Questions to Ask in an In-House Counsel Interview
Questions for a lawyer to ask the interviewer when the job is in-house counsel, whether you are leaving a firm or moving between companies. A post advertised as legal counsel can be a sole lawyer's seat or one desk in a large department, so an in-house attorney interview is where you find out which. The questions cover the role itself, where legal stands in the business, the work that reaches the team, how the team is run, pay and prospects, and a few to close on. Standing, budget and risk are the general counsel's to answer, while the package and the reason the seat is open usually go to the recruiter.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The role
What does a typical week look like in this role?
Why ask it
In-house weeks are made of interruptions, so listen for the ratio of planned work to whatever arrives by message. If the interviewer can only list practice areas, have them walk you through last week instead.
Why is the position open?
Why ask it
A new seat means nobody has done the job before and you would be the one to define it. A replacement means there is a predecessor to ask about: where they went, and what they found hardest.
How is the legal team structured, and who would I report to?
Why ask it
Titles are a poor guide, since 'counsel' can mean the only lawyer in the building or one of forty. Pin down who you would report to, whether anyone reports to you, and what you could sign off without a second pair of eyes.
How is the work split between this team and outside counsel?
Why ask it
This defines the role more than the job title does. A team that sends out all litigation and keeps commercial work is offering a very different day from one that runs disputes in house.
What should the person in this role have achieved a year from now?
Why ask it
A clear answer sounds like a project: a contract playbook written, a backlog cleared, a business unit that now calls legal early. 'Keep things moving' means the role is defined by volume, and volume is what you will be judged on.
What is the current matter load, and what would land on my desk first?
Why ask it
You want the actual queue, not a list of practice areas. Inheriting a backlog makes for a different first three months from inheriting a clean slate, and it deserves a follow-up on how it built up.
Is this a generalist seat, or would I own one area of law?
Why ask it
Small teams need someone who will take an employment query, a lease and a data request in the same morning. Coming from a specialist practice, find out which areas you would be expected to pick up and who checks your work while you learn them.
Which business teams would I support, and who would I hear from most?
Why ask it
Your real clients are a handful of named people in sales, product or finance, and their habits set the tone of the job. Get names or at least functions, and which of them tends to want an answer the same day.
What kind of lawyer does well in this job?
Why ask it
The answers that help are behaviours: gives a view in the meeting, writes three lines where a firm would send three pages, knows how the product makes money. 'Commercial' on its own tells you little, so ask what the last person who struggled got wrong.
How would I get to know the business in the first few months?
Why ask it
Sitting in on sales calls, a week alongside operations and a visit to a site or a warehouse are the kind of thing to hope for. If the plan is a folder of policies and a login, you can still take the job, but book those introductions yourself in the first month.
Legal's standing
Who does the general counsel report to, and is legal in the room when strategy is set?
Why ask it
A general counsel who reports to the chief executive and one who reports through finance tend to have different jobs. If legal is not in the room when strategy is set, it is hearing about decisions after they are made.
How would the sales or product team describe legal if I asked them?
Why ask it
Interviewers tend to answer with the reputation they want, so follow up with the complaint they hear most. 'Too slow' is a resourcing problem you can work on. 'They go around us' is a standing problem that one new hire rarely fixes.
How does a business team actually get legal involved?
Why ask it
The mechanism is the answer: a request form, a shared inbox, or whoever catches a lawyer in the corridor. With no front door at all, work tends to turn up the day before it is due.
What happens when legal advises against something the business wants to do?
Why ask it
Listen for a route: the lawyer raises it with the general counsel, who takes it to a named executive, and someone signs for the decision. Have them describe the last time it happened, and be wary of 'it never comes up'.
Can you tell me about a time legal was brought in too late?
Why ask it
Most teams have a story like this, and how openly it gets told is part of the answer. Wait for what changed afterwards: a new sign-off step, a seat in an earlier meeting, or nothing.
How much risk is the company willing to carry, and who makes that call?
Why ask it
In some companies legal gives a view and the business owner signs for the risk. In others the lawyer is expected to say yes or no, which makes you answerable for commercial decisions you did not make. Find out which kind this is.
How does legal keep track of risk and report it to the board?
Why ask it
A risk register, a quarterly paper to the audit committee and a word in the corridor are all real answers. Where nothing is written down, find out how the board learned about the last serious problem.
How much contact would I have with senior executives?
Why ask it
Some teams route everything through the general counsel, and some send the lawyer who did the work into the meeting. Neither is wrong, but if being heard by decision makers is why you want to move in house, check that it happens below the top job.
What has the general counsel changed since taking the role?
Why ask it
Concrete changes reveal what they thought was broken and whether they had the authority to fix it. Nothing to name after several years is itself an answer.
The work
What is the biggest legal issue in front of the company right now?
Why ask it
You are finding out what will take over the department's year: a dispute, a regulator's letter, a deal. An interviewer may not be free to say much before an offer, so accept a general answer and notice whether they at least have one.
Which regulators or regimes matter most to this company?
Why ask it
A named regulator and a recent exchange with it beat 'we are heavily regulated'. You also learn which body of law you would be living in, which may not be the one on your résumé.
