The L Suite Exclusive Data: General Counsel Salaries and Compensation Trends in 2025

The L Suite publishes comprehensive salary reports every year, including details of general counsel, deputy general counsel, and chief legal officer compensation packages across private companies, public companies, and venture capital (VC) firms.

To access the full reports—including detailed breakdowns by industry, company size and stage, geography, years of experience, and more—CLOs and GCs can apply for membership with The L Suite.

One trend remains clear in this year’s report—gone are the days when legal leaders' sole task was to manage risk. Today's GCs and CLOs are strategic business partners and startup advisors who often oversee multiple business functions—from compliance and privacy to HR and operations. In fact, our data shows that 53% of legal leaders now helm compliance and 43% manage privacy functions.

But are compensation packages keeping pace with these expanding responsibilities? The L Suite's annual compensation analysis is specifically designed to shed light on general counsel salaries at high-growth tech companies. Our members can pinpoint exact compensation ranges for their unique situations, whether they're a GC in Boston overseeing a two-person team at a Series B startup, or a CLO at a late-stage fintech company in New York managing a department of 20-plus.

If you're looking to make an internal move or actively hunting for a new opportunity, having access to the latest general counsel salary data can give you the leverage you need at the negotiating table. Below is an overview of our insights for 2025, based on 949 qualifying responses from our GC community.

Key Takeaways:

• The median base salary for U.S.-based GCs and CLOs at high-growth private companies is $310,000, an increase of 3% from last year.

• Median total compensation is $375,000, a 7% year-over-year increase.

• Reporting structure impacts compensation — legal executives reporting directly to the CEO/President see the highest median compensation.

• Geographic location continues to play a crucial role in comp, with San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Boston leading in both base salary and total compensation.

• Respondents receiving equity in 2025 were awarded higher ownership percentages (median 0.37%) compared to those granted in previous years.

The devil is in the details - overall median numbers like the above are helpful to get a sense of market, but when you’re actually negotiating your comp with your CEO or CFO, you want to make sure you’ve drilled down into your true peer set to capture all the nuances of geography, industry, years experience, etc.

TechGC Compensation Trend Overview

Overall, the outlook is strong — compensation for in-house legal leaders is trending upward across company stages.

As Klinton Miyao, Chief Legal & People Officer at Human Interest and co-author of this year’s survey, puts it: “The data tells an unambiguous story: compensation is rising across all company stages, with year-over-year increases in both cash and equity. This reflects a fundamental market recalibration. The GC role has evolved from legal advisor to strategic executive — we’re now owning compliance, privacy, HR, operations, and increasingly, AI governance and implementation. Companies are compensating us for the full scope of value we deliver.”

That said, knowing the nitty-gritty differences can be powerful in salary negotiations, so let’s dig in a bit further.

Base and Total Compensation

US

Among the 870 U.S.-based respondents, the median annual base salary is $314,000 and the median total cash compensation is $379,750.

Geographic location significantly impacts salary ranges, with many cities like the SF Bay Area, NYC, Boston and others paying significant premiums above the national median.

International

Among the 77 international respondents, the median base salary is $238,715 and median total compensation is $272,962.

The London Area leads with a $297,877 base and $332,302 total.

Compensation by Company Stage

Company stage continues to be a major driver of pay packages. Unsurprisingly, Series F+ companies offer the highest compensation and Seed-stage the lowest.

Series F+sees a ~55% premium over Series Seed, showing a steep compensation curve as startups mature. Across stages, median total compensation increased ~7% YoY.

Bonus Structures

Bonuses remain a significant component of 2025 packages, with 73% of respondents eligible for bonuses.

Most bonuses (~62%) are based on both individual and company performance. Median target bonuses by stage:

• Series D and earlier: 20-25% of base salary
  
  

• Series E and later: 30-35%

On average, respondents received 80% of their 2024 target bonus, a 7% increase from last year.

Equity

Equity remains a critical element of total compensation, with about 89% of respondents receiving equity-based pay. However, equity percentage varies widely based on the stage of the company when you get your grant, so it’s important to benchmark yourself against the proper stage when negotiating your own offer package.

Stock options (64.5%) dominate, followed by RSUs/restricted stock (11.5%).

• Median equity grant: 0.37% ownership
  

• Median current equity: is up 12% YoY

• Median equity valuation: is up 16.7% from 2024

Crypto

A new feature of this year’s report is a deeper dive into the crypto token portion of members’ compensation packages. Says Miyao, “Breaking out crypto and token compensation separately this year wasn't just an addition, it was essential. Crypto operates with compensation structures that don't map to traditional equity models, and without industry-specific benchmarks, legal leaders in that space have been negotiating blind. Now they have that clarity and the tools they need to negotiate from a position of strength.”

The report looks at the liquidity, valuation, distribution, and refresh of tokens.

• ~54% of Crypto GCs receive tokens as part of their compensation package

• ~65% received a liquid token

• 1 in 8 got multiple tokens

Benefits and Additional Compensation

The 2025 survey highlights several benefit trends:

• 36.3% have guaranteed severance
  
  

• 12.7% receive executive coaching budgets
  
  

• 84.6% of respondents have their membership dues for The L Suite covered by employers

Final Thoughts

When it comes to negotiating your salary, the stakes are too high to rely on broad averages. With The L Suite’s exclusive compensation data, you’re not just getting trends — you’re getting a dynamic dashboard with custom insights tailored to your role, years of experience, geography, company size and stage, industry, and more.

L Suite members have access to the complete report for free, offering much more than the highlights shared here, including:

• Comprehensive compensation breakdowns by years of experience, title, industry, and more

• Salary data across top metro areas

• Expected bonuses by stage

• Equity compensation and valuation by stage

• Data on benefits and severance

Members can also dynamically filter the data to hone in on their most relevant peer set, including by years of experience, industry, company size, and geography, through our proprietary dashboard.