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Madrid · In-house counsel

In-house legal recruiters in Madrid

Retained search for a general counsel or a chief executive hiring counsel the Madrid department does not already know. The title, the notice and the pay source are Spanish. The search clock is the one we publish.

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›Two clocks, a Spanish title, and a notice that is not in the offer

In house legal recruiters Madrid companies retain when a general counsel or a chief executive needs counsel the department does not already know. Sartori & Partners has completed 400+ placements since 2017 (230+ in-house), including 52 general counsel searches: a shortlist in 24 days and a median accepted offer in 11 weeks. The Madrid in-house desk closed 15 searches over three years. A NASDAQ-listed medtech in Boston hired a successor general counsel in week 11. ICAM's 2025 census, published 10 June 2026, counted 73,960 Madrid lawyers, 44,883 of them practicing.

01 — The brief answer

General counsel recruiters Madrid are hired for a seat the department does not already know.

A chief executive in Madrid writes one line and hides three problems: whether the counsel may use the title abogado, which notice the person already in the seat must give, and what the seat pays. Spain publishes no 2026 euro band for a general counsel, and a dollar band from another market is the wrong instrument.

That is the work in-house counsel recruiting is retained to do in this city. Sartori & Partners was founded in early 2017 by Lorenzo Sartori. The firm does not list a Madrid office. The band below is the corporate book on the case studies, the clock a Madrid general counsel file is run against. It is not a claim that all 52 of those general counsel sit in Madrid. The Madrid counts are in the timeline section. Private-practice context is on legal recruitment in Madrid. Who is still hiring is on the Madrid legal market page.

In-house placements · since 2017

230+

Of which GC / CLO

52

GC shortlist

24days

GC median to offer

11weeks

Sartori & Partners corporate track record, 2017–2026, as published on the case studies. Not a Madrid-only count. GC range is 8 to 16 weeks. Offer acceptance on corporate mandates is 96%.

02 — Employers and sectors

The Madrid bench is a bar census. The buyers are a shorter list.

ICAM's 2025 census, in the activity report published on 10 June 2026, counted 73,960 colegiados, with 44,883 practicing and 28,168 non-practicing published as separate counts, and 1,868 new admissions. ICAM's series of totals runs 75,281 in 2021, 74,241 in 2022, 74,582 in 2023, 74,168 in 2024 and 73,960 in 2025. The roll counts bar membership. It does not list open in-house seats.

GAD3's fieldwork for the ICAM in-house study ran from 4 to 18 February 2025, with 893 respondents and a margin of 3.3 percentage points at 95.5 percent confidence, and the study was presented on 10 April 2025. Cinco Días, on 10 April 2025, reported that 8 of 10 worked exclusively in-house, that 82 percent were practicing members, that 37 percent sat in teams of 2 to 5, that 34 percent sat in teams of more than 10, and that 16 percent were the only counsel. El Derecho, the same day, put the mean age at 46.9, with 60 percent more than 11 years in-house, 7 of 10 from law firms, and 68 percent in large companies. In that same account, 39 percent were a director jurídico and 39 percent were senior counsel. GAD3 named finance, construction and technology. El Derecho named financial services, technology, energy and infrastructure.

A Madrid legal department is not the same fact as a Madrid registered office. Telefónica's 2025 individual accounts still stated Gran Vía 28, Madrid, and its Madrid profile, with data at 31 December 2025, describes the corporate seat as Distrito Telefónica in Las Tablas. Expansión reported that on 30 September 2026 the board unanimously agreed to move the registered office to Ronda de la Comunicación s/n, Edificio Central, Distrito Telefónica, and to amend bylaw article 3.1. Telefónica reported 2025 group revenue of €35,120 million, presented in Madrid on 24 February 2026. BBVA's contact page states the registered office as Plaza de San Nicolás 4, 48005 Bilbao, and Madrid central services as Ciudad BBVA, Calle Azul 4, 28050 Madrid, plus Paseo de Recoletos 10. BBVA calls Ciudad BBVA the group's corporate seat in Spain, so the Madrid search is a central-services search, not a search for the Bilbao office and not automatically the group general counsel.

Banking and telecoms are the sectors those filings put in Madrid. The study adds technology, energy, infrastructure and construction. A banking acquisition counsel is a different brief from a group general counsel: see bank M&A counsel in Madrid and banking general counsel search. A first chair, as distinct from a replacement, starts with the first general counsel guide. Across 250 structured interviews with Madrid in-house counsel and hiring lawyers, the seats that moved were the ones where a statute, a filing or a supervision file had already hit the employer's own accounts.

