Hiring guide: fee earners
Hiring a fee-earning paralegal or non-qualified fee earner in 2026
By Ben Holtom, founder of Sourcefully. Updated .
The short answer
In regional firms outside London, fee-earning paralegals typically earn £27,000 to £34,000 at mid-level and £32,000 to £38,000 or more when they own files and bill. The UK median paralegal salary is around £28,000, and London pays more. Commercial property and corporate pay the most, residential conveyancing the least at junior level. A 20% agency fee on a £34,000 fee-earning paralegal is £6,800; a Sourcefully flat fee is £4,000 plus VAT.
Whether a paralegal is a fee earner changes what you should pay, who you should target and how you should sell the role. Many firms advertise a fee-earning job at support pay, then wonder why the shortlist is thin.
The figures below are typical ranges for regional firms outside London. The UK median paralegal salary is around £28,000, and London pays roughly a quarter more.
Salaries in 2026
Paralegals by level, regional firms
| Level | Typical range 2026 |
|---|---|
| Junior, under 2 years | £24,500 to £27,000 |
| Mid-level, 2 to 4 years | £27,000 to £34,000 |
| Senior or specialist, 4+ years with file ownership | £32,000 to £38,000+ |
Fee-earning paralegals by practice area, regional firms
| Practice area | Typical range 2026 |
|---|---|
| Commercial property and corporate, drafting and due diligence | £30,000 to £38,000 |
| Litigation, busier teams | £30,000 to £35,000 |
| Private client, with probate and estates experience | £25,000 to £33,000+ |
| Family, depending on direct client contact | £25,000 to £31,000 |
| Residential conveyancing, running own files | £28,000 to £34,000 |
Support and paralegal bands are typical ranges for regional firms outside London. For reference, ONS earnings data puts the UK median at around £26,000 for legal secretaries and £28,000 for paralegals. London pays more: Indeed reports an average of £36,363 for London legal secretaries (July 2026).
Chartered legal executives with their own caseload are usually benchmarked against solicitors doing comparable work rather than against paralegals, so expect to pay closer to solicitor bands for them.
What it costs to hire
Compared with a typical agency fee of 20% of first-year salary, Sourcefully's flat fees are set by salary band and paid when your hire starts. For roles from £45,000, £500 is due when the search starts and deducted from the fee. Fees are plus VAT.
| Role | Salary | Agency at 20% | Sourcefully flat fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mid-level fee-earning paralegal | £30,000 | £6,000 | £4,000 |
| Senior fee-earning paralegal | £36,000 | £7,200 | £4,000 |
| Non-qualified conveyancer with own caseload | £34,000 | £6,800 | £4,000 |
Hiring several roles a year? The Embedded Talent Partner retainer is £2,750 a month plus £1,000 per start. It covers up to three live roles at a time, with adverts under your own brand. Use the Recruitment Cost Audit to see which option works out cheaper for your volume.
Is your role a fee earner role?
There is no legal definition of a fee earner. In practice, a role is fee-earning if the person's time is recorded against client matters, they have a billing or contribution target (formal or not), or their work appears on client bills under their name. If any of those apply, candidates will expect fee earner pay.
On contentious work, the courts' guideline hourly rates include a grade for trainees, paralegals and other fee earners, so a well-run paralegal's time is recoverable from the other side. A fee-earning paralegal is often one of the most profitable people in a team.
The Solicitors Qualifying Examination has changed the market too. Up to two years of qualifying work experience can count towards qualifying as a solicitor, and paralegal work often counts. Many strong paralegals now choose roles where a solicitor will confirm their experience, so firms that offer that have an edge.
What to look for when you screen
- File ownership: how many matters they run and from what stage.
- Their time recording and billing record against any target.
- Drafting quality. Ask for a redacted example or set a short exercise.
- Direct client contact and how they handle it.
- Their qualification plans: SQE, CILEx or neither.
- Supervision: what they can do alone and what they escalate.
How to make your role stand out
- Be honest about the billing target and how it is measured.
- Offer to confirm qualifying work experience for SQE candidates.
- Put the salary in the advert, priced as a fee earner role.
- Show the route to trainee, legal executive or solicitor.
More hiring guides
- Residential conveyancing
- Private client
- Corporate and commercial
- Family
- Employment
- Secretaries, assistants and paralegals
See also the law firm salary guide 2026, how much legal recruitment costs and all hiring guides.
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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
Are paralegals fee earners?
Some are and some are not. A paralegal is effectively a fee earner if their time is recorded against client matters, they have a billing target, or their work appears on client bills. Paralegals in pure support roles are not.
How much more does a fee-earning paralegal earn?
In regional firms, a support paralegal typically earns £24,500 to £30,000, while a fee-earning paralegal with their own files earns £30,000 to £38,000 or more depending on practice area. The gap widens with experience, and London pays more at every level.
Can paralegal work count towards qualifying as a solicitor?
Yes, under the SQE route. Up to two years of qualifying work experience, which can be with up to four organisations, must be confirmed by a solicitor. Paralegal work often qualifies, which makes roles offering that confirmation more attractive.
How much does it cost to recruit a fee-earning paralegal?
A typical agency fee of 20% on a £34,000 paralegal is £6,800. Sourcefully charges a flat £4,000 plus VAT for roles between £30,000 and £44,999, paid when your hire starts.
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.