Building the legal and compliance leadership that protects reputation and enables growth.
Connecting you exclusively to the very best legal talent worldwide, with uncompromising standards and precision.
In-House Legal Hiring
H&P is a legal executive search firm that partners with corporates and financial institutions to build high-performing in-house legal and compliance functions – from a company's first senior lawyer through to General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer.
In a landscape shaped by tighter regulation, digital transformation and cross-border complexity, in-house legal teams sit at the centre of commercial strategy and risk. We identify the lawyers and compliance professionals who bring both technical excellence and commercial judgement — and we do it with the pace and discretion senior appointments demand.
Trusted Partnerships
Trusted by market leaders across every major jurisdiction, we are known for delivering some of the most significant and commercially sensitive legal placements in the market.
Trusted Partnerships
Trusted by market leaders across every major jurisdiction, we are known for delivering some of the most significant and commercially sensitive legal placements in the market.
Who We Place
We build in-house teams at every level where leadership matters:
- General Counsel and Chief Legal Officers
- Senior Legal Counsel and Legal Counsel
- Compliance and regulatory leadership
- Data protection and privacy specialists
- Company governance
How We Work
Whether you are making your first senior legal hire, scaling a function, or replacing a departing GC, the search has to reflect where the business is going, not just the vacancy in front of you. We start by understanding your commercial context and risk profile, then run a rigorous, mapped search rather than working from a database.
We operate on retained, exclusive and contingent models. For a GC, CLO or other business-critical appointment, a retained search gives you a dedicated team, real-time market intelligence — including salary benchmarking and market perception — regular update calls and a committed delivery timeline.
Practice and Function Coverage
Our in-house specialists cover:
- Antitrust
- Capital Markets
- Compliance
- Corporate and Transactional
- Data and Privacy
- Employment
- Energy
- Financing
- Insurance
- Investment Funds
- Life Sciences
- Litigation and Arbitration
- Public Law
- Real Estate
- Restructuring
- Tax
Practice and Function Coverage
Our in-house specialists cover:
- Antitrust
- Capital Markets
- Compliance
- Corporate and Transactional
- Data and Privacy
- Employment
- Energy
- Financing
- Insurance
- Investment Funds
- Life Sciences
- Litigation and Arbitration
- Public Law
- Real Estate
- Restructuring
- Tax
Global Reach and Local Mastery
We support in-house mandates across the UK, US and Europe, combining international reach with genuine local knowledge — essential for cross-border teams and multi-jurisdiction hiring.
Testimonials
We are trusted by leading corporates and financial institutions to secure the leaders who shape strategy and manage risk — across sectors from financial services and insurance to technology, energy and life sciences, and beyond.
"Within twelve months, H&P was able to succeed on two challenging assignments helping us staff both a Principal and a Senior Associate. Their existing relationships, ability to canvas the market, and persistence contributed to the outcomes. We’ll continue to partner with them.”
– BVG
“We had a great experience working with H&P. They were professional, detail-oriented, and presented us with several high-quality candidates who could be a good fit for the role. Most importantly, H&P understood what we needed and were able to be very strategic and bespoke, saving our team time during an important process.”
– LONGWATER OPPORTUNITIES
"We have been working with H&P for almost two years now, and they have indeed become our number one partner when it comes to legal recruitment. We can also always rely on their strong search knowledge, advice, and professional work. Together we managed to fill several challenging legal positions over the past two years – thank you for the very successful and trustworthy cooperation."
– TALENT MANAGEMENT, BANKING
Discuss a legal hire in confidence
Speak with our In-House Legal team about building or strengthening your function.
How do you run a General Counsel or CLO search?
We begin with your commercial strategy and risk profile, agree success criteria, then map the market and approach targeted candidates directly. You receive a benchmarked shortlist, structured interview support, referencing, and offer management — with post-placement follow-up once the hire is in.
How do you handle confidentiality on senior in-house searches?
Senior and replacement searches are often confidential. We run these discreetly, control the flow of information, and keep the mandate anonymous in the market until the appropriate stage. You’ll notice we have a few live vacancies on our website, but the majority of our mandates are confidential and never publicly published.
Why partner with H&P for in-house legal hires?
We approach in-house search as advisers, not a CV service. Each consultant knows their sector and jurisdiction first-hand, so we understand the commercial and risk context a GC or compliance leader steps into — and we map the market to find people who bring both technical excellence and commercial judgement. With 91% of placements still in role, our hires are built to last.
When should retained search be used instead of contingent?
Retained search suits pivotal, confidential or hard-to-fill mandates where you want a dedicated team, committed timelines and full market coverage. Contingent works for less sensitive hires at pace. We’ll advise which fits your mandate.
Do you support companies making their first senior legal hire or building a function from scratch?
Both. We regularly help scale-ups and growing businesses define and appoint their first General Counsel or Head of Legal, then build out the wider legal and compliance team from there. We’ll help you scope what the business actually needs before the search begins.
We’ve provided simple and clear answers to some common queries about private practice hiring and our services.