Goldman Sachs Legal Chief Ruemmler’s Pay Tops $17 Million

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s top lawyer Kathryn Ruemmler received $17.1 million in total compensation last year, according to a proxy statement filed Friday by the banking giant.

Ruemmler’s pay package was broken down into $1.5 million in base salary, a $4.2 million bonus, and nearly $11.4 million in stock awards, according to a summary compensation table in Goldman’s proxy.

Goldman disclosed Ruemmler’s annual compensation at $12 million, a figure down from the $17.5 million she earned in that metric during 2021. That puts her pay in line with a roughly 30% pay cut for Goldman CEO David Solomon, who along with other senior executives at the company saw his compensation fall last year along with Goldman’s share price and profits.

As leader of its legal department, Goldman said Ruemmler oversees worldwide legal affairs for the company and its compliance and conflicts resolution groups.

The company credited Ruemmler with advising on a “broad range of legal, reputational, and regulatory matters,” including handling a remediation program related to Malaysian investment fund 1MDB. Goldman settled a dispute last year in that case, which earlier this month saw a former banker for the company sentenced to 10 years in prison and ordered to forfeit nearly $44 million.

Goldman didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Ruemmler, a former co-chair of the white-collar defense and investigations practice at Latham & Watkins in Washington, joined Goldman in 2020 as its global head of regulatory affairs. Goldman tapped her the following year to become its chief legal officer, succeeding Karen Seymour.

Seymour initially joined Goldman as a co-general counsel in 2017. Two years later, Goldman tapped her to replace its longtime legal chief, Gregory Palm. Seymour left Goldman in 2021—after Solomon took over the company’s top executive role—and returned to Sullivan & Cromwell as a partner in New York.

Goldman’s proxy noted the company’s release Friday of a 10-month “racial equity audit” by Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr. Goldman said WilmerHale was asked to “examine and report on the effectiveness of three important initiatives,” its One Million Black Women program, a similar program for 10,000 small businesses, and its Fund for Racial Equity.

WilmerHale found that Goldman’s initiatives were “serious and substantial efforts to promote equity and opportunity for underserved communities,” the company said. Goldman released a report last year that noted some of its most senior Black women were leaving the bank.

Goldman’s proxy also disclosed that it paid more than $353,000 in total compensation last year to Kimberley Harris, a former Davis Polk & Wardwell partner serving on its board. Harris is now an executive vice president at Comcast Corp. and general counsel for NBCUniversal.