How to hire a lawyer

How to hire a lawyer, step by step

Here's a step-by-step lawyer hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a lawyer job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new lawyer
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a lawyer do?

Post a lawyer job for free, promote it for a fee

Post free

1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your lawyer job, you should take the time to determine what type of worker your business needs. While certain jobs definitely require a full-time employee, it's sometimes better to find a lawyer for hire on a part-time basis or as a contractor.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   Hiring the perfect lawyer also involves considering the ideal background you'd like them to have. Depending on what industry or field they have experience in, they'll bring different skills to the job. It's also important to consider what levels of seniority and education the job requires and what kind of salary such a candidate would likely demand.

   This list shows salaries for various types of lawyers.

   Type of Lawyer	Description	Hourly rate
   Lawyer	Lawyers advise and represent individuals, businesses, and government agencies on legal issues and disputes.	$30-100
   Document Review Attorney	A Document Review Attorney reviews various types of legal documents, such as contract and employment law, intellectual property, and commercial litigation, to identify any areas of risk or information that may need correction.	$23-64
   Attorney	Generally, an attorney's responsibility is to advise the client with an ongoing lawsuit on the legal procedures and provide strategies to resolve the case as early as possible. An attorney compiles necessary documents or any records for appeal and client's defense... Show more	$33-82

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Litigation
   • Law Firm
   • Legal Issues
   • Real Estate
   • Legal Research
   • Civil Law
   • Legal Advice
   • Intellectual Property
   • Juris
   • Trial Preparation
   • Legal Support
   • Employment Law
   • Due Diligence
   • Financial Institutions

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Participate in drafting legal documents and prepare business contracts, perform taxation duties for the enterprise and settle disputes with employees.
   • Handle all types of civil claims and provide notary services
   • Review of complaints relate to judicial ethics and employee misconduct.
   • Draft, proofread and ensure filing and service of criminal motions.
   • Draft a variety of pleadings and motions on behalf of the plaintiff.
   • Assist clients at the notary public office and negotiate licensing agreements for virtual data rooms.

   More lawyer duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your lawyer job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A lawyer can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, lawyers' average salary in montana is 65% less than in district of columbia.
   • Seniority. Entry-level lawyers 69% less than senior-level lawyers.
   • Certifications. A lawyer with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a lawyer's salary.

   Average lawyer salary

   $115,808yearly

   $55.68 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level lawyer salary

   $64,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 22, 2026

   Average lawyer salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	District of Columbia	$155,728	$75
   2	New York	$135,844	$65
   3	California	$130,368	$63
   4	Massachusetts	$129,251	$62
   5	Virginia	$112,133	$54
   6	New Jersey	$107,439	$52
   7	Washington	$102,928	$49
   8	Pennsylvania	$96,535	$46
   9	Nevada	$96,324	$46
   10	Texas	$93,216	$45
   11	Illinois	$92,427	$44
   12	Minnesota	$92,258	$44
   13	Michigan	$92,050	$44
   14	Maryland	$85,087	$41
   15	Florida	$80,813	$39
   16	Georgia	$79,049	$38
   17	Utah	$76,070	$37
   18	Hawaii	$62,242	$30

   Average lawyer salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough	$263,259	$126.57	2
   2	Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner	$256,474	$123.30
   3	Vinson & Elkins	$248,763	$119.60
   4	Nossaman	$247,632	$119.05
   5	Hughes Hubbard & Reed	$239,770	$115.27
   6	Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner	$237,399	$114.13
   7	Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison	$236,938	$113.91	2
   8	Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman	$236,064	$113.49
   9	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett	$235,809	$113.37	6
   10	Irell & Manella	$234,308	$112.65
   11	O'Melveny	$231,832	$111.46
   12	Sidley Austin	$228,587	$109.90	2
   13	Orrick	$226,904	$109.09
   14	Fried Frank	$226,449	$108.87
   15	Alston & Bird	$225,241	$108.29	1
   16	Norton Rose Fulbright	$223,289	$107.35
   17	Latham & Watkins	$222,612	$107.03	2
   18	Baker McKenzie	$221,917	$106.69	2
   19	Perkins Coie	$221,753	$106.61	3
   20	Miller Mayer	$221,639	$106.56

4. Writing a lawyer job description

   A lawyer job description should include a summary of the role, required skills, and a list of responsibilities. It's also good to include a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager. Below, you can find an example of a lawyer job description:

