How to hire a legal department manager

How to hire a legal department manager, step by step

Here's a step-by-step legal department manager hiring guide:

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

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   Before you post your legal department manager 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 legal department manager 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

   You should also consider the ideal background you'd like them a legal department manager to have before you start to hire. For example, what industry or field would you like them to have experience in, what level of seniority or education does the job require, and how much it'll cost to hire a legal department manager that fits the bill.

   The following list breaks down different types of legal department managers and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Legal Department Manager	Description	Hourly rate
   Legal Department Manager	Lawyers advise and represent individuals, businesses, and government agencies on legal issues and disputes.	$18-54
   Staff Attorney	Staff Attorneys are legal employees who work for a variety of organizations, often as full-time employees. They use their legal expertise to help deal with day-to-day legal issues with which their organization needs regular assistance.	$33-83
   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
   • External Counsel
   • Risk Management
   • Due Diligence
   • Legal Issues
   • Legal Research
   • Legal Support
   • Real Estate
   • Regulatory Compliance
   • Process Improvement
   • Subpoenas
   • Corporate Governance
   • Financial Institutions
   • Intellectual Property Rights

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Prepare and distribute payroll manage daily office operations and equipment and maintain supplies for office to run effectively.
   • Coordinate with litigation department on state and federal government subpoenas on customer account activity.
   • Provide expert testimony at NASD/NYSE arbitration hearings.
   • Handpick arbitration ready accounts and oversee the legal department.
   • Review and analyze third-party subpoenas, garnishments and other document requests and coordinate require responses.
   • Work hand-in-hand with legal representation in litigation discovery process, development of legal arguments and exhibits as well as deposition preparation.

   More legal department manager duties

3. Make a budget

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

   • Location. For example, legal department managers' average salary in arkansas is 64% less than in massachusetts.
   • Seniority. Entry-level legal department managers 67% less than senior-level legal department managers.
   • Certifications. A legal department manager 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 legal department manager's salary.

   Average legal department manager salary

   $66,307yearly

   $31.88 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level legal department manager salary

   $38,000 yearly salary

   Updated December 16, 2025

   Average legal department manager salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Massachusetts	$109,167	$52
   2	New York	$103,545	$50
   3	California	$99,729	$48
   4	District of Columbia	$97,669	$47
   5	New Jersey	$95,182	$46
   6	Virginia	$88,114	$42
   7	Connecticut	$83,379	$40
   8	Illinois	$80,597	$39
   9	Michigan	$77,849	$37
   10	Washington	$72,362	$35
   11	Minnesota	$70,487	$34
   12	Arizona	$67,933	$33
   13	Texas	$65,287	$31
   14	Georgia	$64,633	$31
   15	Colorado	$63,567	$31
   16	Florida	$60,103	$29
   17	Alabama	$55,945	$27
   18	Oklahoma	$50,018	$24

   Average legal department manager salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Meta	$160,094	$76.97
   2	Citi	$144,361	$69.40
   3	Twitter	$135,647	$65.21
   4	Zymeworks	$131,583	$63.26
   5	Gartner	$124,269	$59.74	2
   6	Oaktree Capital Management	$118,654	$57.05
   7	American Express	$112,508	$54.09
   8	Tata Technologies	$105,585	$50.76
   9	Janus Henderson U.S.	$101,843	$48.96	2
   10	Universal Music Group	$86,810	$41.74
   11	ACLU of Illinois	$83,366	$40.08	12
   12	Ameriprise Financial	$82,779	$39.80
   13	SASCO	$82,370	$39.60
   14	CROWNPEAK TECHNOLOGY	$77,860	$37.43
   15	Hyundai Securities	$74,652	$35.89
   16	Bertelsmann	$71,954	$34.59	2
   17	Publicis Sapient	$71,938	$34.59
   18	Urban One	$69,894	$33.60
   19	Kaneka North America	$67,769	$32.58
   20	Bedrock Manufacturing	$65,802	$31.64

4. Writing a legal department manager job description

   A good legal department manager job description should include a few things:

   • Summary of the role
   • List of responsibilities
   • Required skills and experience

   Including a salary range and the first name of the hiring manager is also appreciated by candidates. Here's an example of a legal department manager job description:

