For companies · After close

Post-merger legal integration and TSA exit counsel

The lawyer who gets the company off the seller's TSA, then leaves a playbook the surviving GC can run. Interim in 7 days, or a deputy in 10 weeks.

Brief a search See the methodology

01 The file

A TSA has a date. A playbook does not merge itself.

After close, the legal work that was a deal becomes a file: get off the seller's systems, collapse duplicate entities, move the contracts, and leave one playbook. The deal partner who closed is the wrong person to own that. So is a generalist secondment who has never finished a separation.

Lorenzo Sartori — Founder, Sartori & Partners Published September 10, 2026

What this search is: Counsel who will exit the TSA, rationalise entities, migrate contracts, and merge playbooks after a close. An interim integration lead, or a permanent deputy who has already run a carve-out.
Interim clock: 60+ interim and fractional engagements, counted separately from the 230+ permanent in-house placements. Median 7 days from first call to start.
Permanent clock: Deputy GC / Head of Legal: 21 days to shortlist, 10 weeks to accepted offer, of 47. The Houston carve-out below closed in 18 days / week 8, on the fast edge of that book.
Day rates (US): M&A surge counsel $1,400-$2,400 a day. Interim GC $1,800-$3,200. Days billed credit against a later retained fee.
Terms: Interim: day-rate or monthly retainer. Permanent Head of Legal: retained, 28-33 percent of first-year cash, three instalments, 12-month replacement. Specialist integration counsel: retained or exclusive contingency, 6-month replacement.
Do not confuse: A fractional GC is a standing part-time GC. An integration lead is a file with an end date. Different people, different pages.

Two staffing patterns, and they are not a taste. An interim integration lead starts in a median of 7 days, of 60+ interim and fractional engagements, on a day-rate. A permanent deputy who has already run a carve-out sits on the 47-placement deputy book: 21 days to shortlist, 10 weeks to offer. Many companies need both, in that order.

This is not fractional general counsel. Fractional is a standing part-time GC. This is a file with an end date. The parent flexible desk is interim and contract counsel. The permanent second chair is deputy general counsel search.

02 Four workstreams

TSA, entities, contracts, playbook. Name which one is late.

TSA exit

The transitional services agreement has a date. Someone has to own the legal conditions to get off the seller's systems, contracts and seconded counsel. That person is rarely the deal partner who closed.

Entity rationalisation

Duplicate companies, dormant branches, mismatched authorities. The hire has closed a dissolution or a cross-border merger, not written a slide on 'legal entity optimisation'.

Contract migration

Change-of-control notices, assignment, and the contracts that were never in the data room. A playbook that still names the seller is not migrated.

Playbook merge

Two GCs, two outside-counsel panels, two NDAs, two employment forms. The work is a single playbook the surviving company will actually use, with a named owner.

03 Interim or permanent

Day-rate for the file. Retained for the person who stays.

US day-rate bands for post-close legal cover (Sartori programme constants, 2026). Sterling bands live on the interim service page. Days billed credit against a later retained fee.
Seat	US day rate	When we use it
M&A surge counsel	$1,400-$2,400	Close-period secondment; TSA workstreams
Interim GC	$1,800-$3,200	Parental leave, gap, or post-close until the deputy starts
Interim CCO	$2,200-$3,800	Licence or consent-order file during integration
Commercial counsel secondment	$1,200-$2,200	Contract migration surge
Fractional GC (2-3 days/week)	$2,800-$4,500	Standing part-time GC; not this brief

Fractional GC is listed so it is not confused with this brief. M&A surge is the integration-lead band.

Source: Sartori & Partners corporate engagement terms, 2017-2026.

Interim GC cover, including post-close, is $1,800-$3,200 a day. M&A surge counsel is the narrower $1,400-$2,400 band for lawyers who will live in the TSA and the contract schedule. A commercial secondment at $1,200-$2,200 is the right hire only when the GC already owns the file and needs hands. Offer acceptance on corporate mandates is 96 percent; retained corporate mandates complete at 92 percent.

04 A carve-out

The same Houston deputy, read as an integration file.

Vignette 4 in the corporate ledger is a PE-backed industrial deputy in Houston: carve-out, then a public-company cadence; shortlist 18 days; offer week 8. On the PE page that file is a second-chair hire. Here it is the integration pattern: the company had come out of a larger group, TSA work was still live, and the sitting GC needed someone who had already separated entities and contracts.

We did not staff that as an open-ended secondment. Residual TSA work stayed with outside counsel. The person who stayed was a deputy, of 47. Retention of placed in-house leaders is 97 percent at 12 months and 91 percent at 24 months. The sitting GC was not shopped.