   Lawyer job description example

   A market leader in credit intelligence, Reorg brings together journalists, financial analysts, legal analysts, technologists, and data scientists to collect and synthesize highly complex information into actionable intelligence. Since 2013, tens of thousands of professionals across hedge funds, investment banks, management consulting, and law firm verticals have come to rely on Reorg to make better, faster, and more confident decisions in pace with the fast-moving credit markets. A proud member of the Warburg Pincus portfolio since 2018, Reorg's operations continue to grow rapidly across North America, the UK, EMEA, and APAC. For more information, visit: www.reorg.com
   Working at Reorg
   
   Consistent with our growth, Reorg hires innovators and trailblazers across the globe to drive our business and our iron-clad corporate culture alike. Our core values - Action Oriented, Customer First Mindset, Effective Team Players, and Driven to Excel - define an organizational ethos that's as high-performing as it is human. Among other perks, Reorg employees enjoy competitive health benefits, a generous retirement package, generous parental leave, gym subsidies, educational reimbursements for career development, recognition programs, and much more.
   
   The Role
   
   Reorg's lawyers deliver trusted real-time legal insights in the debt markets. Our Global Covenants team is looking for an experienced banking / leveraged finance lawyer in London (with the option to work fully remote).
   
   If you are commercially astute, creative and want freedom to grow your career - join our unique trifecta of financial analysts, journalists and lawyers to provide best-in-class credit intelligence around the world. You will be part of an adventurous, diverse, tech powered company with a rapid growth trajectory.
   
   Find out more about Covenants here and here
   What we offerA unique opportunity to use your legal skills in an innovative and exciting way A high (partner level) degree of responsibility, autonomy, and the opportunity to shape your role A dynamic environment working closely with a high caliber team of lawyers, financial analysts and journalists Opportunity for career growth and development within an agile, ever-evolving global company The opportunity to take initiative, be creative and develop new content, products, and features that better serve our subscribers Intellectually stimulating work in a collaborative and diverse environment Enjoy work life balance, and a fully flexible working model in which you decide when you want to work in the office and when you want to work remotely Regular interaction with asset managers, hedge funds, law firms, investment banks and others in the leveraged finance world
   ResponsibilitiesAnalyze senior facilities agreements and debt structures with an eye on novel provisions to provide actionable insights Apply your technical expertise to provide real-time legal analysis on topical situations Proactively generate new content for Reorg's clients through articles, market updates, webinars and podcasts Expand, maintain and harness the power of Reorg's industry-leading databases to provide our subscribers an edge Cultivate relationships with Reorg's clients and industry contacts Represent Reorg in industry events, conferences and to the press
   Requirements5+ years of experience working in debt finance at a top tier law firm, ideally with a focus on leveraged buyouts, acquisition financings, refinancings and recapitalizations Applying a keen commercial awareness can analyze documents to provide actionable insights Experience of drafting, reviewing and negotiating term sheets, syndicated facilities agreements, intercreditor agreements and ancillary documents The ability to multitask and work both independently and as a team player in a fast-paced environment with people from varied professional backgrounds Confident communicator, who writes in a clear and concise manner for the intended audience
   BenefitsComprehensive compensation package commensurate with experience Full flexibility to work from home Top tier private healthcare 25 days of holiday + bank holidays Numerous perks, discounts and rewards Regular social events held in-person and virtually Top-notch IT equipment and working from home allowance Pension contribution scheme Training and development budget to help you up-skill (£1,200/yr) A fully stocked supply of fruit and refreshment for the days when you are in the office
   Reorg provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability or genetics. In addition to federal law requirements, Reorg complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation, and training.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are a few common ways to find lawyers for your business:

   • Promoting internally or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to meet candidates with the right educational background.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to recruit passive job-seekers.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your lawyer job on Zippia to find and recruit lawyer candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Your first interview with lawyer candidates should focus on their interest in the role and background experience. As the hiring process goes on, you can learn more about how they'd fit into the company culture in later rounds of interviews.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new lawyer

   Once you've decided on a perfect lawyer candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's equally important to follow up with applicants who don't get the job with an email letting them know that the position has been filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new lawyer. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

   Sign up to download full list

   Sign up

How much does it cost to hire a lawyer?