Hiring guides
Legal hiring guides by practice area and role
By Ben Holtom, founder of Sourcefully. Updated .
The short answer
Practical guides for law firms hiring in 2026: what each role pays, what it costs to recruit, and what to look for. Pick the practice area or role you are hiring for below.
For every role on one page, see the law firm salary guide 2026.
Free PDF
Get every regional salary table in one PDF
Solicitor pay for five practice areas across all ten regions, plus legal support roles and what each costs to recruit. Four pages, ready to print for your next salary review or hiring meeting.
Frequently asked questions
What do these hiring guides cover?
Each guide covers 2026 salary benchmarks by level, what it costs to recruit the role through an agency compared with a Sourcefully flat fee, what the candidate market is like, what to look for when screening, and how to make your role stand out.
Where do the salary figures come from?
Solicitor bands come from LawBoard salary benchmarking for 2026, which models pay across regulated firms in England and Wales. Support and paralegal bands are typical ranges for regional firms outside London, with ONS earnings medians and London figures shown for reference. None of the figures are City rates.
About the author
Ben Holtom, founder of Sourcefully
Ben has 15 years in recruitment, including internal recruitment at Reed and The Edwin Group. He founded RecQuest, a South Coast legal recruitment business, in 2025 and partnered with 45 law firms, making nearly a placement a week. He now runs Sourcefully, offering law firms embedded recruitment and fixed-fee hiring.