How much of the job is contracts, and who negotiates them?
Why ask it
Contracts are where a lot of in-house time goes. Templates, a playbook of fallback positions and a sales team trusted to send standard terms unreviewed all shrink the repetitive share, so it is worth hearing which of them exist.
What disputes or litigation are live, and who runs them day to day?
Why ask it
Managing a case in house mostly means managing the firm that runs it: budgets, strategy calls, getting witnesses to turn up. If you have never litigated, say so and hear whether that is a gap they need filled or one they cover elsewhere.
Who looks after intellectual property here: legal, the product teams or an outside firm?
Why ask it
At a company built on software, a brand or patents this could be a third of the job, and at others it is a trademark renewal once a year. Where nobody can say who keeps the list of what the company owns, expect that to become your project.
Who handles privacy, employment and compliance questions: legal, or separate teams?
Why ask it
Where those sit decides how broad your inbox is. A company with its own privacy officer and HR counsel is offering a narrower job than one where every people problem and data request comes to the lawyers.
How does the team protect privilege when its lawyers also give business advice?
Why ask it
How far privilege protects an in-house lawyer's advice differs between countries, and advice that mixes legal and commercial views is where it tends to be tested. Hear what habits the team has for keeping the two apart, and how the rules apply where this company operates.
How much of the work crosses borders, and who covers the law in other countries?
Why ask it
A company selling in several countries either has local firms on call or a lawyer at head office making educated guesses. Which is it here, and would you be expected to give a view on law you are not licensed in? The rules on that vary by jurisdiction, so hear how the team handles it.
What comes to legal that is not really legal work?
Why ask it
Board minutes, insurance renewals, company filings, the whistleblowing line and sometimes the office lease all drift toward the lawyers. A fair amount is normal. Half the week is a different job from the one advertised.
What does an urgent matter look like here, and how often does it happen?
Why ask it
Have them describe the last two or three. If those were contracts someone wanted signed by Friday and not an injunction or a regulator at the door, the urgency is a planning habit and you can expect it most weeks.
Is a funding round, an acquisition or a new market on the way that would change the workload?
Why ask it
A deal or a launch can double the work of a small team for months. Hearing about it now lets you put the follow-up that matters, which is whether the plan includes extra help or just longer days.
The team
Who controls the legal budget, and how does outside spend get approved?
Why ask it
If the general counsel does not hold the budget, engaging a firm becomes a negotiation with someone else every time. The detail worth having is the amount a lawyer can commit to a firm without asking, since that is what you can promise the business on a bad day.
How hands-on is the general counsel with the team's work?
Why ask it
Some review every piece of advice before it leaves the department and some never see it. If you meet another lawyer on the team, put the same question to them, since the two accounts are worth comparing.
What support sits around the lawyers: paralegals, contract managers, legal operations?
Why ask it
Without it, you are the person who chases signatures and files the executed copy. That is no reason to refuse a job, but it should change how you read the matter load you were quoted.
What tools does the team use for contracts, matters, and e-billing?
Why ask it
Named systems tell you the size of the administrative load. A team running everything on email and spreadsheets is asking a lawyer to do operations work as well.
How is the team using AI tools, and what are the rules on them?
Why ask it
You will hear anything from a ban to a contract review tool already in the workflow. The policy matters more than the enthusiasm: someone should have decided what confidential material may go into which system.
Would I instruct and manage outside firms myself?
Why ask it
Choosing the firm, agreeing the fee and pushing back on a bill are skills private practice never teaches from the buying side. A yes means real authority early. A no usually means the general counsel holds those relationships personally.
How many days is the team in the office, and where do the people I would advise sit?
Why ask it
A lot of problems reach an in-house lawyer through being near the people who cause them. Remote work can suit the job well, though if your clients are all in one building and you are not, expect to hear about things later.
What are the hours really like, and what tends to cause the late ones?
Why ask it
Plenty of lawyers move in house hoping for a calmer week, and some teams deliver that while others do not. Quarter-end contract pushes, deals and board cycles are the usual culprits, so find out which apply here and how often.
How would you describe the culture here, and is the legal team's any different?
Why ask it
Culture answers stay vague unless you anchor them, so follow with how bad news travels and whether people disagree with the chief executive in meetings. The second half is there because a legal team can be a calm corner of a frantic company, or the reverse.
How have lawyers who joined from law firms found the change?
Why ask it
The adjustment is from perfect advice to quick, usable advice, and from one supervising partner to twenty impatient colleagues. Listen for whether anyone helped the last arrival through that, or whether they were handed a laptop and a queue.
Pay and prospects
How is performance judged for a lawyer here?
Why ask it
In-house work has no billable hours to point at, so the criteria are often left unsaid. Push for one example of a lawyer who was rated highly and why, because a team that cannot give one is likely to fall back on who answers fastest.
What does progression look like on a team this size?
Why ask it
Small legal departments are flat, and the seat above you may stay filled for a decade. Honest answers talk about wider scope, a move into a business role, or a new title with the same job under it. Decide beforehand which of those you would count as progress.
