Interim general counsel salary · day rates, 2026
What an interim general counsel earns, by the day and by the assignment
An interim general counsel is paid a day rate, not a salary.
Robert Walters’ 2026 survey puts a London in-house general counsel, head of legal or legal director on contract at £800–£1,100 a day in the IT sector and £850–£1,250 in construction, as PAYE day rates.
Barclay Simpson’s 2025 guide reports £1,000+ as the most commonly cited day rate for in-house legal contractors.
The rate covers full-time work for a fixed period, with no salary, pension or paid holiday behind it.
When you hire an interim GC through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with 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 an interim general counsel
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Interim 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
Interim general counsel jobs on the board
No Interim general counsel roles on the board in the last three months. Showing fractional general counsel roles instead.
Interim legal roles on the board
Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a Interim general counsel brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.
01/ the role
How an interim general counsel is paid, and why the unit is the day
An interim general counsel holds the legal seat full-time for a defined period: a departure, a transaction, a regulatory investigation or the gap before a permanent hire.
The interim invoices for the days worked, or is paid a day rate through payroll.
A payroll route is often an agency’s or an umbrella company, which then employs the interim and deducts tax and National Insurance.
That makes the day rate the real unit of pay.
There is no salary, no employer pension and no paid holiday, and the interim carries the gaps between assignments.
Across all functions, the Institute of Interim Management’s 2026 survey puts the average assignment at 10.0 months, the average gap between assignments at 3.2 months and the average days billed in a year at 148.
An interim who works through their own company pays themselves through salary and dividends from what the company earns, after its costs and Corporation Tax.
A solicitor doing reserved legal work through their own company needs that company to be an SRA-authorised firm (SRA guidance).
Ask which route applies.
02/ scope
How to hire an interim general counsel
1. Define the mandate and its end
Say what the interim must deliver and by when: a deal closed, a dispute settled, a regulator answered, a handover to a permanent hire.
A defined end date makes the day rate easier to budget.
2. Decide IR35 status at the start
If your business is medium or large, you make the status determination for the engagement and give the interim your reasons.
Settle it before you go to market, because it changes the rate candidates quote and whether they are paid through payroll.
3. Match the record to the mandate
Ask for outcomes from comparable assignments: the transaction that completed, the regulator’s response, the team handed over.
Roles on the board are on interim general counsel jobs.
What we do on an interim brief
We recruit interim, fractional, part-time, temporary and permanent legal leaders, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
If the seat needs a permanent owner after the interim, hire a general counsel on that basis.
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 · fractional general counsel
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
Interim general counsel salary day rates by sector and source
Day rates as each publisher states them. Robert Walters’ figures are London in-house contract rates per day, paid through PAYE, from its 2026 survey. Barclay Simpson’s is the most commonly cited rate in its 2025 guide. Sartori & Partners’ band comes from its own closed engagements in 2026. All three are recruiters. The IIM figures cover every interim function, not legal alone.
06/ economics
Interim pay and IR35: who decides, and what it changes
Tax status turns on how the engagement runs, not on the title or the contract alone.
Under the off-payroll working rules (IR35), a medium or large client makes the status determination; for a small client outside the public sector, the interim’s own company decides.
The rules apply contract by contract, so one interim can have engagements on both sides.
It shows in the rates.
The IIM’s 2026 survey puts the average interim day rate at £949 outside IR35 and £830 inside, across all functions.
HMRC’s CEST tool gives its view on a specific engagement.
Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
07/ vetting
How we vet interim general counsels
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Interim 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/ interim general counsel day rate
Interim general counsel day rate by sector
The interim general counsel day rate Robert Walters publishes depends on the sector.
For a London in-house general counsel, head of legal or legal director on contract, it gives £800–£1,100 a day in IT and hospitality, and £850–£1,250 in construction.
These are PAYE rates, paid through payroll.
Barclay Simpson’s 2025 in-house legal guide reports £1,000+ as the most commonly cited day rate for in-house legal contractors, and says 76% of employers used contract recruitment in 2024 to bring in in-house lawyers and company secretaries.
Sartori & Partners, a legal search firm, puts an interim general counsel covering a defined gap full-time at £1,400–£2,400 a day, from its own closed engagements in 2026.
Its band sits above the survey figures; ask any quote which basis it is on.
09/ the year
Interim general counsel salary, annualised
An interim general counsel salary is a figure people search for, but no interim is paid one.
To compare, multiply the day rate by the days worked.
At Robert Walters’ £800–£1,100 band, 220 days would bill £176,000–£242,000.
At the IIM’s all-function average of 148 days billed in a year, the same band bills £118,400–£162,800.
Both are our arithmetic, a comparison and not a salary.
A full month of interim cover, at about 22 working days on the same band, comes to £17,600–£24,200 (our arithmetic).
That is the client’s cost.
The interim pays their own pension, holidays, insurance and the gaps between assignments out of it.
For scale, Robert Half’s 2026 median for a permanent general counsel is £145,500 in base salary, before bonus, workplace pension contributions and employer’s National Insurance.
See general counsel salary for the permanent benchmarks in full.
10/ the other routes
Interim, permanent or fractional: which pay basis fits
Interim cover buys a full-time legal chief for a fixed period.
A permanent hire is paid a salary and package; see general counsel salary.
If the work fits into part of the week, a fractional legal chief on a day rate or retainer may cost less over the same months; see fractional general counsel salary.
Whichever route you take, the Law Society’s In-house Network is where in-house solicitors go for support on the issues the seat brings.
11/ questions
Interim general counsel salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in an interim 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.
