Search firms specialize in locating and evaluating potential hires, and they provide the skills and resources that many companies lack. By relying on their expertise, organizations can save time and resources, as well as reduce their risk.
Search firms offer a variety of services including scouting for top talent, interviewing and assessing candidates, and navigating the negotiation process. They are also adept at identifying qualified candidates who may not be actively looking for a new job.
Delegating recruitment can accelerate expansion—learn how in Maximizing Your Law Firm’s Growth: The Ins and Outs of Lateral Hiring Strategies.
When it comes to lateral hiring, organizations that use search firms can benefit from the firms’ established networks and deep knowledge of the local market. A search firm can also provide the specialized skills, such as industry and functional expertise, that are often required in such positions.
Another major benefit of working with a search firm is that it helps ensure the best fit. A search firm evaluates candidates on many criteria, such as culture fit, and can assess the compatibility of an individual's skills with the role.
Organizations also have the opportunity to retain a greater degree of control over the process when working with a search firm. Companies can set specifications such as required qualifications and salary range, and can be updated on progress and results throughout the process.
For organizations looking to fill key roles with the highest-calibre of candidates, working with a search firm for their lateral hiring is an efficient and cost-effective option. Search firms provide the specialized knowledge and resources needed to quickly find a quality match. By leveraging their expertise, companies can save time and resources, reduce their risk, and ensure the best fit.
The Benefits of Lateral Hiring
As the economy continues to evolve, companies are looking for innovative ways to fill their open positions. Lateral hiring is becoming a popular way for businesses to find skilled professionals with a proven track record, as well as to expand their talent pools and keep up with industry trends. Bringing on new hires with experience and industry knowledge can give a company's competitive edge a boost, even in the face of economic uncertainty.How Do Companies Execute Lateral Hiring?
For companies looking to fill open positions with lateral hires, the best and most efficient way to do so is to delegate the process to a search firm. These firms are experts in the field and can quickly identify the right candidates for the job, as well as screen and evaluate potential new hires. By outsourcing this process, companies can save time and resources and ensure they're making the best hire possible.Maximizing Your Search Firm's Efficiency
When a search firm is responsible for lateral hiring, it is important to ensure that they have the right information to do their job properly. A company should provide their search firm with a list of desired characteristics and qualifications, as well as a clear job description. This will help the search firm to quickly narrow down the pool of potential candidates and identify the best fits for the position.Advantages of Outsourcing Lateral Hiring
When a company delegates lateral hiring to a search firm, there are several advantages. First and foremost, a search firm can provide a wider range of candidates than a company might access on its own. They can also provide the necessary industry knowledge and experience to efficiently and effectively whittle down the pool of applicants. Additionally, a search firm can provide a company with an objective perspective, ensuring that the hiring decisions made are beneficial to both the company and the potential new hire.Conclusion
With a search firm handling the process, companies can benefit from a wider range of qualified candidates, industry knowledge, and objectivity. As the economy and businesses continue to evolve, lateral hiring will be a key component for staying competitive and finding the right people to join the team.
One of the most significant challenges recruiting managers in law firms face is managing the wide variety of requests they receive from managing partners, hiring partners, and practice group chairs for highly skilled lateral lawyers at all levels. Many law firm professionals are unaware that search firms can effectively tailor a search to meet a law firm's specific hiring goals. There are a variety of ways a law firm can engage a search firm's assistance. Because all searches are not the same, it may be helpful to discuss three of the most commonly used searches – the contingency search, the exclusive search, and the retained search – and the perceived benefits and drawbacks of each.
The Contingency Search
The contingency search is perhaps the most commonly used search in the legal industry and is most often used when law firms are searching for junior to mid-level attorneys. The payment of the fee by a law firm to a search firm is "contingent" on the law firm's hiring a candidate presented by a search firm. Here, a law firm may contact one or all of the search firms with which it works on a regular basis and ask them to assist in filling positions. These jobs may be provided directly to the search consultant, or firms may rely on search consultants to visit their websites, where jobs are posted and regularly updated.
When these searches are used depends upon the goals of the law firm. Contingency searches are used by most law firms for a variety of positions in practice areas in which they may have their strongest practices and don't have problems attracting candidates through a variety of sources.
