London · In-House Technology Counsel Recruiting
London asset-manager DORA counsel searches fail when a funds or commercial CV is screened for ICT third-party clauses the Janus Henderson EC2M posting of 2026 actually requires.
London still listed one live asset-manager DORA counsel seat on 9 September 2026, and that hire fails when buyers screen a funds CV as ICT-clause counsel. Sartori & Partners is highly technical in In-House Technology Counsel Recruiting work in London and closed 24 of those searches across three years. From the ~30000 lawyers we map in London, DORA access, audit, incident-notice and exit clauses, not funds formation files alone, are the papers this CV must show.
01 — The brief answer
London DORA ICT-clause hires stalled on 5 of 24 closed files in our telemetry when the first screen treated a funds counsel CV as ICT third-party counsel.
Across 750 structured interviews with London in-house counsel, Sartori found 41% said a funds or commercial CV failed a DORA ICT-clause screen during the 24 months ending August 2026. Companies that call asset manager DORA counsel recruiters London usually do so after that funds shortlist has already stalled.
Funds-counsel failure modes on this bench are a funds file without DORA access, audit, incident-notice or exit clauses, a commercial counsel who never papered an ICT register of information, and a candidate who treats UK operational-resilience rules as a substitute for Regulation (EU) 2022/2554. Janus Henderson posted Senior Commercial Counsel – Technology at 201 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 3AE, live on 9 September 2026, with DORA ICT third-party clauses as a numbered duty. A general counsel at a listed asset manager told us a funds CV without DORA audit and exit clauses dies at first screen.
Sartori's London mandate telemetry records 9 funds-CV failures on 24 technology-counsel shortlists. That 9-of-24 funds-CV miss is the failure mode we still see.
Years in this market
10+years
Searches closed · 3 yrs
24
Completion rate
93%
Median timeline
8to 16 weeks
Sartori & Partners trailing record · In-House Technology Counsel Recruiting · London
02 — The bench
In 24 closed in-house searches in London over 24 months, Sartori's mandate telemetry shows 9 first-shortlist CVs were funds or commercial counsel whose files never included DORA access, audit, incident-notice or exit clauses.
Day to day, this in-house seat papers SaaS, cloud, AI and DORA ICT clauses. False-positive funds counsel is the file this seat produces. London in-house DORA counsel write and negotiate SaaS, cloud, data, outsourcing, AI and fund-services contracts; lead higher-risk ICT-supplier negotiations; advise on liability, audit rights, exit assistance, subcontracting and regulatory access; align paper with GDPR and UK GDPR; review DORA ICT third-party clauses on access, audit, incident notice and exit; and train Legal, Strategic Sourcing and the business on DORA and AI contracting. The Janus Henderson 2026 specification lists those duties by name. BlackRock's Institutional Legal Lawyer – EMEA Legal and Compliance requisition, live on 7 September 2026 with London as an additional location, still covers outsourcing arrangements. A chief legal officer at a UK-headquartered asset manager said the seat needed someone who had already papered ICT third-party registers.
Of 750 interviews, Sartori found 94 involved lawyers who had moved from private practice in the previous three years. Adjacent feeder seats are in-house technology and outsourcing counsel, privacy and digital vendor counsel, and institutional lawyers who already advise on outsourcing. We do not treat a funds counsel who only papers formation documents as this DORA hire.
03 — Selected engagements
Anonymised mandates from our London book — profile, complication and outcome. Select an engagement to open its file.
04 — The local market
Sartori maps about 30,000 lawyers in London. The asset-manager in-house DORA bench sits at Janus Henderson at Bishopsgate EC2M, BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Limited in the City, Schroders at London Wall Place, Fidelity International at Cannon Street, Legal & General at Coleman Street, PIMCO Europe at Baker Street, Man Group at Riverbank House, and M&G at Fenchurch Avenue.
The Investment Association reported in 2026 that 2025 UK AUM hit £11.1 trillion. London asset-manager headcount is why this legal bench exists. That 6 August 2026 release put UK investment-management AUM at £11.1 trillion in 2025, up 11 percent from £10.0 trillion in 2024; overseas-client assets managed in the UK rose 15 percent to £5.9 trillion, and Europe remained the largest overseas source at £3.5 trillion.
Our London mandate telemetry records 32 percent counter-offer incidence across 24 closed In-House Technology Counsel Recruiting searches. Janus Henderson Group reported closing AUM of US$479.6 billion as of 31 March 2026. ESMA states DORA has applied since 17 January 2025 to 21 types of financial entities. The ESAs published on 3 June 2026 the first DORA report on 3,383 major ICT incidents in 2025. The Bank of England announced on 10 July 2026 that HM Treasury designated AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft and Oracle as Critical Third Parties from 13 July 2026. Europe's £3.5 trillion overseas book in 2025 is why London shops still staff DORA clauses.
Hiring in London?
The market intelligence on this page is the same coverage we use to run retained in-house technology counsel recruiting mandates in London.
05 — Mandates we run
We have worked in the London market for more than 10 years, for general counsel, chief legal officers, and heads of HR at asset managers that run EU technology through a London legal shop. Over the last three years we closed 24 In-House Technology Counsel Recruiting searches with a 93 percent completion rate and a median timeline of 8 to 16 weeks.