   Legal department manager job description example

   Manage and enhance the enterprise -wide Anti- Bribery and Anti- Corruption (ABAC) compliance program for a fortune 200 company with some of the most iconic brands! Have a bachelor's degree? Have six plus years' experience in compliance, audit, law, risk management or related fields? If so, we want to speak with you!
   We are currently seeking a Manager, Compliance & Legal to join our team in Richmond, VA. or we are open to remote work arrangements.
   What you'll be doing:
   • Supports in-house counsel in maintaining a robust ABAC compliance program; manages ABAC policies and procedures; assists with periodic enterprise bribery risk assessments; assists in-house counsel with identifying and analyzing ABAC issues as they relate to the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, UK Bribery Act, and other applicable ABAC laws.
   • Provides oversight and monitoring of third-party bribery risks; conducts due diligence to identify bribery and corruption risk, including reviews of vendors; conducts employee training.
   • Assists in the organization of, and provides responses to, compliance testing, internal audit, and regulatory examinations when applicable.
   • Responsible for the preparation of status reports of program initiatives, activities, and compliance issues for senior management.
   What we want you to have:
   • Bachelor's degree
   • 6+ years of previous experience in compliance, audit, law, risk management or related fields; ABAC-related experience preferred.
   • Ability to work independently, use independent judgment and analyze risk.
   • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including a strong mastery of the English language.
   • Strong organizational skills and the ability to multitask on several projects simultaneously.
   • Demonstrated leadership ability and willingness to proactively engage senior management on compliance-related activities.
   • Willingness to assume additional responsibilities and commitment to personal and professional growth.
   In addition to the opportunity to apply and develop your skills toward key business objectives, we offer an excellent compensation package including a competitive base salary, comprehensive health/vision/dental insurance, participation in our deferred profit sharing and incentive compensation programs as well as a relocation assistance package. Company Overview Altria has a leading portfolio of tobacco products for U.S. tobacco consumers age 21+. Altria's Vision through 2030 is to responsibly lead the transition of adult smokers to a non-combustible future. Altria is Moving Beyond Smoking™, leading the way in moving adult smokers away from cigarettes by taking action to transition millions to potentially less harmful choices - believing it is a substantial opportunity for adult tobacco consumers, Altria's businesses and society. Altria's wholly owned subsidiaries include the most profitable tobacco companies in their categories: Philip Morris USA Inc. (PM USA), U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company LLC (USSTC), and John Middleton Co. (Middleton). Altria's smoke-free portfolio includes Helix Innovations LLC (Helix), the maker of on! oral nicotine pouches, exclusive U.S. commercialization rights to the IQOS Tobacco Heating System * and Marlboro HeatSticks *, and an equity investment in JUUL Labs, Inc. (JUUL). Altria also owns equity investments in Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (ABI), the world's largest brewer, and Cronos Group Inc. (Cronos), a leading Canadian cannabinoid company. At Altria, we celebrate the power of diverse teams working together to shape our future. We are inspired to bring our best because our unique strengths are valued. We believe our personal success and progress should be guided by Our Cultural Aspiration, a new articulation of what we value and who we aspire to be, collectively. Our Cultural Aspiration respects and complements individual identity, embracing each other's unique strengths, welcoming newcomers and developing the best, most inclusive and diverse teams. Join us as we work together to shape a better future for adult tobacco consumers, our employees, and our shareholders. Each Altria company is an equal opportunity employer. Learn more about Altria at www.altria.com and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. *IQOS Devices and HeatSticks are currently unavailable for sale in the United States.

   Copy this example

   

5. Post your job

   There are various strategies that you can use to find the right legal department manager for your business:

   • Consider promoting from within or recruiting from your existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals from friends, family members, and current employees.
   • Attend job fairs at local colleges to find candidates who meet your education requirements.
   • Use social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

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

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting legal department managers requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   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 legal department manager

   Once you've found the legal department manager candidate you'd like to hire, it's time to write an offer letter. This should include an explicit job offer that includes the salary and the details of any other perks. Qualified candidates might be looking at multiple positions, so your offer must be competitive if you like the candidate. Also, be prepared for a negotiation stage, as candidates may way want to tweak the details of your initial offer. Once you've settled on these details, you can draft a contract to formalize your agreement.

   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.

   To prepare for the new employee's start date, you can create an onboarding schedule and complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9 forms, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Human Resources should also ensure that a new employee file is created.

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.)

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