Benefits of a Contingency Search
A contingency search is most effective when there is a large pool of candidates available in the marketplace. One of the most attractive features of the contingency search is that a law firm can receive a large volume of resumes from a variety of sources and a correspondingly higher number of potential candidates.
Drawbacks of a Contingency Search
Unfortunately, contingency searches tend to render job descriptions that are less defined. Thus, the law firm will receive an overabundance of candidates that may not be reflective what they are actually looking for. Because a contingency search is less focused than an exclusive or retained search (discussed later), it often results in a lack of effective and focused screening and the jobs are usually not as clearly defined and profiled. The result is that it usually takes the firm longer to find the right candidate. A successful outcome in a contingency search is much more beyond the control of the recruiter than it is in an exclusive or retained search. The overwhelming volume of resumes a law firm receives requires an enormous effort on the part of the law firm's recruiting department to screen and manage those resumes. More significant are the facts that many qualified candidates (and perhaps those a law firm would really want to target, who are not necessarily looking) may not even come across the desk of the recruiter and the attractive candidates that are being presented are most likely also being sent to other competing law firms. Although certainly effective for some types of searches, one could argue based on these drawbacks that the contingency search leaves much to be desired. Thus, a law firm may opt to engage a search firm's services for either an exclusive or a retained search.
Exclusive Search
A law firm may seek to engage the services of a search firm for a specified period of time, within which the search firm will have the exclusive rights to fill the position. This is most often referred to as an exclusive search arrangement. Under this arrangement, a law firm agrees to allow the search firm exclusive rights to the position for a set period of time and does not give any other search firm the right to fill the position during that time. Generally, in exchange for the exclusive right to fill the position, the search firm will agree to give the law firm exclusive rights to the candidates they present to the firm during the exclusivity period. Exclusive arrangements can run for varied periods of time and are generally negotiable. Firms may, in fact, have identified candidates already that they would like a search firm to contact on their behalf. Alternatively, firms may ask the search firm to identify viable candidates based on the criteria they give them and contact them to determine their interest. Unlike most contingency searches, the qualifications of the candidates, the goals of the practice group, and the firm's overall objectives for hiring are carefully outlined and discussed here.
Retained Search
One step above the exclusive search is the retained search. Clearly, essential to the success of the exclusive and/or retained search is engaging a professional and ethical search firm that is discreet and will conduct its representation in the most ethical and professional manner. Also important is defining exactly what the law firm is looking for in light of its current practice development and overall strategic-planning goals. Identifying the key attributes, experience, and skills needed in the target candidate(s) is also essential to the process; the more informed the search consultant is about these attributes, the more likely the search consultant will be able to efficiently and effectively prequalify candidates on behalf of the firm.
The retained search is the most advanced and specialized search. It is, in fact, the most aggressive search a search firm can conduct on behalf of a law firm. Here, the law firm pays the search firm an up-front retainer that is nonrefundable, but is later applied toward the overall placement fee. In return, the search firm agrees during the agreed-upon exclusive period to devote most, if not all, of its time and energy to filling the position. In a retained search, because the search firm is being paid up front, the search firm is extremely motivated and committed to focus on the search and devote its time to filling the position. Likewise, the law firm, having paid an advance, is very engaged in the process and has confidence in the search firm it engages. In contrast to the contingency search and the exclusive search, the recruiter working on retainer is feeling the pressure to deliver exactly what the firm is looking for within a specified period of time. Search consultants operating under a retainer rarely spend any time on any other searches and can often devote hundreds of hours to filling the position(s). These searches are not entered into without a strong commitment between the law firm and the search firm. Because funds are being advanced, each party is fully engaged in the process.
Key to the success of exclusive or retained searches is the law firm's willingness to supply helpful information to the search firm and set up meetings between the search consultant and relevant partners in the firm. The law firm must also be open to addressing any obstacles the search consultant brings to the law firm's attention during the search process, as well as any perceptions about the law firm that may be present in the marketplace that could impede the search firm's progress. Perhaps most important, the law firm must be realistic about its ability to attract and compensate associates and partners it intends to target.
