Compensation Benchmarking

New York – November 02, 2026 -- Most salary ranges for legal and compliance roles have risen 5% to 10% at the midpoint since 2024, with a typical move of about 7%, according to the 2027 Salary Guide from executive search firm JW Michaels & Co.

Guide draws on January-October 2026 placements

The free benchmark covers legal, compliance, finance, operations, investment, technology and HR roles. It combines JW Michaels placements made from January through October 2026, the firm's prior placement data and published compensation research.

Legal, compliance and legal support roles made up 70% of those placements. Hedge funds, private markets firms, asset managers, wealth managers and family offices accounted for 68%.

In-house counsel median base reaches $225,000

The median accepted base salary was $130,000 for compliance analysts through senior associates and $225,000 for in-house counsel.

SAN FRANCISCO – – October 29, 2026 -- Pave, the Agentic Compensation Management platform, has formed a strategic alliance with Levels.fyi that gives mutual customers access to Levels.fyi pay data inside Pave Agent and the Market Pricing tool, alongside real-time intelligence from more than 9,000 companies.

Pave extends its data-partner network beyond Croner, Korn Ferry and WTW

The deal builds on Pave's existing partnerships with The Croner Company, Korn Ferry and WTW. Pave says it will keep adding data partners so compensation teams no longer have to stitch sources together by hand or choose between them.