How to become a general counsel: 5 beginner jobs open today

1. Know what the work is. A general counsel is a company’s top lawyer: leads the legal team and advises the CEO and board. Beginner postings today use titles like Associate, External RFI Transaction Monitoring, GC; Deputy General Counsel, National Security; VP, Legal; Head of Legal.
2. Learn the duties, not only the tools. Postings for this work describe what you will do more than which software you will use: read ten of them and list the duties that repeat.
3. Build proof you can show. Two or three results with a number, from a job, a course project or volunteer work. The kind of line a recruiter looks for: “Took the anti-money-laundering programme through a regulator’s inspection with no findings”.
4. Write the resume and the letter. Start from the general counsel resume example and the cover letter example, and replace every line with your own.
5. Apply where beginners are hired. 5 of today’s 112 open general counsel jobs are junior or intern roles or ask for two years of experience or less. See the open jobs and check each one with the resume match checker before you apply.

Law degree (30%), Litigation (18%), Corporate governance (17%), Bar admission (14%), Risk management (14%), Regulatory compliance (10%), Contract drafting (10%), Intellectual property (9%), Contract negotiation (8%), M&A (8%) of today’s 112 open general counsel postings name them. Learn the first three well before the rest.

The step is the level word in the job title; “No level in the title” is usually the mid-level role. After senior, people move into lead, staff or principal roles, or into managing a team. What each level means.

• Build one piece of work you can show and talk about in an interview.
• Take one short course in the field and finish it with a project, not only a certificate.
• Keep a list of your results with numbers, updated every month: it becomes your resume lines and your interview stories.
• Find one person a few years ahead of you in this work and ask for a 20-minute talk each quarter.

• Headline: the title employers search for, then your strongest skills and one result: “General Counsel | [one result with a number]”.
• About: three short paragraphs: what you do, two results with numbers, what you want next.
• Skills section: list the skills postings name, in their words: Law degree, Litigation, Corporate governance, Bar admission, Risk management.
• Open to work: set the job titles and places you want; recruiters filter by them.

Write the headline with the LinkedIn headline generator.

How much experience do general counsel jobs ask for?

The median in today’s postings is 10 years; 5% of the postings that name a number ask for two years or less.

Do I need a degree to become a general counsel?

3% of today’s 112 postings say no degree is required. Many others accept equivalent experience: read the requirements of each posting.

How much does a beginner general counsel earn?

Few beginner postings state pay. Across all levels, the median advertised pay is $280K a year.

What qualifications do you need to become a general counsel?

Employers name skills first: the duties in the posting. The median posting asks for 10 years of experience. 3% say no degree is required. Few postings ask for a specific certification.

Is AI replacing general counsels?

Not in today’s postings: 112 general counsel jobs are open on Jobs Every Hour as of Nov 15, 2026, and 8% of them ask for AI or machine-learning skills.