Industrial · PE-backed, post-carve-out · Houston

Deputy GC to take a carve-out onto a public-company cadenceRead the case study

Situation: The company had come out of a larger group. TSA work was still live. The sitting GC needed a second chair who had already separated entities, contracts and a playbook, and who could then run a listed cadence.
Approach: Permanent deputy search, not an open-ended secondment. Mapped lawyers who had closed a carve-out. Sitting GC not shopped. Shortlist in 18 days while residual TSA work stayed with outside counsel.
Outcome: Offer accepted in week 8. Of 47 deputy and Head of Legal placements since 2017. The integration file had an owner on the payroll before the TSA expired.

Timeline: 18 days to shortlist; offer week 8

05 How we staff

File first. Interim in a week. Permanent in parallel if someone must stay.

Day 0-1 File, not a title
TSA end-date, entity map, contract volume, whether a permanent deputy will follow. Conflicts before any call.
Days 1-7 Interim start
If the file cannot wait, an integration lead or M&A surge counsel starts. Median 7 days from first call, of 60+.
Weeks 1-2 Map the permanent seat
If the company needs a deputy who has run a carve-out, the permanent search runs in parallel. Deputy shortlist: 21 days.
Weeks 2-4 Private outreach
Blind both ways. People who closed a separation are quietly employed. No CV without written consent.
Weeks 5-10 Offer on the permanent seat
Deputy / Head of Legal median to accepted offer: 10 weeks. The Houston file below closed in 18 days / week 8.
Close Handoff and 90-day checks
Interim days credit against a retained fee if the same firm then runs the permanent search. 90-day checks on the person who stays.

Confidentiality is the same protocol as every corporate search: blind both ways until mutual interest; no CV without written consent; NDA on request; conflicts before outreach. Off-limits 24 months on the client's legal department. Replacement: 12 months on a retained Head of Legal; 6 months on other in-house seats; none on a pure day-rate unless the letter says otherwise. Offer acceptance on corporate mandates is 96 percent. If the surviving company is still building the function, the next seats after the deputy are sequenced on in-house and general counsel recruiting, not as a second integration lead.

06 Related seats

Deputy, fractional, interim, first GC.

Permanent second chair: deputy general counsel and Head of Legal search. Standing part-time GC: fractional general counsel. Flexible cover including parental leave and surge: interim legal talent. A carved-out company with no GC at all: first general counsel search.

City desks that actually run this file: interim legal talent in Houston, Austin, New York City, in-house recruiting in Houston. Process: how we run a search. Company hub: legal recruiters for companies.

230+ in-house placements since 2017; 47 deputy / Head of Legal; 60+ interim. Corporate mandates in 23 countries and 41 cities. Texas hubs 2024; New York 2023; London 2025. The research programme (New York: 1,675 structured interviews) is a separate instrument. Team design after the file closes: building in-house legal teams.

Questions GCs ask after a close

Who should lead post-merger legal integration?

A lawyer who has exited a TSA, not the deal partner who closed. Interim if the end-date is inside a quarter; permanent if the surviving company needs a deputy who will stay. Sartori has completed 47 deputy and Head of Legal placements since 2017, and 60+ interim engagements separately. Brief a search from the company form.

Should this be an interim lead or a permanent deputy?

Interim when the TSA has a date and no one on the payroll can own it. Permanent when the surviving company needs a second chair after the file closes. Many mandates run both: a 7-day interim start, then a deputy search on the 21-day / 10-week clock. See interim legal talent.

Is this the same as a fractional general counsel?

No. Fractional GC is a standing part-time GC, often 2-3 days a week, at $2,800-$4,500 a day in the US. An integration lead is a file with an end date. Different people. If you want the standing seat, use fractional general counsel.

What does M&A surge counsel cost?

USD 1,400 to $2,400 a day in the US programme band. Interim GC is $1,800-$3,200. Commercial secondment $1,200-$2,200. Days billed credit against a later retained fee. Sterling bands for the same seats are on interim legal talent.

How fast can an integration lead start?

Seven days median from the first call, of 60+ interim and fractional engagements. That clock is not the permanent deputy clock (21 days to shortlist, 10 weeks to offer, of 47). If both are needed, they run in parallel. Houston cover: interim legal talent in Houston.

What workstreams do you actually staff?

TSA exit, entity rationalisation, contract migration, and playbook merge. We do not staff a 'change office' with lawyers who have only project-managed a closing. The test is a separation they have finished. Permanent deputies who fit that test are on deputy general counsel search.

Can you keep the sitting GC off the market during a carve-out?

Yes. The sitting GC is not shopped. Blind both ways until mutual interest. Off-limits 24 months on the client's legal department. The Houston industrial file was a confidentiality problem first; the carve-out was the work. Same protocol as PE portfolio legal hiring.

What if we also need a first GC rather than a deputy?

Then the primary search is not this page. A company that has just been carved out and has no GC should open a first general counsel search, with interim cover from this desk until that person starts. Team design: building in-house legal teams. Process: how we run a search.

Post-merger legal integration

Send the TSA date. We will say interim, permanent, or both.

No mapping against a slogan. Name the remaining term and the entity map. No obligation.

Brief a search See the methodology

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