Finding that Competitive Edge

Finding that Partner who brings a successful track record and integrity to take your firm to the next level — starts with finding a great recruiter. What does your firm do that sets you apart from the pack? What’s the culture of your firm? Why does your best stay on with you?

That’s your firm’s competitive advantage — That is how you will land the right candidate who meets the criteria that you and your recruiter carefully map out. Partnering with a recruiter is a strategic step to lateral recruiting.  The recruiter should be communicating your story.

Strategy First, Last, Always 

There are several strategies and tactics that can help you to find the best fit for your firm:

1. Your Story

The story must be authentic, important and compelling. Your message must connect potential partners in a way that gets them to sign on with your firm.

2. The Value Proposition

At your next company retreat ask your partners to identify the firm’s core points of differentiation. Define your value in human terms, not in business terms. Don’t discount the little things. You want to retain your best lawyers while attracting new talent.

Here are a few powerful points for consideration:

• What is your retention rate of Partners? Associates? Staff?
• Is your firm committed to marketing?  
  • Who is on your marketing team?  

How does this team assist in publishing articles, coordinate speaking engagements, create strategic partnerships with associations?

How do you integrate new Partners to the firm?

• Do you have ongoing leadership development training to improve Partners skills?

Prepare simple communication tools that make it easy for your recruiter to tell your story. Follow the rule of Cs: Clear, Concise, Concrete, Correct, Coherent and Courteous.

Create Four (4) One Page Summaries:

1. Create a Talking Point Sheet.  
   A Talking Point Sheet is a one-page summary sheet of the firms highlights (Firm’s Rankings, PPP, Awards, Value Proposition, History of Firm and anything else of import).
2. FAQ sheet that answers the top questions of prospective partners.
3. Summary-Sheet for each practice group critical to the firm’s strategic goals (hyperlink to key partners biography pages and recent hires).
4. Finally, share two or three success stories of one of your top partners that joined the firm.

Make 2021 a great year, get busy identifying what makes your firm great.  Strategically share the information to attract new talent.

About: On Balance Search Consultants

On Balance offers great insight and industry intelligence. Shari Davidson, president of On Balance Search Consultants, advises experienced attorneys at every stage of their career to take them to the next level. From making the lateral partner move to succession planning.

Shari takes a proactive approach to advising law firms on how to take a firm to the next level and helps rising talent make the transition to the right law firm. On Balance Search identifies opportunities that exist today, not down the road.

Contact us today. Call 516.731.4300 or visit our website at https://www.onbalancesearch.com.

Please note that the content of this blog does not constitute legal advice and is only intended for the educational purpose of the reader. Please consult your legal counsel for specifics regarding your specific circumstances and the laws in your states pertaining to social media and any legal restrictions regarding the law.

Why Work with a Legal Recruiter?

The ability to attract, extract and deliver talent is and always will be a high touch recruiter. No in-house staff recruiter or data algorithm will ever replace a headhunter. Sourcing the best lawyers can be challenging, the top candidates have options, opinions and time constraints.

Speed. Time is money. No one knows the employment marketplace better than a good headhunter/recruiter. The placement process takes time. The recruiters fee is more than off-set from the drain on billable hours at the firm. The best legal recruiters leverage connections and scan social media channels to source the top talent efficiently.

Experience. Most recruiting firms work with many candidates at different levels, the vetting is extensive and ongoing throughout the process. During discovery we pull the Band-Aid off and get to the good, the bad and the ugly. All things being equal, we protect all parties, strategically considering how the firms services best compliment the skills the candidates bring to the table, Shari Davidson, On Balance Search Consultants.

The sum of the whole is greater than the individual pieces, a great recruiter considers the law firms platform geography, practice areas, talent within the firm, marketing team, strategic services, the verticals they specialize in, and the firms culture. A candidate that compliments the firms current book of business can produce the next superstar. We have helped candidates move to a stronger platform doubling their book of business within 18-24 months and continue to grow, Shari Davidson.

Confidentiality. A multi-channel strategy across media channels and several search firms may do more harm than good. Internal and external forces may very well conspire to complicate the process. Internally some may feel slighted, that they have been overlooked for this position. Additionally, advertising tips off the competition as to the strategic direction of your firm.

