General counsels in high demand, pay soars

Compensation of general counsels or chief legal officers in India has reached an all-time high, as several large and mid-sized companies across sectors are building robust in-house legal teams, driven by a rising number of disputes, increasing financial transactions and stricter compliance rules, said industry experts.

Large companies and conglomerates are willing to pay ₹2-4 crore to an in-house legal head, which in some cases may go up to ₹5-6 crore for top-notch professionals in the field.

There is a huge demand for legal experts who are specialists in M&A, compliance, cyber security and digital, said executive search consultants.


Some of the top moves of this year included Tapan Pati, who joined Godrej & Boyce Manufacturing as senior vice president and group general counsel (GC) from Johnson & Johnson; Richa Mohanty Rao, who joined Urban Co as GC from Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas; Devika Chadha, who joined Sunsure Energy as GC from AVP-legal at ReNew Power; and Sachin S, the new director-legal at PhonePe who was previously at Razorpay.

"Large Indian conglomerates, manufacturing companies, and new-age digital companies have shown considerable demand for in-house legal experts," said Karl Fernandes, partner and head of the corporate practice group at specialist search firm Vahura.

R Suresh, managing director of Insist Consulting, said: "Global PE investors would want to make sure that the companies are following all kinds of compliance-related norms and companies need to have a watertight legal framework. Issues such as human rights, labour issues, everything is under the scanner and hence the high demand of top legal experts within the company." According to him, large groups, especially with multiple businesses in manufacturing, infrastructure, energy and oil, among others, are particularly seeking in-house legal expertise.

In October last year, Wipro's general counsel Deepak Acharya joined Aditya Birla Group as the group's general counsel and chief legal officer. Around the same time, Rajiv Choubey joined Dalmia Bharat Group to head its legal and compliance department from Ambuja Cements.

According to Jyoti Bowen Nath, managing partner of boutique executive search firm Claricent Partners, companies are looking for business partners rather than just a lawyer. "We see a huge demand for specialists in critical business areas like M&A, digital and cyber security, etc. GCs are now seen playing the role of business strategists," she added.

That apart, having an in-house team of legal experts can also come as a cost saving for companies, said experts.

Many of the top moves to corporates are also from top law firms, said experts.

"We see a lot of moves that are happening from law firms to corporates at the leadership level in recent times," said Anuja Bose, principal, Legal & Governance, at Native. There are also a lot of second-in-line leadership positions that corporates are filling by hiring law firm professionals.

"The role of the legal head has also undergone changes over the years where several large corporations are looking for seasoned professionals in-house to add value to the business strategy side," she said.