03 — The title

Abogado is a colegiación. The job is an employment contract.

Article 4.2 of Real Decreto 135/2021, in force since 1 July 2021, reserves the title abogado for practicing members. A law degree, a foreign admission, or a non-practicing membership does not confer it. Article 39 then puts in-house practice on an ordinary employment contract, in writing, which must respect freedom, independence and professional secrecy and must state whether the work is exclusive. Article 38 is the other relationship: the special regime for a lawyer employed by a law firm. Leaving a firm and joining a company in the same city changes the statute, not just the office.

Cinco Días put practicing membership at 82 percent of the February 2025 in-house sample. Colegiación is the usual fact, not a fact about every respondent. A company that needs the title on a filing or an opinion should require it. A company that needs a contracts counsel, and will instruct an advocate for anything that is a right of audience, should not treat the title and the audience as the same credential. Signing article 39 does not make the counsel the company's court advocate.

A lawyer established in another EU or EEA state has a separate route, and it is not a conversion into the Spanish title. Article 33 allows permanent practice under the home-country title, as a profesional de la Abogacía inscrito, within the limits of the specific regulation. Article 34 requires visiting and inscribed lawyers to act in concert with a Spanish-qualified colegiado, communicated to the colegio and stated on the acts it affects. Occasional services sit under article 32. Those articles do not set out a three-year integration into the Spanish title. A New York or English qualification explains the documents. It does not authorize the title abogado.

Inside Spain, general counsel recruiters Madrid often add a second colegio the statute does not require. The Abogacía Española FAQ states that membership of the colegio of the lawyer's unique or principal professional domicile covers practice throughout Spain. An ICAM member can advise a plant elsewhere. A lawyer colegiado in another Spanish city can sit in Madrid without a second admission. The board pack in Madrid is in Spanish. A London or New York parent is in English. Domicile, language and the contract are the screen.

04 — Notice

Acceptance is not a start date. The notice is in the contract being left.

The published general-counsel clock stops at the accepted offer: 24 days to a shortlist, 11 weeks median, range 8 to 16, across 38 searches since 2017. Everything after acceptance is the current employer's contract. In Madrid that contract is one of three instruments, and the letter has to name which one the candidate is leaving. It is not named by the offer the company is about to make.

Article 49.1.d of the Workers' Statute sets resignation notice at whatever the collective agreement or local custom requires. The Convenio Colectivo del Sector de Oficinas y Despachos of the Community of Madrid for 2025–2026, resolved on 21 July 2025 and published in the BOCM on 9 August 2025, requires 15 calendar days, and a worker who does not give them loses 15 days of salary or the proportional part. That clock does not explain a general counsel who cannot start for months.

The long clock is Real Decreto 1382/1985. Article 1.2 limits it to a person who exercises powers inherent in the ownership of the company, with autonomy and full responsibility, reporting only to the governing body. A mid-level counsel on an ordinary contract is outside it. A general counsel is inside it only when that test is met, not because the card says director jurídico. Article 10.1 sets resignation notice at a minimum of three months, and up to six months if agreed in writing on an indefinite contract or a contract longer than five years. The employer may claim the salary for notice the executive does not serve. Article 11.1 requires the same written notice when the employer withdraws. If the contract sets no indemnity, the indemnity is seven days of cash salary per year of service, capped at six monthly payments. That indemnity is not a notice period, and it is not a reason to label an ordinary counsel alta dirección in the offer.

Question the offer must answer Ordinary in-house contract Offices-and-desks convenio Alta dirección EU or EEA lawyer under the home title
Instrument Estatuto, article 39: ordinary employment, in writing Madrid offices-and-desks agreement, 2025–2026 Real Decreto 1382/1985, and only if article 1.2 is met Estatuto, articles 33 and 34
Notice the leaver gives The convenio or custom that article 49.1.d points to 15 calendar days, or the unpaid salary is forfeited At least 3 months; up to 6 months if agreed in writing The employment contract being left. The home title does not set it.
Who this person is Counsel employed by the company, exclusivity stated in the contract The floor for many ordinary office contracts in the Community of Madrid A senior executive reporting only to the governing body A profesional de la Abogacía inscrito, often acting in concert with a Spanish colegiado
Title abogado Only with practicing membership, article 4.2 The convenio does not confer it The senior-executive statute does not confer it The home title, until a Spanish title is actually acquired

The row that sets the start date is the row of the contract being left. A counsel on the offices-and-desks clock can be 15 calendar days from a signature. A counsel on an indefinite senior-executive contract can be six months from it. The offer should not give them the same Monday.

05 — Compensation

Price the seat from Spanish sources. Do not convert a dollar band.

There is no public 2026 euro table for a Madrid general counsel. The readable figures are firm cash, which is an exit price, and two floors that are not lawyer tables: the regional all-employee mean, and the collective-agreement minimum.

El Confidencial, Alejandro Galisteo, on 28 July 2026, put pay for lawyers under 30 at Garrigues, Uría Menéndez, Cuatrecasas, Pérez-Llorca and Gómez-Acebo & Pombo at about €44,900, essentially flat, and put Garrigues counsel men at €175,223 and counsel women at €158,729. That is firm cash, the price of moving a counsel of that grade, not a Madrid general counsel package, and the grade labels are not comparable across the five firms. The grade-by-grade table is on lawyer salary in Spain, 2026.

Neither floor is a lawyer table. INE's definitive 2024 wage survey, press note of 28 May 2026, put the Community of Madrid mean at €34,410.01, up 6.8 percent, and the Spain mean at €29,540.26, up 5.3 percent, for all employees. The 2026 revision of the Madrid offices-and-desks agreement, resolution of 17 April 2026 on minutes of 20 March 2026, BOCM 1 May 2026, sets Group I level 1 at €1,559.05 a month and €21,826.70 over 14 pays. A general counsel paid from either figure is not being paid as a general counsel.

Stage bands in dollars and sterling are on the general counsel salary guide. They are other markets, and they are the wrong instrument for a Madrid offer. The fee is 25–30 percent of total first-year compensation. Thirty percent of that fee is the retainer at engagement. Replacement is 12 months for a GC, CLO or CCO and 6 months for other in-house searches. Off-limits on the client's legal department run 24 months. Offer acceptance on corporate mandates is 96%. Retained corporate mandates complete at 92%. Retention is 97% at 12 months and 91% at 24 months.

Hiring in Madrid?

Name the contract, then the person.

Title, notice and employing entity, in the letter, before anyone is called. The fee and the replacement term go in the same letter.

Discuss a Madrid mandate → Talk to us →

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06 — Timeline

11 weeks gets an acceptance. The start date is a second clock.

A Madrid file uses the firm clock for the role, then a longer local window for the start date. The two are not averaged. Across 52 general counsel and chief legal officer searches since 2017, the shortlist is out in 24 days and the accepted offer closes in a median of 11 weeks, range 8 to 16. Senior counsel searches reach a shortlist in 18 days and an accepted offer in 8 weeks. Deputy general counsel and head of legal searches, 47 of them, run to a shortlist in 21 days and an offer in 10 weeks. The general counsel median is the wrong clock for a specialist seat, and the specialist median is the wrong clock for a chair.

The Madrid in-house desk has worked this market for 5 years. Over the trailing three years it closed 15 searches, at a 93 percent completion rate. A rate of 93 percent means a closed file is not the same thing as a hire. The typical brief-to-start, with Spanish notice outside the search clock, is 4 to 7 months. Median time from offer to acceptance on those files is 14 working days. Counter-offer incidence is 32 percent. Of those 15, 11 were in companies of more than 250 staff. 9 were general counsel, head of legal or deputy seats, and 6 were specialist counsel.

11 weeks is about two and a half months, and it ends at acceptance. Three months of senior-executive notice after that acceptance is about five and a half months from brief to start, which sits inside 4 to 7 months. A convenio notice of 15 calendar days does not move that window. A file that runs past the end of the 4 to 7 months window is not a notice story. 4 of the 9 general-counsel-level seats ran past that end. 6 of the 15 stalled at least once after a shortlist already existed, because the company froze the brief until a Spanish instrument moved. The signature was not the delay. The delay was the approval to open the search.

Where the permanent seat cannot wait on a three-month or six-month notice, interim cover is a different book. Across 60+ interim and fractional engagements since 2017, outside the 400+ placements (230+ in-house), the median from first call to start is 7 days. One published file, an interim general counsel for a Series C fintech in San Francisco, was live on day 6. That covers the gap while a Madrid notice runs. It does not shorten article 10, and it is not folded into the 38. The product page is interim and fractional counsel.

07 — How a search runs

The same six steps. The Madrid work is in the first one.

  1. 01 — BriefMandate, success profile and conflicts frame agreed in writing.
  2. 02 — Market mapThe live universe mapped from our coverage, not whoever is in motion.
  3. 03 — ApproachConfidential, principal-led conversations with the mapped shortlist.
  4. 04 — ShortlistUnderwritten candidates presented with evidence, not CVs.
  5. 05 — OfferPackage design, references and counter-offer defence.
  6. 06 — CloseResignation, notice and the first hundred days, managed.

The blueprint names the employing company, article 39 or article 1.2, whether the title abogado is required, and whether the leaver is on 15 calendar days or on three to six months. The fee letter goes with it: 25–30 percent of total first-year compensation, 30 percent of the fee at engagement, 12 months replacement for a GC, CLO or CCO, 6 months for other in-house seats, 24 months off-limits. Mapping uses the research programme's market map of 1,480,000+ lawyers, cut to people who have held the file. The approach is blind until both sides want a conversation. A general counsel shortlist is 24 days. The method is on the methodology page. The offer is priced from the Spain salary page. Notice is scheduled before anyone resigns.

08 — Published files

The clock is real. It is not a Madrid placement.

Seven case studies are published. Six are company-side. None is a Madrid mandate. They are here so a buyer can see the method and the dates. The Madrid counts in the timeline section are a separate book, and these files are not that book.

CORPORATE BOOK · NOT A MADRID COUNT 3 OF 7 PUBLISHED FILES

Successor general counsel, NASDAQ-listed medtech

Boston · one of 52 GC/CLO searches · blind process

Mandate
Replace a sitting general counsel who was still in post, without telling the market the company was looking.
Complication
The sitting employer counter-offered. The 12-month replacement term was already in the letter.
Outcome
A shortlist of four reached the board on day 24. The accepted offer closed in week 11. The 12-month retention checkpoint held. The general counsel's account, used as published: "The shortlist arrived in just over three weeks and every name could already sit with our board. The person we hired is still in post two years later." Full file: GC succession, Boston.

First general counsel, venture-backed SaaS

California · one of 52 GC/CLO searches · still in post at 24 months

Mandate
The board had outgrown outside counsel. The hire was the company's first general counsel.
Complication
The right people were sitting deputy general counsel in software, not partners who wanted a title.
Outcome
Shortlist on day 24. Accepted offer in week 10. In post at the 24-month checkpoint, against a programme retention rate of 91% at 24 months. Full file: first GC, California.

Deputy general counsel, PE-backed industrial

Houston · one of 47 deputy GC / head of legal placements

Mandate
A carve-out that needed a deputy who had already lived with a transition-services clock, and who could face a public-company cadence if the sponsor listed.
Complication
The programme deputy clock is 21 days to a shortlist and 10 weeks to offer. This file was faster.
Outcome
Shortlist in 18 days. Accepted offer in week 8. Full file: deputy GC, Houston. The other published company files are a New York CCO, a legal-operations hire in Austin, and an interim GC in San Francisco. The seventh file is a law-firm partner search, not an in-house one.

09 — Sources

What each figure is allowed to prove.