Negotiation. The best recruiters provide an in-depth professional level of expertise to advise on all aspects of the placement process, acting as a buffer to carefully consider all parties involved. Good recruiters facilitate mutually beneficial arrangements, minimizing potentially polarizing roadblocks that may arise from face-to-face dealings.

The placement process takes time and often difficult. Successful outcomes lead to earning trust and credibility with candidates and firms, and from this is strong lasting relationships are formed.

About: On Balance Search Consultants

On Balance offers great insight and industry intelligence. Shari Davidson, president of On Balance Search Consultants, advises experienced attorneys at every stage of their career to take them to the next level. From making the lateral partner move to succession planning.

Shari takes a proactive approach to advising law firms on how to take a firm to the next level and helps rising talent make the transition to the right law firm. On Balance Search identifies opportunities that exist today, not down the road.

Contact us today. Call 516.731.4300 or visit our website at https://www.onbalancesearch.com.

Please note that the content of this blog does not constitute legal advice and is only intended for the educational purpose of the reader. Please consult your legal counsel for specifics regarding your specific circumstances and the laws in your states pertaining to social media and any legal restrictions regarding the law.

In mid-June this year marked the third go-around for the recent Federal Law Clerk Hiring Plan—a pilot program that began in 2019 under which participating judges wait until a designated day in June to accept, interview and extend offers to clerk hopefuls who have completed at least two years of law school. 

The Administrative Office of U.S. Courts has not released the numbers on the amount of federal judges adhering to the voluntary plan, but clerkship watchers say it seems that more judges opted to follow the hiring timeline this year. This will bode well for the long-term future of the hiring plan pilot, which at the moment had only been extended into 2022.

“There are judges on the plan this year, and they weren’t before,” said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond who studies federal clerk hiring. “Or the chief judges were [on the plan] and not many others were. I think we’re seeing a wider geographic spread among the judges who are following the plan, probably because of the convenience and ease of using the process.”

Feedback from judges has been largely positive, said Chief Judge Sidney Thomas of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, who is one of the original architects of the current plan and sits on the ad-hoc committee of judges who are coordinating the effort.

Are you interested in learning more about how virtual judicial clerk interviews seem likely to stick amidst the new federal judge hiring plan? Read more in this law.com article. 

Author:
Victoria Ostrander
Assistant Editor
The American Lawyer | National Law Journal | Corporate Counsel
Email: [email protected]
ALM Media Properties LLC

The constant work-from-home announcements coming from Big Law firms has solidified two things about the future of working.

One: hybrid work, in a way, will continue to be a part of the legal industry for years to come.

Two: the “new normal” everybody has been talking about since the COVID-19 pandemic started may not actually be so new when things settle down. 

Almost every firm that has publicly shared their return back to the office strategy has extolled the virtues of working from home to varying degrees. A lot of firms, such as Baker McKenzie, have asked their employees to work in the office a certain amount of days a week. Other firms, like Dechert, have asked their employees to be in at least part of the time. However, they did not specify how many days a week. 

However, other firms such as Sullivan & Cromwell and Wigdor, are anticipating their employees to come back in full time, even though they are sometimes couching the policy by saying a return of the office is “strongly encouraged” rather than it being required. 

Are you interested in learning more about how law firms are setting their post-pandemic work policies? Read more in this law.com article.

Author:
Victoria Ostrander
Assistant Editor
The American Lawyer | National Law Journal | Corporate Counsel
Email: [email protected]
ALM Media Properties LLC

As Big Law continues to plan for office returns, large law firms are more and more diverging on flexible work arrangements—specifically on whether to require a certain number of days in the firm office space for lawyers and staff, and if so, how many days?

Many big firms have notified their employees of plans in which there is not a certain amount of days that employees will spend working from home post-pandemic, or have only offered vague suggestions for flexibility. Other individuals have proposed goals, usually two or three times a week.

Meanwhile, a few law firms have crafted more specific guidelines, often ones in which the expectations for in-person work will increase.

One common theme? Many of them are grasping for some level of flexibility because their return-to-work policies have implications for attracting and retaining talent, legal industry observers say.

Are you interested in learning more about law firm’s split on specifying days for their return to office? Read more in this law.com article.

Author:
Victoria Ostrander
Assistant Editor
The American Lawyer | National Law Journal | Corporate Counsel
Email: [email protected]
ALM Media Properties LLC