What Legal Staff Earn and What Employers Ask For Across Europe

France: salary range for legal roles

On NewLuxJob's job board, legal postings in France show a median salary of 41,500 EUR. The middle half of these roles pay between 34,000 and 52,500 EUR. This is based on 486 job postings for legal positions in France. The full breakdown is published on our France legal salary page.

What France's legal job ads ask for

Looking at 1,124 legal job postings in France, Contract Law is by far the most requested skill, appearing in 80% of ads. Drafting follows at 50%. Litigation appears in 24% of postings, Negotiation in 21%, Corporate Law also in 21%, and Regulatory in 15%. See the France legal careers page for the complete list.

Skills requested in Germany, Poland, the Netherlands and Spain

Across other European markets, Contract Law is consistently the top requirement in legal job ads, though the rest of the skill mix differs by country.

In Germany, based on 233 legal postings, Contract Law appears in 62% of ads, Negotiation in 42%, Compliance in 33%, Regulatory in 23%, Corporate Law in 17%, and Drafting in 13%. Details are on the Germany legal careers page.

In Poland, from 60 postings, Contract Law leads at 77%, followed by Compliance at 40%, Negotiation at 23%, Regulatory at 18%, and both Litigation and Drafting at 13%. See the Poland legal careers page.

In the Netherlands, across 68 postings, Contract Law appears in 75% of ads, Compliance in 40%, Regulatory in 32%, Negotiation in 19%, Drafting in 15%, and Litigation in 9%. More detail on the Netherlands legal careers page.

In Spain, from 58 postings, Contract Law is requested in 69% of ads, Compliance in 53%, Negotiation in 43%, Regulatory in 41%, Drafting in 22%, and Litigation in 17%. Full figures on the Spain legal careers page.

Sweden and Luxembourg: a different skills mix

Sweden and Luxembourg stand out from the rest of the group. In Sweden, based on 96 legal postings, Contract Law appears in 42% of ads and GDPR in 41%, placing these two skills close together. Compliance follows at 33%, Drafting at 26%, Regulatory at 22%, and Negotiation at 21%. The data is on the Sweden legal careers page.

In Luxembourg, from 139 postings, Regulatory is the single most requested skill at 75%, ahead of Contract Law and Drafting, which are tied at 60%. Compliance appears in 40% of ads, Negotiation in 32%, and Litigation in 16%. See the Luxembourg legal careers page.

What this means for legal job seekers

Across the seven countries covered here, Contract Law is the most frequently requested skill in legal job ads, with the exception of Luxembourg, where Regulatory takes the top spot. Compliance and Negotiation also appear repeatedly across several markets, while Drafting, Litigation, Corporate Law, Regulatory and GDPR show up with varying weight depending on the country.

For job seekers browsing legal roles in Europe, these figures from NewLuxJob's own job board offer a market-by-market view of what skills employers are actually listing in their ads, alongside salary benchmarks for France. Candidates targeting a specific country can check the relevant careers page linked above for the current figures behind these numbers.