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The differences between legal investigators and general 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 legal investigator and a general counsel. Additionally, a general counsel has an average salary of $125,248, which is higher than the $72,914 average annual salary of a legal investigator.
The top three skills for a legal investigator include investigative reports, litigation and legal investigations. The most important skills for a general counsel are litigation, legal issues, and legal advice.
| Legal Investigator | General Counsel | |
| Yearly salary | $72,914 | $125,248 |
| Hourly rate | $35.05 | $60.22 |
| Growth rate | 10% | 10% |
| Number of jobs | 9,582 | 50,275 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 45% |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Legal investigators are professionals tasked with providing research, investigative services, and surveillance to the public, insurance companies, financial institutions, law firms, banks, and even local law enforcement agencies. They use methods and tools to uncover facts about financial, personal, and legal matters. This type of investigator must pay attention to analyzing details and evidence, but it will be difficult to know to begin. There is no need for formal education to be a legal investigator, one must take a legal investigator certificate course.
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.
Legal investigators and general counsels have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Legal Investigator | General Counsel | |
| Average salary | $72,914 | $125,248 |
| Salary range | Between $45,000 And $117,000 | Between $75,000 And $208,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | - | California |
| Best paying company | - | Martin's Point Health Care |
| Best paying industry | - | Finance |
There are a few differences between a legal investigator and a general counsel in terms of educational background:
| Legal Investigator | General Counsel | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 61% | Bachelor's Degree, 45% |
| Most common major | Criminal Justice | Law |
| Most common college | University of Richmond | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between legal investigators' and general counsels' demographics:
| Legal Investigator | General Counsel | |
| Average age | 46 | 46 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 66.0% Female, 34.0% | Male, 61.5% Female, 38.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 5.7% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 6.5% White, 75.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3% | 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% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |