General counsel salary · base pay by city and sector, 2026
What a general counsel earns, by city, sector and company size
A general counsel salary in 2026 runs from £127,000 to £173,250, with a median of £145,500, on Robert Half’s national figures for a permanent general counsel.
In London, Robert Half puts the median at £198,000.
Financial services can pay far more: Barclay Simpson’s guide puts a London general counsel in investment banking at £180,000–£500,000.
Base is only part of the cost: employer’s National Insurance, pension and usually a bonus sit on top.
When you hire a general counsel through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a general counsel
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with General counsel candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
General counsel roles jobs on the board
General counsel roles on the board
How fractional recruitment agencies compare is set out in one place, including how we work: a General counsel brief and a shortlist of three to five.
01/ the role
What the seat is, and what sets the pay
A general counsel is the most senior lawyer in a business and usually sits on the executive team: legal strategy, governance, contracts, disputes, regulation and risk.
In a smaller business the same seat may be called head of legal or legal director.
A solicitor in the seat remains bound by the SRA’s Code of Conduct for Solicitors, which applies whatever the role or organisation; in house, the client is generally the employer.
The Solicitors Register shows whether a candidate is a solicitor and where they work.
The title moves the pay.
Robert Half’s 2026 median is £145,500 for a general counsel, £119,000 for a head of legal and £97,250 for a senior legal counsel.
For solicitors working inside a business, the Law Society runs an In-house Network on the issues in-house lawyers face.
Company size comes next.
Exec Capital puts a legal director’s base at £80,000–£150,000 in an SME or mid-market business, and £150,000–£280,000 in larger businesses with complex legal environments such as financial services, pharmaceuticals and listed companies.
Where the legal director is in effect the general counsel of a large listed company, Exec Capital says total compensation of £300,000–£600,000 is not uncommon.
Sector moves it further.
Barclay Simpson’s 2025 guide, which covers financial services only, puts a London general counsel at £180,000–£500,000 in investment banking, £200,000–£500,000 in asset and wealth management and £200,000–£700,000 in hedge funds and private equity.
02/ scope
How to set the pay when you hire a general counsel
1. Decide the title from the remit
A seat that owns governance, the board and regulators is a general counsel.
One that runs contracts and a small team under the CFO is often a head of legal.
Robert Half’s medians for the two are £26,500 apart (our arithmetic), so the title you choose sets the band you recruit in.
2. Choose the route
A permanent appointment suits a business with daily legal work and a board that wants a named officer: hire a general counsel on that basis, or read how general counsel recruitment runs.
If the work fits into part of the week, see fractional general counsel.
If the seat is empty and needs cover now, hire an interim GC.
3. Price the bonus in
Barclay Simpson’s 2025 survey found that in-house lawyers value an annual bonus above any other benefit.
Agree the bonus basis with the base, and budget the employer’s costs on both.
What we do on a legal-leadership brief
We recruit permanent, fractional, interim, part-time and temporary legal leaders, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
Roles on the board are listed on general counsel jobs.
03/ the board
What the board holds.
A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.
On this board, last 90 days · 1 role · General counsel roles
Engagement
- Fractional1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated0
Day rate
- Verified rate0
- Estimated (est)1
- Rate not stated0
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote0
- Hybrid1
- On-site0
Newest posting on the board: 3 Oct 2026.
04/ the route
Fractional, interim or permanent?
Four taps. The answer names the route for the seat and the page that covers it.
The route · Fractional
A fractional general counsel.The work fills part of the week, so buy the days it needs.
A fractional general counsel holds the seat on agreed days for as long as the seat is needed, and works for other clients on the rest.
The route · Interim
An interim general counsel.The work fills the week, and it has an end: a programme, a cover, a transaction.
An interim general counsel takes the seat full time for that stretch and hands it over when it is done.
The route · Interim, then permanent
Interim now, a permanent general counsel after.The seat is full time and long term, and the need is now.
An interim general counsel holds it while the permanent search runs, so the seat is not left empty.
The route · Permanent
A permanent general counsel.A full-time seat that sits at the table for years is a permanent hire.
There is time to run a search, so run one.
05/ rates by stage
General counsel salary by source, place and sector
Permanent general counsel pay as each publisher states it. Robert Half publishes starting salary projections (base) from its placements and third-party vacancy data; Robert Walters publishes London ranges from its 2026 survey; Barclay Simpson’s 2025 guide covers financial services; Exec Capital publishes legal director pay by company size. All four are recruiters.
06/ economics
What the salary costs the business, beyond the base
A salary is not the whole cost of an employee.
For 2026 to 2027, employer’s National Insurance is 15% on earnings above £5,000 a year (HMRC rates and thresholds).
Under automatic enrolment, the employer must pay at least 3% into a workplace pension on qualifying earnings, and those earnings include bonuses (GOV.UK).
Many schemes pay more.
The bonus is pay too.
HMRC treats a cash bonus as earnings, with PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance deducted through payroll, so budget employer’s National Insurance on the bonus as well as the base.
07/ vetting
How we vet general counsels
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify General counsel tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
08/ general counsel salary uk
General counsel salary UK: the national benchmarks side by side
Robert Half’s general counsel salary UK range, £127,000–£173,250 with a median of £145,500, is a starting-salary projection built from its own placements and checked against third-party vacancy data.
It is base pay, before bonus or negotiation.
For an official view, the ONS Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings reports pay for the whole occupation “solicitors and lawyers” (SOC 2020 code 2412), not for general counsel alone.
In April 2025 the full-time range ran from £42,015 to £77,509, with a median of £56,977, across about 106,000 jobs.
A general counsel sits well above that range, because the seat is the top of the in-house ladder.
Read any single figure as one view of the market.
The useful question is which band your business sits in: its size, its sector and where the general counsel will work.
09/ general counsel salary london
General counsel salary London, and the other cities
Robert Half puts the general counsel salary London employers pay at £172,750–£235,500, with a median of £198,000; its London head of legal median is £161,750.
Robert Walters’ 2026 survey puts a London in-house general counsel, head of legal or legal director in the IT sector at £160,000–£330,000, and at £150,000 and up in construction and hospitality.
Robert Half also publishes city figures.
Its medians are £173,250 in Manchester, £174,500 in Birmingham and Bristol, £165,750 in Leeds, £168,750 in Edinburgh and £149,750 in Glasgow.
Each city figure sits above Robert Half’s own national range; we quote each as published.
Financial services outside London pays less than in the City but still sits high.
Barclay Simpson puts a general counsel in investment banking at £160,000–£350,000 in the South East and £150,000–£300,000 in the regions.
10/ listed companies
General counsel pay at listed companies
At a quoted company, a general counsel who is also a director has their pay set out in the directors’ remuneration report the directors must prepare for each financial year.
Companies applying the UK Corporate Governance Code report against its remuneration section, so those reports are the place to see what comparable boards pay.
Exec Capital says total compensation of £300,000–£600,000 is not uncommon for a legal director who is in effect the general counsel of a large listed company.
That is total pay, not base.
11/ the other routes
Salary, day rate or retainer: the other ways to pay for the seat
Read this sectionClose this section
A permanent salary buys a general counsel every day, with notice on both sides.
An interim is paid by the day for full-time cover over a fixed period; see interim general counsel salary for the day rates.
A fractional general counsel works part of the week on a day rate or monthly retainer; see fractional general counsel salary.
The three are paid on different bases, so compare the total cost for the days you need, not the headline numbers.
12/ questions
General counsel salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a general counsel.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