›25 sources cited on this page
  1. 1 Sartori & Partners — case studies, corporate book 400+ placements since 2017 (230+ in-house); 52 GC/CLO; 24 days and 11 weeks (range 8 to 16); 96% acceptance; 92% completion; 97% / 91% retention; fee 25–30 percent with a 30 percent retainer; 12-month and 6-month replacement; 24-month off-limits.
  2. 2 GC succession — NASDAQ-listed medtech, Boston Shortlist of four on day 24; accepted offer in week 11. The published quote from that general counsel is used verbatim.
  3. 3 First general counsel — venture-backed SaaS, California Shortlist on day 24; accepted offer in week 10; in post at 24 months.
  4. 4 Deputy general counsel — PE-backed industrial, Houston One of 47 deputy GC / head of legal placements. Programme clock 21 days and 10 weeks. This file: shortlist in 18 days, accepted offer in week 8.
  5. 5 Interim general counsel — Series C fintech, San Francisco 60+ interim engagements, outside the 230+. Median 7 days from first call to start. This file was live on day 6.
  6. 6 Sartori & Partners — Research Market map of 1,480,000+ lawyers. No Madrid mapped-lawyer total is taken from this page.
  7. 7 Sartori & Partners — About Founded early 2017 by Lorenzo Sartori. Brussels network in 2019, then Dubai and Riyadh.
  8. 8 ICAM — Memoria de actividad 2025 News of 10 June 2026. 2025 census: 73,960 colegiados; 44,883 ejercientes; 28,168 no ejercientes; 1,868 incorporaciones. Series of totals: 75,281 (2021), 74,241 (2022), 74,582 (2023), 74,168 (2024), 73,960 (2025). Census PDF: https://www.abogacia.es/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Madrid_2025.pdf. Practicing and non-practicing counts are ICAM's separate splits and are not summed.
  9. 9 GAD3 — Estudio ICAM I Abogacía de la Empresa Fieldwork 4 to 18 February 2025, n=893, margin of 3.3 percentage points at 95.5 percent confidence, presented 10 April 2025. Sectors named by GAD3: finance, construction, technology.
  10. 10 Cinco Días — in-house study, 10 April 2025 8 of 10 worked exclusively in-house; 82 percent were practicing members; 37 percent sat in teams of 2 to 5; 34 percent in teams of more than 10; 16 percent were the only counsel.
  11. 11 El Derecho — ICAM in-house profile, 10 April 2025 Mean age 46.9; 60 percent had more than 11 years in-house; 7 of 10 came from law firms; 68 percent worked in large companies; 39 percent were a director jurídico and 39 percent senior counsel; sectors financial, technology, energy and infrastructure.
  12. 12 Real Decreto 135/2021 — Estatuto General de la Abogacía In force 1 July 2021. Article 4.2 (title abogado), articles 33 and 34 (EU and EEA lawyers under home title, and acting in concert), articles 37 and 38 (employment for another, and the special law-firm relationship), article 39 (in-house counsel on an ordinary written contract).
  13. 13 Abogacía Española — FAQ on colegiación One colegio, that of the unique or principal professional domicile, covers practice throughout Spain.
  14. 14 Real Decreto 1382/1985 — alta dirección Article 1.2 defines who is a senior executive. Article 10.1: at least three months' notice on resignation, up to six months if agreed in writing on an indefinite contract or a contract longer than five years. Article 11.1: employer withdrawal uses the same notice; absent a contractual indemnity, seven days of cash salary per year of service, capped at six monthly payments.
  15. 15 Workers' Statute — consolidated text Article 49.1.d: resignation requires the notice set by the collective agreement or by local custom.
  16. 16 Convenio colectivo de oficinas y despachos, Comunidad de Madrid, 2025–2026 Resolution of 21 July 2025, BOCM 9 August 2025. A worker who intends to leave must give 15 calendar days' notice. Failing that, the worker loses 15 days of salary, or the proportional part. This is the offices-and-desks floor, not the automatic regime for an IBEX general counsel.
  17. 17 Revisión salarial 2026 — oficinas y despachos de Madrid Resolution of 17 April 2026, joint-committee minutes of 20 March 2026, BOCM 1 May 2026. Group I level 1: €1,559.05 a month, €21,826.70 over 14 pays.
  18. 18 INE — Encuesta de estructura salarial 2024, definitive Press note 28 May 2026. Community of Madrid mean annual wage €34,410.01, up 6.8 percent. Spain mean €29,540.26, up 5.3 percent. All employees, not lawyers.
  19. 19 El Confidencial — what Spanish firms paid, 28 July 2026 Alejandro Galisteo. Lawyers under 30 at Garrigues, Uría Menéndez, Cuatrecasas, Pérez-Llorca and Gómez-Acebo & Pombo were essentially flat, around €44,900. Garrigues counsel men €175,223; counsel women €158,729. Firm cash, not a Madrid general counsel offer. Grade-by-grade cells are left on the Spain salary page.
  20. 20 Telefónica — 2025 individual annual accounts Registered office stated as Gran Vía 28, Madrid, in the 2025 individual accounts.
  21. 21 Telefónica — Madrid profile, data at 31 December 2025 Corporate seat described as Distrito Telefónica, Las Tablas.
  22. 22 Expansión — Telefónica registered-office resolution, 30 September 2026 Board agreed unanimously to move the registered office from Gran Vía 28 to Ronda de la Comunicación s/n, Edificio Central, Distrito Telefónica, and to amend article 3.1 of the bylaws.
  23. 23 Telefónica — 2025 results, presented in Madrid Group revenue €35,120 million for 2025. Results presented in Madrid on 24 February 2026.
  24. 24 BBVA — contact and Madrid central services Registered office Plaza de San Nicolás 4, 48005 Bilbao. Madrid central services: Ciudad BBVA, Calle Azul 4, 28050 Madrid. Also Paseo de Recoletos 10, 28001 Madrid. English page: https://www.bbva.com/en/contact/.
  25. 25 BBVA — Ciudad BBVA BBVA describes Ciudad BBVA, in Las Tablas, as the group's corporate seat in Spain.

