Making Your Legal Specialism Work

How to Secure an In-House Counsel Role When Your Specialism Doesn’t Seem to Fit

“I want to move in-house, but my specialism doesn’t align with the roles I’m seeing.”

It’s a phrase we hear often. At face value, many in house legal job descriptions appear incredibly rigid. They demand specific sector experience, prior in-house exposure, and mastery of exact contract types. For many talented solicitors, this leads to a "self-selection" trap where they opt out of opportunities, they are actually more than capable of performing.

In reality, successful transitions into in house legal counsel roles are rarely as linear as job adverts suggest. Over the years, we have seen countless lawyers move in-house not because their CV was a perfect match, but because they understood how to leverage the assets they already had.

If you’re looking to pivot, here is how to position yourself credibly (even when the fit doesn’t seem obvious.)

1. Identify Your Comparative Advantage (Not Your Gaps)

The biggest mistake lawyers make when pursuing in house legal jobs is focusing on what they lack. You might tell yourself you’ve never worked in-house or that your practice area doesn’t match the job description. However, a general counsel or hiring manager is often looking for something different: "What unique advantage does this person bring to our specific business?"

Instead of focusing on the gaps, highlight your transferable strengths:

• Sector Exposure: If you advise financial services, fintech, or energy clients, you already understand the pressures and regulations of that industry. That is often more valuable than knowing a specific niche of law.
• Cross-Border Capability: Multinational companies value those who can navigate different jurisdictions. If you have language skills or have worked on international deals, you are already a step ahead.
• Personal Alignment: Your life outside of law matters. We often see former athletes, engineers, or tech enthusiasts transition into roles aligned with their personal backgrounds because they speak the "language" of the business.

2. Stop Relying Solely on Job Boards

It may come as no surprise that many of the most exciting legal counsel roles are never formally advertised. In fast-growing businesses, legal hiring is often reactive. When a need arises, companies tend to hire people they already know or trust, rather than sifting through hundreds of strangers on a job board.

If your profile doesn’t perfectly align on paper, you need to create your own visibility. This means attending industry-specific events (not just legal networking), building relationships with founders and CFOs, and engaging with sector groups. In house legal recruitment is frequently about being in the right place at the right time with the right conversation.

3. Be Strategic About Flexibility (Location, Salary, and Scope)

Like private practice vacancies, competition for in house legal jobs is most intense in London and other major hubs. Lawyers who approach their search with flexibility often progress much faster.

This may include geographic openness to regional markets, which can offer less competition and broader remits, or short-term financial flexibility when moving from private practice for the first time. Many lawyers who accept a modest step back initially find themselves significantly better positioned, both professionally and financially, within just a few years.

4. Create Your Own In-House Narrative

A perceived lack of "in-house experience" is a common hurdle, but it’s one you can clear before you even get the job. You can build genuine commercial exposure by offering advisory or fractional support to startups, or by taking on board advisory roles for charities or early-stage businesses.

These arrangements demonstrate "risk ownership", the ability to make a call rather than just providing a list of options. When you eventually sit down for an interview for an in-house legal counsel vacancy, having these real-world examples of business involvement will materially strengthen your narrative.

5. Reframe Your Experience in Business Language

Private practice lawyers often undersell themselves by describing their work in purely technical terms. To succeed in-house, you must show you understand how the business makes money.

Hiring managers want to see that you prioritise speed versus certainty and understand legal input as a business enabler, not a roadblock. When preparing for interviews, try to group your experience into these three commercial pillars:

1. Revenue Drivers: How did your legal work help the company grow?
2. Risk vs. Reward: When did you advise a business to proceed with a known risk for a greater commercial gain?
3. Efficiency: How did you use your judgment to make a decision under time pressure?

6. Use Your Recruiter as a Market Interpreter

A specialist in house legal recruiter does much more than just forward your CV. For candidates whose experience doesn’t neatly align, a recruiter acts as an interpreter. They can identify which clients are willing to compromise on specific sector experience in exchange for a great mindset.

By working with an expert in in house legal recruitment, you gain access to unadvertised roles and get the benefit of someone who can frame your transferable experience effectively to a general counsel.

7. Time Your Move Strategically

In-house hiring is frequently triggered by specific events like rapid growth, fundraising, or regulatory pressure. Lawyers who position themselves early, through networking or advisory work, are often top of mind when these roles are created; both in the mind on the internal hiring team and your chosen partnered recruitment consultant.

Being proactive allows you to enter the conversation before a formal job description is even written.

8. Play the Long Game: The "First Move" Strategy

The hardest in-house job to secure is always the first one. Once you have "In-House" on your CV, your future moves become significantly easier. This might mean being strategic about flexibility in your first role, perhaps looking at geographic openness, different company sizes (like scale-ups or charities), or even a slightly different title.

Recognise that your first role doesn't have to be your "forever" role. It is a gateway that establishes your commercial credibility.

Why Companies Hire Without "Perfect" Experience

From an employer’s perspective, legal skills are often transferable, but commercial judgment is harder to teach. Businesses hire for mindset, adaptability, and the ability to operate autonomously. If you can prove you have those, the specific specialism becomes secondary.

In-house legal careers are rarely a straight line. If you are struggling to see how your background aligns with the roles you see online, it may not be a lack of suitability, it’s likely just a need for a new strategy.

For additional helpful in-house legal insights, check out the related articles below:

Not All Gen Z Lawyers are Climbing the Law Firm Ladder

How To Read In House Legal Job Specs

General Counsel vs. Legal Counsel