"Not instructing you again. Or you. Or you"
RollOnFriday's In-House Lawyer Survey 2026 has launched, so if you're in-house, don't delay, have your say.
It gives in-house lawyers the opportunity to spill the beans on the best and worst firms they instructed in the last year, the perks from panel firms they enjoyed or endured, and what they value most in a firm.
In last year's poll, in-house lawyers said the most important factor was not a good rapport, or fat bribes, but simply the quality of what they were told.
"I get exhausted with lawyers using standard precedents and trying to make a transaction fit the precedent. They should be skilled draftsmen,” said one GC.
Pricing was seen as an important consideration in last year's survey. However, a significant number of respondents accepted that they pay a higher fee in return for top quality advice.
A GC in manufacturing, who instructed Silver Circle / Magic Circle firms, believed: "It is much better to pay higher in the range, to get advice that is sensible, accurate and timely". While an in-house lawyer in banking concurred: “It doesn't matter how nice or cheap you are. If your advice isn't gold standard, we won't be working with you.”
Last year's survey also highlighted that clients have had enough of partners failing to adequately supervise their juniors.
An in-house lawyer said of a US firm, with a London office: “We got the Z team but paid for the A team. After initial excitement by the partners, we were left with a junior lawyer who didn’t understand the basics of what we needed him to do.” The result was “terrible advice and drafting that we needed to re-do ourselves.”
Some in-house lawyers wanted firms to look at the way they use technology to benefit their clients. Although one GC commented that they expected a firm’s billing narratives to be transparent about AI contributions. "I would be furious to learn I have been charged a fee for someone's time and skill, only to find out they made the AI do the heavy lifting".
If you're in-house and agree, or disagree, chime in by taking the poll below. If you want to stop being taken to the rugby, or the opera, or Wetherspoons, don't forget to describe the perks you loved and loathed as well.
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I suspect the Gambling Commission’s in-house lawyers might have a gripe….
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Never mind the law what about the terrors of lunch at a retained law firm?
Went to a well known law firm in Leeds for a case conference. At lunch time a buffet of sandwiches was provided but hidden in there were Spam sandwiches....
As a child at school I was served fried Spam at lunch. It is the devils food and those law firm sandwiches almost triggered PTSD. There is a reason why one of the baddy characters in the Muppet's was called Spam.
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What do in-house lawyers make?
There’s plenty information about private practice salaries however I’d be interested to know what legal counsel make on average in London and the regions.
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@ Anonymous 10 April 26 10:29: you're a lawyer, you should know how to use the apostrophe...
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It's hard to take someone seriously if all they've done is spend their life in a law firm office. Practical and commercial understanding is usually zero. Avoid at all costs.
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Holes in my shoes - can't afford a cobbler.
Lost four stone since moving in-house. Not dieting - just can't afford food anymore. No more Deliveroo on the client account.
Penis shrunk three inches. Doctor prescribed PDE5 inhibitors for age and blood flow. Hasn't worked.
This week a 20-year-old intern chewed me out for sending an NDA too slowly. I said, "Yes sir, I'm sorry, sir." He told me to get in line.
Last night I found him in bed with my wife Fiona. He ordered me to sit in the corner and watch.
Fiona says with the in-house move and my diagnosable micropenis, she'll keep meeting her needs with Nick and his friends.
I cried but I understand.
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We do odd things in funky jurisdictions. Getting "non market" advice is a crap shoot. The inability to start from first principles is quite shocking. Co-pilot is a less a friend even than slavish adherence to the precedent bank.
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In-house in financial services pays well at the beginning but pay progression moves at the speed of continental drift thereafter. Too late for me but I wouldn't do it again and that's before the AI massacre has even started.
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