10 — Questions

In-house counsel in Madrid — common questions

What do in house legal recruiters Madrid companies retain a firm to do?

In house legal recruiters Madrid companies retain when a general counsel or a chief executive needs counsel the department does not already know. A posting reaches people who are looking. A retained search approaches counsel who are in post. Sartori & Partners has completed 400+ placements since 2017 (230+ in-house), including 52 general counsel and chief legal officer searches: a shortlist in 24 days and a median accepted offer in 11 weeks, range 8 to 16. The Madrid in-house desk closed 15 searches over three years, at a 93 percent completion rate. A NASDAQ-listed medtech in Boston hired a successor general counsel in week 11. ICAM's 2025 census, published 10 June 2026, counted 73,960 Madrid lawyers, 44,883 of them practicing.

Which Madrid employers actually hire in-house counsel?

El Derecho's account of the ICAM and GAD3 study, presented 10 April 2025, places in-house counsel in financial services, technology, energy and infrastructure, mostly in large companies. Telefónica's 2025 accounts still stated Gran Vía 28. Expansión, on 30 September 2026, reported the board's agreement to move that office to Distrito Telefónica. Telefónica reported 2025 group revenue of €35,120 million. BBVA's contact page puts the registered office in Bilbao and Madrid central services at Ciudad BBVA, Calle Azul 4. Buyers: Madrid legal market. Firms: legal recruitment in Madrid.

Does a Madrid general counsel need the title abogado?

To use the title abogado, yes. Article 4.2 of Real Decreto 135/2021 reserves that title for practicing members of a colegio. Article 39 then allows in-house practice as ordinary employment, under a written contract that must respect independence and professional secrecy and must state whether the work is exclusive. In the February 2025 in-house study, Cinco Días reported that 82 percent of respondents were practicing members, so colegiación is the usual screen and not a universal one. Articles 33 and 34 of Real Decreto 135/2021 let an EU or EEA lawyer practice under the home title, often in concert with a Spanish colegiado. The Abogacía Española FAQ states that one colegio, at the principal professional domicile, covers practice throughout Spain.

What notice applies before a Madrid counsel can start?

It is the notice in the contract being left, not the notice in the offer about to be signed. Article 49.1.d of the Workers' Statute points to the collective agreement or local custom. The Madrid offices-and-desks agreement, published in the BOCM on 9 August 2025, requires 15 calendar days. Real Decreto 1382/1985 requires at least three months from a senior executive, and up to six months if agreed in writing on an indefinite contract or one longer than five years. A general counsel is on that statute only if its own test is met. The search clock, 11 weeks median across 52 general counsel searches, stops at acceptance. On this desk, brief-to-start including notice is 4 to 7 months.

How long does a general counsel search in Madrid take, and how is it paid?

Across 52 general counsel searches since 2017, the shortlist arrives in 24 days and the accepted offer in a median of 11 weeks, range 8 to 16. That clock ends at acceptance. The Madrid desk has worked this market for 5 years and closed 15 searches over three years. Brief-to-start, notice included, is 4 to 7 months. Median offer-to-acceptance is 14 working days. 4 of the 9 general-counsel-level seats ran past the end of that window. 6 of the 15 stalled after a shortlist existed, because the company froze the brief until a Spanish instrument moved. The fee is 25–30 percent of total first-year compensation, with 30 percent paid at engagement. Replacement is 12 months for a GC, CLO or CCO and 6 months for other in-house searches. Offer acceptance on corporate mandates is 96%.

What should a Madrid company use as the pay source?

There is no public 2026 euro table for a Madrid general counsel. El Confidencial, on 28 July 2026, put lawyers under 30 at five Spanish elite firms at about €44,900, and Garrigues counsel men at €175,223 and counsel women at €158,729. Those are firm cash, not a general counsel offer. INE, on 28 May 2026, put the 2024 Community of Madrid mean at €34,410.01 for all employees. The 2026 offices-and-desks floor for Group I level 1 is €21,826.70. Grades: Spain lawyer salary, 2026. Other-market stage bands: general counsel salary, 2026.

11 — Related

The pages that sit next to this search.

Hiring in Madrid?

Brief the contract, then the search.

Title, notice and employing entity, named before anyone is called. Retained, and scoped to the Spanish instruments that actually set the start date.

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