Despite obstacles in the wider job market, legal operations compensation remains robust, as per a Brightflag report.
Straight up, here we dive into the newest iteration of Brightflag's annual report on corporate legal operations compensation – the go-to guide for anyone in the legal biz seeking the lowdown on fair market pay and recent salary trends.
Brightflag, this snazzy AI-powered e-billing and matter management system, splashed their 2025 report. The platform's fourth year running, the report serves up a hefty dose of authority on legal operations comp benchmarks and trends.
According to Kevin Cohn, report author and Brightflag's Chief Customer Officer, the report churns out more than just crunchy numbers. "It's not just about the data, it's about the context needed to make it useful," trumpets Cohn. "Other comp data sources just scatter numbers, but our gold mine provides the flesh-and-blood narrative explaining what really moves the payment needle in legal operations."
In the last few years, the legal world has felt the pinch of workforce trims and a lackluster hiring market. As a result, legal operations heavyweights have wondered aloud about the future of the profession, with concerns leaning towards whether it's being boiled down to a mere tactical role – potentially earning a crummy salary. Others posit that job postings demanding law degrees hint at the devaluation of legal operations experience compared to legal expertise.
Thankfully, Brightflag's report extinguishes these flames, as hiring and pay practices appear to hold steady when compared to 2024. Some key findings from the report include:
- Heads of legal operations raked in an average annual salary of $226,000 – an 18% jump from last year.
- Legal ops peeps saw a dip in the share of their compensation taken up by equity. This year, equity value accounted for only 24% of base salary, compared to 2024's 36%.
- Legal operations professionals with a paralegal/admin background earned about 35% less than their counterparts with a different professional backstory.
Fancy getting your grubby mitts on the full report? Check it out right here.
If you're hankering for a bigger picture of legal operations trends, the CLOC Global Institute 2025 serves up insights on the intricate dance between innovation and human smarts. Plus, Brightflag's platform should offer clues about compensation structures, as it's all about legal work management and cost control.
When it comes to precise comp trends, though, the smart money's on diving straight into the actual report or reaching out to the folks at Brightflag for a sneak peek. Nice one!
- The 2025 Brightflag report, a leading authority on legal operations compensation, provides valuable insights on how technology impacts salary trends in the business sector, specifically within corporate legal operations.
- The report reveals an increased focus on finance, with heads of legal operations earning an average annual salary of $226,000, a notable increase from the previous year, showcasing the growing value of these roles in the realm of technology and business.
