New York search firm JW Michaels & Co. has released its free 2027 salary guide, and the JW Michaels salary guide is built on real hires: its January to October 2026 placements, 68% of them at hedge funds, private markets firms, asset managers, wealth managers and family offices. Most ranges rose 5% to 10% at the midpoint since 2024, a typical move of about 7%. New this year: a section on combined general counsel and chief compliance officer roles, and law firm associate scales next to corporate legal department tables.
These are salary ranges (some figures are base salary only), and on the buy side the bonus is the real story: hedge fund incentive pools are projected up 5% to 15%. Read it next to Taylor Root’s buy-side GC pay numbers and our in-house salary guide. Fund roles land on our funds counsel jobs page.
The headline number: “The median accepted base salary was $130,000 for compliance analysts through senior associates and $225,000 for in-house counsel.”
Read: JW Michaels & Co. Releases 2027 Salary Guide for Legal, Compliance and Investment Firm Roles at JW Michaels & Co.