In-house search
MRA Search’s in-house team is able to offer a wealth of experience of operating at the very top of the in-house market. Collectively, we have built a reputation for delivering excellence to a range of clients across financial services, and commerce & industry, assisting them in growing their legal, governance and compliance teams globally.
Our client portfolio encompasses a broad cross-section of the market, from start-ups and scaling businesses, to FTSE100 and FTSE250 businesses, leading global investment banks and the Big 4 professional services firms.
Our sector experience includes financial services, insurance, professional services, technology, life sciences, media, retail, FMCG, real estate, construction, energy and manufacturing.
We need you
Are you a Chief Legal Officer, General Counsel, or Head of Legal?
Please complete our latest survey to find out the state of working from home policies for in-house lawyers.
Deadline 8th March 2024.
Who we are
We have a team of five consultants in London who focus exclusively on placing lawyers across the in-house market. Our senior consultants are sector specialists who, between them, have over 40 years’ experience of recruiting for in-house positions, building up enviable personal track records over the course of their respective careers. The team also includes consultants who have successfully completed the graduate programme at MRA Search and dedicated trainee consultants.
Allied to our London team, we also have consultants locally in our Hong Kong and Singapore offices who bring specific experience of recruiting for in-house positions in their respective markets. Additionally, we have designated international teams in London sourcing candidates for and recruiting across Europe, the Middle East and offshore. Combining all of these capabilities together enables us to provide a comprehensive offering to global clients.
Richard Hanks
Richard has extensive experience of recruiting for positions within the in-house market, at all levels up to and including General Counsel and Heads of Legal, and across a very broad spectrum of disciplines. He has experience across a variety of sectors but specialises in the banking, financial services and professional services markets.
Ellie Price
Ellie specialises in recruiting General Counsel and Heads of Legal for the full spectrum of in-house legal teams. From FTSEs through to start-ups, she has supported a variety of clients across a wide range of sectors, with a core focus on investment funds, real estate, technology, and construction. She is well placed to help clients establish their legal functions from scratch as well as assisting them in building out existing teams.
Tom Brall
Emmanuella Ogunnubi
Emmanuella is a Consultant on the in-house team at MRA Search. Emmanuella recruits for a wide variety of in-house legal positions.
Charlie Hudson
Charlie is a Consultant in the in-house team at MRA Search. He specialises in recruiting candidates at associate and in-house levels across various sectors.
What we do
Clients
We advise clients on all aspects of hiring in-house counsel. This ranges from advice on long-term hiring strategy for young companies hiring their first in-house counsel and building out a legal function, to senior hires including Heads of Legal and General Counsel at both group and regional levels for significant international corporations.
We regularly provide clients with advice on appropriate salary levels and salary benchmarking. We will also advise clients on how to structure a recruitment process depending on the specific requirements of the search.
Since it was launched in 2009, MRA Search has developed one of the strongest databases of lawyers in the market. Combining this with our senior consultants’ extensive personal networks, those of our market-leading private practice teams, and proactively searching the market, we use a range of candidate sourcing methods in order to produce shortlists of the highest calibre, focusing on quality over quantity.
Candidates
We provide regular counsel to candidates keen to explore the in-house market. We help you to navigate the various options available within the market, explain how processes are structured, the skills and attributes typically sought by in-house clients, and how to prepare for interviews for legal in-house positions. We then guide you through all stages of interviewing, job offer and starting in your new position.
We are fortunate to have many longstanding relationships with both clients and candidates alike. The in-house market is one where a mark of success is that your candidates become your clients. Many of our key clients are candidates we worked with and placed many years ago, who have since become General Counsel or Heads of Legal and now work with us to build out their respective teams.
Roles we recruit for
We will work on in-house hires for qualified lawyers at all levels, from newly qualified legal counsel to General Counsel and Heads of Legal and equivalent level senior positions (for example, Director or Executive Director level hires).
We regularly assist clients with interim and fixed-term contract positions for experienced lawyers, such as maternity cover positions or project-based assignments. Periodically, we will also assist clients with paralegal and contract manager hires.
Alongside our core focus on the legal market, we also have significant experience in recruiting for company secretarial and compliance positions.
We will work on in-house hires for qualified lawyers at all levels, from newly qualified legal counsel to General Counsel and Heads of Legal and equivalent level senior positions (for example, Director or Executive Director level hires).
We regularly assist clients with interim and fixed-term contract positions for experienced lawyers, such as maternity cover positions or project-based assignments. Periodically, we will also assist clients with paralegal and contract manager hires.
Alongside our core focus on the legal market, we also have significant experience in recruiting for company secretarial and compliance positions.
Thought leadership
In conjunction with our core recruitment activities, we also provide our clients and candidates with opportunities to further their knowledge and understanding of a range of topics relevant to the markets in which we operate.
Periodically, we host online presentations for our senior client contacts, which are led by respected practitioners in their fields.
Recent examples include:
- “Mental Health in the Workplace” led by Richard Martin
- “Trans and Non-binary Allyship in the Workplace” led by Rachel Reese
- “Menopause Awareness in the Workplace” led by Lauren Chiren
We also produce reports and guides within areas we think are likely to be of interest, such as “What Do Lawyers Really Want?”, in which we detailed the results of an extensive survey looking at the opinions and attitudes of the Millennial cohort of lawyers.
We also produced reports exploring working from home and maternity policy benefits in the in-house market.
For candidates, we produce a comprehensive Guide to Moving and Working In-house.
Speak to one of the In-house team to request a copy.
How can we help ?
We have a dedicated team ready to work with you to find the best solution for your recruitment needs.
Once this form is submitted one of our colleagues will review and get in touch to discuss further.