Top Paid GCs? Yes, They’re in California

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 since November 2017” and is almost 3 times less than her boss Tim Cook’s total comp of $74.61M.

Disney’s Horacio Gutierrez “is likely to crack the top 10 in this year’s list thanks to a 36% jump in pay.” He received $15.8M in total comp, up $11.7M from the year before. The breakdown of his pay: $1.5M base salary, $10M in equity ($2.4M of which in stock options), and $4.3M in cash incentive compensation.

Factors behind the raise for Gutierrez, which is helpful for us to see why a company would compensate its GC more:

• Disney had a strong year. Streaming business improved, and three of the top four films that made the most money were from Disney. Its stock price rose 22%.
• Gutierrez accomplished the following (highlighted in the proxy): successfully settling litigation relating to Gov. Ron DeSantis; working on the Disney Lawyers in Film program (which “brings aboard new counsel following two years of specialized training”); and resolving a lawsuit by women Disney employees in California who alleged underpayment by $150M compared to men over 8 years (the case was settled for $43M).