Legal department build for PE-backed companies

Sartori & Partners does, on a retained search. The portfolio company briefs the seat and the sponsor sits the scorecard. The fee is 25-30 percent of total first-year compensation, with a retainer of 30 percent of the fee at engagement, and a 12-month replacement on GC, CLO and CCO searches. Of 38 GC and CLO placements since 2017, the shortlist arrives in 24 days and the accepted offer in 11 weeks median (range 8-16). A PE-backed industrial group in Houston hired a deputy general counsel after a carve-out: shortlist in 18 days, accepted offer in week 8, one of 47 deputy and Head of Legal placements inside 230+ in-house placements since 2017. Read the Houston deputy case study. The industry page is private equity legal hiring.

The operating GC sits in the portco, reports to that CEO, and owns commercial, employment and the weekly sponsor pack. A group CLO sits across several companies, usually at the holdco, and is a different candidate. Do not write one job. If this is the company's first lawyer, use first general counsel search. The officer search, as distinct from this department build, is private equity portfolio general counsel search.

First GC (or fractional), then commercial or employment, then privacy, then compliance if a license demands it. Legal operations last, and only when spend has an owner. A PE mid-market portco runs 3-6 lawyers. At Series B-C the median in-house bench is one lawyer. Copying a listed-company GC job description is the usual failure. The first general counsel guide is the sequencing note.

$280,000-$420,000 base and a 25-50 percent bonus, the 2026 band for that seat. Do not blend proxy-disclosed large-cap total pay (median total compensation of $4.76m for sitting general counsel who are named executive officers at 236 of the largest US-listed companies, 2026 proxy season, Sartori & Partners analysis of SEC proxy filings) into a portco offer. That figure is total compensation, not base. Deputy GC cash sits at $220,000-$380,000. A Series B-C first GC is $240,000-$340,000 base and a 20-40 percent bonus. A mid-cap listed GC is $450,000-$650,000 base and a 60-100 percent bonus; do not import it. Wider cash context: in-house counsel salary 2026.

GC and CLO searches reach a shortlist in 24 days and an accepted offer in 11 weeks median (range 8-16), of 38 placements since 2017. Deputy GC and Head of Legal: 21 days and 10 weeks, of 47. The Houston carve-out deputy, a PE-backed industrial, closed faster: 18 days to shortlist, offer in week 8. Clock starts at the Mandate Blueprint.

The sitting GC is not approached and not named. Blind both ways until mutual interest. NDA on request. Off-limits: we never recruit from the client's legal department for 24 months after a mandate, and we never approach a lawyer we placed for as long as they stay. That is the protocol the Houston chief legal officer described. Process: how we run a search.

Often, when revenue is still sub-$100 million. First-GC fractional day rates in the US run $2,200-$3,400. Across 60+ interim and fractional engagements, median start is 7 days. Days billed credit against a later retained fee. A later permanent GC search then runs on the GC and CLO clock: 24 days and 11 weeks, of 38. See interim legal talent.

Warranties the GC can stand behind. A data room that does not surprise a buyer. Employment and privacy files that survive diligence, and a counsel who has sat a management presentation. The legal profiles buyers ask for are in the legal profiles most wanted by PE-backed companies. Team design: building in-house legal teams.