025
I spoke on AABA’s recent career panel addressing the Bay Area in-house market with talent acquisition experts Angela Cheung (ex Uber) and Herman Gee (Exelixis). Here are 5 takeaways: Pay for top in-house lawyers has generally been trending up, despite recent layoffs. This is in line with Levels.fyi’s report on tech/engineering comp. Compensation is made […]
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Market

Jobs Taking Longer to Land

  • On January 12, 2025
No, it’s not your imagination. WSJ reported this week that white collar jobs, including legal jobs, are taking longer to land.   What’s going on now with the economy? It’s complicated. Over 2 million jobs have been added to the US economy over the last year, but “more people who are out of work are having a hard […]
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Career Management, Career Tips

Will You Get Ahead by Working More?

  • On January 5, 2025
It’s a new year! If you are a junior lawyer, should you show your commitment by working the longest hours? I read this CNBC article on “showing up to work early and staying late won’t get you ahead” and what instead will. Does the advice apply to lawyers? The article argues working long hours to […]
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Job Search, Uncategorized

Less Remote Work, More In-Office Work per WSJ

  • On December 29, 2024
The pendulum is swinging away from remote work and back to in-office generally. WSJ reports on the latest: Companies calling employees back to work 5 days a week now include Amazon, Boeing, JP Morgan Chase, and UPS. Some companies are letting noncompliant employees go. Roblox, Grindr, and Snap have offered severance packages or laid off […]
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Resume

Do Not Do These 2 “Resume Green Flags” per Former Google Exec

  • On December 29, 2024
Let me save you from following the advice of a former Google exec who said to do these two resume green flags to “make you look like an absolute superstar.” (The exec giving the advice was in media operations at Google, which is a very different field from law.) Her advice? Have one-line bullets because they […]
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Resume

Applying General Resume Advice to Legal Resumes

  • On December 1, 2024
You may be wondering what general resume advice applies to in-house legal resumes in the Bay Area. Some rules apply, and others don’t. Let’s go through those listed by a hiring expert in the CNBC article “The resume mistake that will land it in the ‘no pile,’ according to a hiring expert of 30+ years.” […]
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