InView Magazine: Issue 8 out now!
Deliver consistently, keep your head down, and opportunities will find you. That might have been true once. But today’s in-house legal market is more complex: restructures, redundancies, internal succession planning, and tight external hiring budgets mean many talented lawyers find themselves overlooked or caught out. At the mid-senior level especially, competition is intense. Opportunities still exist, but they’re rarely on job boards, and they don’t always come through the recruiter you already know.
In this environment, waiting passively is not a great strategy. The lawyers who thrive are those who create optionality: they build visibility, cultivate relationships, and tell their stories well enough that when change comes, they’re ready.
At Heriot Brown, we see this every day. And it’s why we believe career ownership is no longer optional, it’s an essential part of being in-house.
The in-house legal market is steady in volume but increasingly complex in its dynamics. Many companies are cautious on headcount: senior hires often require board-level sign-off, mid-senior positions are more competitive than ever, and hiring processes are slower.
Research across global in-house teams highlights three clear pressures:
Paradoxically, when roles do land, they are often better rewarded: total cash compensation for senior in-house leaders has risen by double digits over the past few years. The challenge is less about whether opportunities exist and more about whether you are visible enough to be considered.
Being technically excellent is baseline. Every lawyer reading this is (more than likely…) technically excellent. What often separates those who move forward is whether they’re visible and credible beyond the four walls of their department. I worked with a Head of Legal at a FTSE company who had the full confidence of her CEO and board. When the business restructured, she was suddenly considering her options. The problem wasn’t her skills; it was that she hadn’t invested in visibility outside her employer. Starting from scratch took time, and she found herself competing against peers who already had networks they could activate immediately.
By contrast, another candidate, mid-level at a global consumer business, wasn’t a LinkedIn “influencer” by any stretch. But she’d quietly nurtured relationships with peers across her sector and built trust with mentors in her wider network. When she was ready for her next role, she wasn’t starting from zero. She knew who to call, and they knew her. That made all the difference.
Networking alone is great, but it is a 121 relationship. What really accelerates careers is the ability to tell a story, internally and externally. Take internal communications. A legal director we placed in a global technology company shifted her approach to reporting: instead of listing risks managed, she deliberately reframed her updates in commercial terms, linking them to revenue protection and strategic goals. Over time, colleagues began to see her less as a legal gatekeeper and more as a business enabler. When a regional GC position opened, she was the obvious successor.
Externally, it’s similar. Lawyers who articulate their perspective on industry developments, share practical lessons, or speak on panels position themselves as part of the leadership conversation. It isn’t about self-promotion; it’s about being seen as someone with something to contribute.
In both cases, storytelling is the skill that turns competence into influence.
A healthy network isn’t about racking up LinkedIn connections. It’s about cultivating relationships that matter: peers, potential mentors, former colleagues, even business leaders outside law.
I recently interviewed a GC on our podcast, Lessons I Learned in Law, who credited her last two moves to people she’d met at conferences five years earlier. She wasn’t job-hunting at the time; she was curious, asked good questions, and stayed in touch. When those peers later heard of openings, they thought of her.
That’s how real networks work. They don’t guarantee a job, but they create access. When the call comes, you’re not a stranger. You’re already part of the conversation.
Opportunities for in-house lawyers come from everywhere:
If you’re visible and connected, you’ll hear about these moves. If you’re not, you’ll only ever see the tip of the iceberg.
This is why we encourage lawyers to “farm” their careers, to consistently invest in visibility and networks, so they’re never starting from scratch. It’s not about posting daily or chasing vanity metrics. It’s about being deliberate: making sure your story is clear, your network is active, and your profile reflects the lawyer you want to be.
The in-house legal market isn’t broken. But it is unforgiving if you haven’t invested in yourself. Redundancies, restructures, and competition at the mid-senior level will continue.
The lawyers who succeed are most likely those who take control, who tell their story well, build relationships consistently, and make themselves visible as leaders.
At Heriot Brown, we’ve built a business on helping lawyers make those moves. It’s also why we created the Executive Counsel Accelerator: a six-week programme designed to help in-house lawyers master the art of professional visibility through narrative, communication, and network. If this resonates, I’d love to hear from you and tell you more about the course.
Scott Brown is the founder of Heriot Brown In-House Legal Recruitment, a specialist in-house legal recruitment firm. He is also the host of the Lessons I Learned in Law podcast, where he interviews senior legal leaders from across the globe who share their career stories. Heriot Brown created the Executive Counsel Accelerator (ECA), a six-week CPD accredited programme designed to help in-house lawyers build their leadership brand, grow their networks, and position themselves for GC and board-level opportunities.
