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4 Tips for Running a Successful Legal Recruiting Firm

4 Mins read

Legal recruiters are sought by attorneys and law firms alike because they add significant value to the hiring process. For attorneys, recruiters act as advocates who identify worthwhile opportunities. For law firms and other organizations that employ attorneys, recruiters facilitate connections with candidates who can contribute to future growth. In both cases, legal recruiting firms streamline the process by doing the heavy lifting needed to identify and secure a good fit.

Running a successful legal recruiting firm requires strategies that allow you to gain insights into the needs and opportunities in the legal employment landscape. The following are some top tips legal recruiters can use as they seek to successfully serve attorneys and the organizations that employ them.

Tip #1: Network extensively and effectively

Searching for opportunities is central to the work of legal recruiting firms. Whether the client is an attorney who wants to make a lateral move to a higher-paying position or a firm that is looking for a candidate to replace a retiring partner, success depends on an effective search that identifies an opportunity that satisfies the client’s needs.

By networking extensively and effectively, recruiting firms increase the likelihood that they will have the connections necessary to identify the right candidate or position. The most successful recruiters will be those who work with a broad cross-section of legal firms. Limiting focus to a particular niche, such as a geographical area or practice type, will limit the value you can bring to the search process.

To be most effective, recruiting firms should have a network that includes strong relationships with the decision-makers at top firms. If hiring managers will take your calls and respond to your emails, you have a valuable service to offer to attorneys looking for career guidance.

Effective networking also involves meeting with a broad candidate pool that includes attorneys from various fields. Establishing connections with attorneys from different practice areas, geographic locations, and levels of business experience increases your ability to provide viable candidates regardless of a client’s placement needs.

Recruiting firms should also consider extending their network beyond law firms. By building relationships with corporations that employ in-house attorneys, recruiting firms will be able to provide more opportunities to attorneys.

Tip #2: Develop a deep understanding of the legal market

Having a deep understanding of the legal market is paramount to succeeding as a legal recruiting firm. While attorneys are skilled in their practice area, they rarely get extensive exposure to or understanding of the lateral legal market and the profiles of the firms offering opportunities. Legal recruiting firms that can provide that understanding offer significant value to their clients.

For attorneys, transitioning to a new position can have long-term career implications. Making the best choice often requires not only knowing what positions are available but also insider information needed to fully understand how the position could impact their career trajectory. Attorneys need more than the information provided in the job posting to know if the position will serve their needs.

For example, while understanding the culture of different law firms is a critical part of assessing opportunities, culture is something that is rarely communicated in an in-depth way in a firm’s public-facing materials. Legal recruiters who have established relationships with those at the top of a firm’s structure — hiring partners, managing partners, chairs of groups, and others — will have a deep understanding of a firm’s culture and be able to provide uncommon insights.

Recruiting firms should seek to gain the understanding they need to provide impactful intel that goes beyond a mere service level. If the information you offer is limited to what anyone can obtain from publications and websites, you will not deliver value in a way that drives success.

In many cases, a long tenure in the legal field is the key to developing a deep understanding. A recruiter who has spent decades serving clients and firms will naturally have more experience and insight than one just launching a firm. For those just beginning in the field, taking steps to accelerate your learning, such as seeking out mentors, will contribute to your success.

Tip #3: Provide excellent negotiating skills

A key part of your role as a legal recruiter is effectively negotiating on behalf of your candidates or advising them on how to do so themselves. Your clients will look to you to help them optimize the opportunities they are considering. Through negotiations, you can ensure they get the maximum benefit from the skills and experience they bring to a position.

The power you bring to negotiations will flow in part from your working knowledge of firms you have partnered with in the past. The more you know about the law firm’s history, culture, and operations, the better you can guide and advise your clients on its compensation structure and what areas of an offer can be effectively negotiated.

Tip #4: Take a career counseling approach to recruiting

The best recruiting firms will strive to be relational rather than transactional. This involves engaging with clients to understand their goals, values, and preferences. Instead of simply connecting attorneys with a viable position, a career counseling approach seeks to help attorneys map out their future and play a role in identifying and securing each step along the way.

At the heart of the career counseling approach is the belief that improving someone’s work life improves their overall life. Although this approach requires more effort, time, and commitment, it adds significant value to the process.

One of the major benefits of career counseling is the high level of trust it allows you to build with your clients. When clients see you want to know and serve their best interests, they will more readily accept the advice you provide, which can further streamline the negotiation phase of the process.

Deciding whether a career move is in order is one of the most significant decisions an attorney will make, but it can also be one of the most daunting. Legal recruiting firms have the opportunity to guide attorneys through the process of building a successful career by providing insights and expertise that allow them to thrive.

 Michelle Foster is the founder, and Drew Foster is the Managing Director of The Foster Group, a legal recruiting firm that specializes in placing partners, counsels, and associates at the top law firms worldwide.

Legal recruiting stock image by Wasan Tita/Shutterstock

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