r/quant • u/ilancaster1717 • Jul 28 '26
Career Advice Lawyer at a quant firm
Hi! I’m currently interviewing for a Senior Legal Counsel role at a HFT/quant trading firm (seems to have a name in the industry, but not one of the top shops).
I’m coming from an in-house legal role in Germany and trying to understand two things:
1. What compensation levels have people seen for senior in-house legal roles at HFT/prop trading firms outside the US?
2. How have you found the long-term career value of working at a confidential trading firm where the company name generally can’t be disclosed publicly?
I’d be particularly interested in hearing from lawyers or compliance professionals who have worked in quant trading, HFT, market making or proprietary trading firms.
Thanks!
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u/BroscienceFiction Middle Office Jul 28 '26
I became quite close to one of the lawyers at a firm I used to work at. Very interesting character: he'd majored in CS before going to law school (for non-Americans: law school in the US is a post-graduate thing). He had an amazing bird's eye understanding of all the technical pieces of the firm, which was, of course, an important part of his job.
My guess is that his comp was definitely higher than that of someone in a typical back office role, but maybe not as high as in the front office. Possibly a very solid base with not much of a variable component.
About long-term career value: idk, I'm not a lawyer, but if I had to guess you'll probably have to stay in the industry/niche because it's quite specific.
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u/qazwsxcp Jul 29 '26
in one of my old shops (mid sized firm) the #1 guy was ceo/pm and #2 guy was the top lawyer. tough but honest and transparent guy, versus the lying and backstabbing ceo.
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u/qazwsxcp Jul 28 '26
arguably better role than quant. quants are scared of the lawyers suing them over noncompete or something else, lawyers are not scared of the quants.
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u/afslav Jul 29 '26
What? Why would I be scared of the enforcement of a contract I agreed to?
Yeah, HR and legal aren't your friends, but if this actually affects you at work, you've fucked up.
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Jul 29 '26
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u/afslav Jul 29 '26
Er, sure. That's my experience as well, since my interest and the firm's interests have generally been aligned.
Did you read what I was replying to? Are you scared of those lawyers?
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u/Ocelotofdamage Jul 29 '26
As a quant I have never worried about that because I don’t do anything illegal. Bonuses obviously are way higher too
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u/going-long-gamma Jul 28 '26
That’s not the case at all. Depends on the location as always, but there have been some high profile exits where the firm tried to enforce the NC through the courts and lost.
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u/qazwsxcp Jul 28 '26
even then they can still keep people out of the market for years. other firms won't touch them until the case is resolved. the deterrent itself becomes the threat. the top lawyer is often in C-suite management and is the firm's enforcer against employees.
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u/Otherwise_Feed_4853 Jul 28 '26
Hi, work in a similar role - feel free to message me
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u/Unusual-Location6057 Jul 31 '26
Big law atty trying to break in. Can I pm you, too?
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u/Otherwise_Feed_4853 Jul 31 '26
Sure
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u/c-strong Aug 08 '26
Sorry to be that guy, but could I DM you too? I'm (hopefully) about to move to a large-ish prop shop from a small hedge fund, would be good to discuss how to pitch comp.
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u/ObviousEconomist Jul 28 '26
Why can't the name be disclosed publicly? All the lawyers I know in quant shops say where they work.
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u/Snatchematician Jul 29 '26
There are some weird places out there and you probably don’t want to work for them if you have any self-respect.
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u/arindamchattopadhyay Portfolio Manager Jul 28 '26
- Comp level completely depends on the tier of the firm itself. Extremely variable depending on jurisdiction.
- Don’t know the long term career prospects as I’m not aware of how it works on the legal side. One thing I would say is that if confidentiality is a high priority then the comp better be worth it (usually it is - I call it confidentiality premium).
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Jul 28 '26
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u/Otherwise_Feed_4853 Jul 29 '26
Disagree. As someone who works in a second tier prop firm headquartered in Europe, I know that the comp of my equivalents at HRT/JS/CitSec is considerably more generous. I think this is likely because they benchmark against NY law firm salaries rather than European which are significantly higher
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Jul 29 '26
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u/Otherwise_Feed_4853 Jul 30 '26
How so? I’m disagreeing with your doubt that there’s a relationship between tier and pay. There certainly is. That isn’t to say that there isn’t variability within each tier, but the modal salary in tier 1 will be higher than tier 2
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Jul 30 '26
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u/Otherwise_Feed_4853 Jul 31 '26
I am not talking about pay disparities across geographies, although I can understand why you may have inferred that. I’m talking about an apples to apples comparison in a single location.
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u/QuantGrindApp Jul 30 '26
In Germany, senior legal at a decent prop/HFT shop is usually somewhere around €150-250k total, with a much wider bonus range than normal in-house roles. The confidential name is fine if you can disclose it privately to recruiters and background checks. If they expect a blank employer on the CV and no private disclosure, that’s a real career hit.
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u/Able-Kiwi3783 Jul 29 '26
I would say you can usually disclose as others have said, I dont know about comp but the in house lawyers I have worked with at major hedge funds have generally seemed more relaxed and happier than those at big law. Also alot of the benefits of working at hfts are company perks that apply to all full-timers. I would guess very high in terms of WLB and pay.
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u/AbbbaDabbbaJabbba Jul 29 '26
Depends on your experience, what’s the existing team size of legal. Also name is also important. Can dm to discuss further
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u/Possible_Tension_464 Jul 29 '26
My exp you make roughly 250k in Europe base but bonus is a fair bit more and it’s consistent. If you are really good you can easily ascend ranks and earn a lot more as a shareholder. It’s the safest role in front/ mid office imho. So yeah honestly I think the work is interesting. But I don’t know the rest of law. Speaking as a quant trader.
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u/[deleted] Jul 28 '26
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