What is the plan for the legal function over the next two years?
Why ask it
More headcount, work brought back from firms, and holding steady under cost pressure each mean something different for your workload and your prospects. A plan that lives only in the general counsel's head still counts, but a shrug does not.
How is the package made up: salary, bonus and any equity?
Why ask it
In-house pay is usually a base, a bonus tied to company results and, at some companies, shares or options. The figure to get is what the bonus actually paid in the last two years, since target and paid can be far apart. This one sits better with the recruiter or in a later round than in a first meeting.
Does the company cover bar dues, practising fees and continuing education?
Why ask it
Licensing rules and costs differ by state and country, so ask how it works here and who tracks the deadlines. If you are moving state or country for the job, check too whether you would need to register or requalify locally. No budget line for training means keeping current is your own evening project.
Where have lawyers who left this team gone next?
Why ask it
Bigger in-house roles and general counsel jobs elsewhere suggest the team develops people. If most went back to private practice, it is fair to wonder aloud what they said about why.
How is the company doing financially, and how has that reached the legal team?
Why ask it
At a private company that means the last funding round and how long the money lasts. At a listed one, read the filings first and raise what they leave out. Legal is a cost to the business, so a lean year often shows up early in its budget and headcount.
Closing
What is the hardest part of this job that would not be obvious to me?
Why ask it
Invites the specific frustration: an unreachable stakeholder, an old contract estate, a company that treats legal as a signature. This is usually the thing you will most want to have known.
What has kept you at this company?
Why ask it
Put to a lawyer who came from a firm, it tells you whether in-house life delivered what they moved for. An answer about nice colleagues is pleasant, but one about a decision they were trusted with tells you more about the job.
Is there anything in my background that gives you pause for this role?
Why ask it
It hands you the objection while you can still answer it: no litigation, no time in this industry, never the only lawyer in the room. Take it without arguing, offer one short piece of evidence, and move on.
What are the next steps, and who else would I meet?
Why ask it
The second half is the useful one. If the process includes nobody from outside the legal team, request half an hour with someone legal advises, and treat a refusal as information.
Interviewing for an In-House Role
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
What to probe that private practice did not require
Position, not just work
In private practice the work is the job. In house, the same work is easy or impossible depending on where legal sits and whether it is consulted before decisions. Ask about reporting lines and who attends leadership meetings.
The intake problem
A lot of in-house frustration comes from how work arrives: late, half-explained and from several directions at once. A team that can describe its front door, whatever form it takes, has at least thought about the problem.
Budget authority
Whether you can bring in a firm when a matter outgrows the team depends on who controls legal spend. Ask who approves it and how much a lawyer can commit alone.
Pay and the ladder
A firm usually has a known track. An in-house team has a base, a bonus that moves with the company's year, perhaps equity, and often no rung above you until someone leaves. Find out how each part has worked in practice, not only how it is described on paper.
Choosing from a long list
- Nobody gets through the whole list in one interview. Pick five or six for each conversation, starting with the ones under The role.
- Process, the package and why the seat is open go to the recruiter, who can usually answer them plainly.
- Keep standing, budget and risk for the general counsel, since nobody else can answer them with authority.
- Anyone from the business should get the questions about what legal is like to work with.
- Save one from Closing for the last five minutes, when the interviewer asks whether you have anything else.
- Hold pay for a later round unless the interviewer raises it first, and drop any question the conversation has already answered.
How to read the answers
- A team that can describe a recent matter legal was brought into late, and what changed after, is a team that learns.
- If nobody can say what good performance looks like for a lawyer here, expect to be measured on responsiveness alone.
- Ask the same question about escalation to two different interviewers. If the answers differ, the process may exist only on paper.
- Named systems for contracts and matters usually mean less administrative work falls on the lawyers.
- If the general counsel does not control the legal budget, treat every promise about resourcing as conditional.
- A bonus described only by its target, with no word on what it has paid, deserves a follow-up before you compare offers.
- When the business is said to love legal and nobody can name a complaint, ask a business stakeholder the same thing.
Common mistakes
Interviewing as though it were a firm
Questions about practice groups, hours targets, and partnership tracks do not map onto in-house work and signal that you have not thought about the difference.
Only meeting lawyers
Ask to speak to someone in the business who works with legal regularly. Their account of the team is often franker than the team's own.
Skipping the scope question
In-house titles vary widely between companies, and the work one calls legal counsel another calls senior counsel. Without asking what you can approve alone and who reports to you, seniority is guesswork.
Treating the no question as adversarial
Asking what happens when legal advises against something is a normal, expected question. An interviewer who bristles at it has answered it.
Before accepting
Steps
- 1Have the title and reporting line confirmed in the offer, not just described in interview.
- 2Confirm what work stays with outside counsel and who decides when that changes.
- 3Ask what the first ninety days should produce, and check whether that is achievable given the queue you were told about.
- 4Have the bonus terms, any equity and who pays your licence fees written into the offer as well, not only said on a call.
- 5Speak to one person on the business side if you have not already.
- 6Note anything two interviewers described differently and raise it before you sign.