Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between general counsels and legal counsels can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a general counsel and a legal counsel. Additionally, a legal counsel has an average salary of $132,867, which is higher than the $125,248 average annual salary of a general counsel.
The top three skills for a general counsel include litigation, legal issues and legal advice. The most important skills for a legal counsel are legal advice, legal issues, and litigation.
| General Counsel | Legal Counsel | |
| Yearly salary | $125,248 | $132,867 |
| Hourly rate | $60.22 | $63.88 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 50,275 | 10,337 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 45% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A general counsel, also called a chief legal officer, is the chief lawyer in the legal department of an organization. The counsel represents an enterprise for any pending legal matters. They work proactively to lessen possible problems associated with legalities and potential risks. They have to monitor practices and the people within the law firm for misconduct. They also perform dominant roles in regulation, ethics, public affairs, and legislation. It is common for them to serve as the public spokesperson of the company during the publicity of legal matters.
A Legal Counsel supervises the legal aspects of a business. They give accurate and timely counsel to executives on a variety of legal topics, such as labor law, partnerships, or international ventures.
General counsels and legal counsels have different pay scales, as shown below.
| General Counsel | Legal Counsel | |
| Average salary | $125,248 | $132,867 |
| Salary range | Between $75,000 And $208,000 | Between $81,000 And $216,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | California |
| Best paying company | Martin's Point Health Care | Apple |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Technology |
There are a few differences between a general counsel and a legal counsel in terms of educational background:
| General Counsel | Legal Counsel | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 45% | Bachelor's Degree, 43% |
| Most common major | Law | Law |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between general counsels' and legal counsels' demographics:
| General Counsel | Legal Counsel | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 61.5% Female, 38.5% | Male, 54.2% Female, 45.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 6.4% White, 75.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 6.5% White, 75.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |