Sonia Hickey

Let’s cut the corporate speak: your legal department is bleeding talent, and pretending it’s just about billable hours versus work-life balance isn’t going to stop the hemorrhage.

Here’s what’s really happening in Q1 2026; and if you’re a General Counsel, CLO, or corporate counsel, you need to pay attention because the landscape just shifted beneath your Italian loafers.

LawFuel took a look at recruitment strategies for in-house counsel and what recruiters and corporates can do to attract in-house legal talent in the face of BigLaw’s big money advantage.

What Is the Current Salary Gap Between BigLaw and In-House Counsel?

First-year BigLaw associates are now pulling in $240,000. Read that again. First. Year. Meanwhile, your mid-level in-house counsel with five years of actual business experience, the one who just negotiated that complex vendor agreement and actually understands your company’s risk tolerance, is making $175,000. Maybe $185,000 if they negotiated hard.
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