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Legal counsel vs legal consultant

The differences between legal counsels and legal consultants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a legal counsel and a legal consultant. Additionally, a legal counsel has an average salary of $132,867, which is higher than the $75,024 average annual salary of a legal consultant.

The top three skills for a legal counsel include legal advice, legal issues and litigation. The most important skills for a legal consultant are litigation, regulatory compliance, and legal research.

Legal counsel vs legal consultant overview

Legal CounselLegal Consultant
Yearly salary$132,867$75,024
Hourly rate$63.88$36.07
Growth rate10%10%
Number of jobs10,33716,118
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 43%Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Average age4646
Years of experience44

What does a legal counsel do?

A Legal Counsel supervises the legal aspects of a business. They give accurate and timely counsel to executives on a variety of legal topics, such as labor law, partnerships, or international ventures.

What does a legal consultant do?

A legal consultant uses legal practice knowledge to enhance a law company's efficiency and profitability. Besides advising on the right solutions for customer productivity, marketing and development strategies, legal consultants also actively manage risks by consulting on program and legal-related issues. They help the parent law firm meet its objectives by analyzing problems and developing solutions. Other than negotiating, drafting, and reviewing legal documents, legal consultants also conduct legal research and analyze the right securities, insurance, and retirement plans.

Legal counsel vs legal consultant salary

Legal counsels and legal consultants have different pay scales, as shown below.

Legal CounselLegal Consultant
Average salary$132,867$75,024
Salary rangeBetween $81,000 And $216,000Between $40,000 And $139,000
Highest paying CitySan Francisco, CAWashington, DC
Highest paying stateCaliforniaNew York
Best paying companyAppleAlston & Bird
Best paying industryTechnologyProfessional

Differences between legal counsel and legal consultant education

There are a few differences between a legal counsel and a legal consultant in terms of educational background:

Legal CounselLegal Consultant
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 43%Bachelor's Degree, 46%
Most common majorLawLaw
Most common collegeStanford UniversityStanford University

Legal counsel vs legal consultant demographics

Here are the differences between legal counsels' and legal consultants' demographics:

Legal CounselLegal Consultant
Average age4646
Gender ratioMale, 54.2% Female, 45.8%Male, 49.0% Female, 51.0%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.9% Asian, 6.5% White, 75.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%Black or African American, 5.6% Unknown, 4.4% Hispanic or Latino, 7.8% Asian, 6.4% White, 75.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.3%
LGBT Percentage10%10%

Differences between legal counsel and legal consultant duties and responsibilities

Legal counsel example responsibilities.

  • Achieve statewide recognition as expert on Medicare and Medicaid.
  • Manage high-risk employee terminations from initial decision through preparation for appeals hearings and any subsequent legal action.
  • Assist in liaising with insurance authorities, responding to regulatory inquiries and managing relationship with region from legal and business perspective.
  • Conduct anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) due diligence on a daily basis.
  • Ensure compliance with federal securities laws, NYSE rules, and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements.
  • Draft position statements for EEO and other regulatory claims.
  • Show more

Legal consultant example responsibilities.

  • Manage day-to-day legal affairs of NYSE list airline.
  • Experience includes analysis and advice regarding claims relate to exotic securities agreements.
  • Represent individual and institutional clients in all aspects of commercial and residential real estate acquisition, financing and leasing and foreclosure.
  • Audit key financial and claim-relate regulatory processes including Medicare fraud.
  • Conduct discovery: documents productions, interrogatories, witness depositions.
  • Demonstrate expertise in preparing documents and discovery responses relate to interrogatories, request for admissions, and request for production.

Legal counsel vs legal consultant skills

Common legal counsel skills
  • Legal Advice, 11%
  • Legal Issues, 9%
  • Litigation, 8%
  • Legal Support, 7%
  • Intellectual Property, 5%
  • Legal Risks, 4%
Common legal consultant skills
  • Litigation, 16%
  • Regulatory Compliance, 9%
  • Legal Research, 8%
  • Financial Statements, 5%
  • Client Relationships, 5%
  • Legal Issues, 5%