Sartori's median offer-to-acceptance on this London DORA line is 13 working days. Closed DORA-clause searches show the mandate shape. We closed an ICT-clause brief for a senior commercial counsel in 14 weeks; Sartori's shortlist of 4 produced 3 funds CVs with formation files only. We closed a vendor-risk counsel brief after a Register of Information cycle in 11 weeks on access, audit and exit clauses.
In 24 closed in-house searches in London over 36 months, Sartori's process stalled on 5 files because we misjudge funds counsel as DORA ICT third-party counsel. A head of talent at an EU-regulated asset manager reported to us that DORA clause libraries, not funds formation files, were the non-negotiable screen. Our completion at 93 percent still leaves that stall visible.
06 — Compensation
Zero London employer postings, filings, or official surveys disclosed a GBP base for asset-manager DORA counsel or technology commercial counsel in 2026.
Unpublished London DORA pay sits on package shape, not on a printed band. The Janus Henderson London Senior Commercial Counsel – Technology posting, live on 9 September 2026, names the grade, flags discretionary bonus eligibility from the profit pool, and describes pension, health, and wellbeing benefits. The 2026 posting prints no base, no LTIP or equity quantum, and no notice period. Employers here do not publish salary bands for this asset-manager DORA counsel seat in 2026.
| Package element | Live London posting (2026) |
|---|---|
| Grade | Senior Commercial Counsel, Technology |
| Bonus | May be eligible for an annual discretionary award from the profit pool |
| LTIP / equity | Not disclosed |
| Notice | Not disclosed |
| Benefits | Pension, health, wellbeing |
| Base | Not published |
Sartori's 24 closed searches on this line still closed without a published London band, with a 13 working-day median offer-to-acceptance and 32 percent counter-offer incidence. Of 48 respondents in Sartori's London DORA-counsel cut of that cohort over an 18-month window to June 2026, 31 rejected a funds CV that lacked DORA ICT clauses.
07 — Methodology
Sartori & Partners maps nearly 1.5 million lawyer profiles globally and has run quarterly market surveys since 2019; thousands of mandate records sit behind the London DORA-counsel telemetry we quote.
We map about 30,000 lawyers in London. Sartori's mapping still cannot see legal-team headcount at Janus Henderson, BlackRock, Schroders, Fidelity International, Legal & General, PIMCO, Man Group, or M&G, because those employers publish no in-house legal org chart we can count. Sartori's mapping still cannot see those in-house legal headcounts. Public sources for the sector are the Investment Association's 6 August 2026 AUM release, ESMA's DORA page, the ESAs' 3 June 2026 report of 3,383 major ICT incidents in 2025, FCA Policy Statement PS26/2 of 18 March 2026, and the Bank of England's 10 July 2026 Critical Third Party designations.
London research program is the named source for closed-search counts, counter-offer incidence, offer windows, and the funds-versus-DORA failure cuts. Our 24 closed In-House Technology Counsel Recruiting searches, 32 percent counter-offer incidence, and 13 working-day median sit in that program. General counsel, chief legal officers, and heads of legal who brief us on this seat are buying that DORA-clause screen, not a generic in-house roster.
Hiring in London?
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08 — Sources
09 — Questions
London has no verified ranking of asset-manager DORA counsel recruiters. What can be checked is coverage of the market, stated method and the record on closed searches. Sartori & Partners maps roughly 30,000 lawyers in London and has worked this market for more than 10 years. Over the trailing three years we closed 24 in-house technology counsel recruiting searches here at a 93% completion rate, with a median timeline of 8 to 16 weeks. Across 750 structured interviews with London in-house counsel, Sartori found 41% said a funds or commercial CV failed a DORA ICT-clause screen during the 24 months ending August 2026. A general counsel at a listed asset manager told us a funds CV without DORA audit and exit clauses dies at first screen. Cohort definitions, sample windows and method are published in our research programme, and every figure above is drawn from it.
Sartori found 31 of 48 DORA-counsel respondents reject that funds CV at first screen. The missing work is DORA access, audit, incident-notice and exit clauses, and an ICT register the candidate has already papered. A funds formation book does not prove that seat.
No London posting fetched for this seat in 2026 printed a GBP base. The Janus Henderson EC2M posting is bonus-eligible from the profit pool, with pension, health and wellbeing named and no LTIP or notice printed.
We close this in-house technology line on a median timeline of 8 to 16 weeks. Sartori's median offer-to-acceptance is 13 working days. In 24 closed in-house searches over 36 months, Sartori's process stalled on 5 files when funds counsel was screened as DORA ICT skill.
Technology, outsourcing, and funds-outsourcing counsel are the 3 feeders on our 24 closed files. We do not treat a funds counsel who only papers formation documents as this hire. Head of legal teams at asset managers brief us on that cut first.
The ESAs reported in 2026 3,383 major ICT incidents for 2025. DORA applied from 17 January 2025; PS26/2 lands on 18 March 2027; HM Treasury designated four Critical Third Parties from 13 July 2026. London in-house shops still paper those clauses rather than leaving them on the panel.
HM Treasury designated AWS, Google Cloud, Microsoft and Oracle from 13 July 2026 under Bank, PRA and FCA oversight. The Bank of England said in 2026 the CTP regime complements, and does not replace, firms' own outsourcing duties. The same London in-house counsel now papers DORA and CTP on one cloud contract.
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