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No Pay Gender Gap Found Among America’s Top Legal Roles

A new study finds that women in chief legal roles earn the same as their male counterparts in the U.S.
Above The Law reports that the study, conducted by legal research firm Acritas, found that, globally, there is a 26% pay gap when comparing men in senior in-house legal positions to women in the same roles. Yet, in the U.S., that doesn’t seem to be the case.
26% Gender-Pay Gap Globally
Lisa Hart Shepherd is the CEO at Acritas. In a statement, Shepherd says that the global finding isn’t surprising.
“The difference in salary levels globally is perhaps not surprising, given the same issue exists in many other industries,” she says. “However, for a profession which is based on ensuring fairness and equal treatment, any gulf in reward levels seems disappointing. Our results show the US legal sector is offering compensation parity. That must give much needed hope to their peers in countries still lagging behind in terms of gender equality.” 
Methodology
The study was based off data from the Sharplegal survey of over 2,000 senior legal buyers in global billion-dollar organizations. Sharplegal data was then compared to the annual Acritas Stars database of approximately 8,000 lawyers. The research also took into consideration the pay for chief legal roles among various industries, countries, business sizes, legal spending, age and gender.
In-house Counsel Earns ‘Considerably Less’
Acritas’ research also found that in-house counsel earns “considerably less” than partners in private practice.
“Even taking into account the fact that Acritas Stars are likely to be above-average earners within their firms, the difference is striking across all regions and demographic breaks,” Hart Shepherd says.
Sources: Acritas, Above The Law