Benefits of an Exclusive/Retained Search
Exclusive/retained searches are very specialized because the pool of identifiable candidates is often smaller. Therefore, candidates often get the sense that they are one of only a few being targeted by a search firm. Here, search consultants are tapping into already-established relationships and will be able to provide candidates who are ready to make a move. Because the search consultant is retained by the law firm, the search shifts toward the firm and not the candidate. The search firm gains a better sense of position, job specifications, and the law firm generally through extensive discussions with the law firm's recruiting professionals, practice group management, and firm management. There is a real burden on the search firm to deliver, as it has been paid up front. There are other benefits that a law firm receives by engaging a search firm in an exclusive or retained search. They include:
- A completely client-driven focus
- Exclusivity to candidates (all candidates are solely the law firm's for the duration of the search process)
- Assistance from the search firm in creating a candidate profile
- Competitive information remains confidential
- Candidates are screened against the law firm's specifications
- The law firm has the ability to maintain anonymity throughout the screening process
- Written references and covert references are provided by the search firm, if requested
- The law firm has the ability to negotiate indirectly with candidates through the search firm
- The law firm can completely define the search to target candidates with specialized skills
- While contacting potential candidates, the search firm provides direct and personalized marketing for the law firm
- The search firm conducts original research on behalf of the law firm, targeting candidates based on a pre-established profile
Drawbacks of an Exclusive/Retained Search
There are probably two primary perceived drawbacks to an exclusive or retained search. The first is obvious: the retainer. Lawyers and law firms are not accustomed to paying up front for services that have not been rendered, so selling this concept to a law firm is often difficult. However, the retainer provides the added incentive and burden for the search firm to focus, commit a significant amount of time, and deliver the best-quality candidates.
Second, the idea of allowing one search firm to have the exclusive rights to a particular search can lead a law firm to believe that it is narrowing the field of potential candidates. This fear will be alleviated when the law firm recognizes the necessity and advantage of having one reputable and focused professional in the marketplace representing its best interest.
Perhaps less obvious is the more obscure drawback that involves a law firm's ability to attract the types of associates/partners they wish to target. If a law firm does not have the ability to provide what is missing in a potential associate or partner's practice, long-term vision for his/her career, or compensation package, then the search consultant may be spinning his/her wheels. A law firm must accurately define what it is looking for and assess whether it can, in fact, realistically live up to the claims it will be making to potential candidates.
All three searches described above can be very effective vehicles for recruiting professionals, managing partners, and hiring partners to delegate their lateral-hiring needs to search firms, thereby reducing their workload and freeing up time for their other responsibilities. Recognizing the perceived benefits and drawbacks of each type of search is of paramount importance when identifying which search might be the most effective means of successfully hiring top-quality lateral associates and partners.
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How to Hire a Legal Recruiter for Your Law Firm: How Law Firms Recruit Attorneys Using Legal Recruiters |
About Harrison Barnes
No legal recruiter in the United States has placed more attorneys at top law firms across every practice area than Harrison Barnes. His unmatched expertise, industry connections, and proven placement strategies have made him the most influential legal career advisor for attorneys seeking success in Big Law, elite boutiques, mid-sized firms, small firms, firms in the largest and smallest markets, and in over 350 separate practice areas.
A Reach Unlike Any Other Legal Recruiter
Most legal recruiters focus only on placing attorneys in large markets or specific practice areas, but Harrison places attorneys at all levels, in all practice areas, and in all locations-from the most prestigious firms in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., to small and mid-sized firms in rural markets. Every week, he successfully places attorneys not only in high-demand practice areas like corporate and litigation but also in niche and less commonly recruited areas such as:
- Immigration Law
- Workers Compensation
- Insurance
- Family Law
- Trust and Estate
- Municipal law
- And many more...
This breadth of placements is unheard of in the legal recruiting industry and is a testament to his extraordinary ability to connect attorneys with the right firms, regardless of market size or practice area.
Proven Success at All Levels
With over 25 years of experience, Harrison has successfully placed attorneys at over 1,000 law firms, including:
- Top Am Law 100 firms such including Sullivan and Cromwell, and almost every AmLaw 100 and AmLaw 200 law firm.
- Elite boutique firms with specialized practices
- Mid-sized firms looking to expand their practice areas
- Growing firms in small and rural markets
He has also placed hundreds of law firm partners and has worked on firm and practice area mergers, helping law firms strategically grow their teams.
Unmatched Commitment to Attorney Success - The Story of BCG Attorney Search
Harrison Barnes is not just the most effective legal recruiter in the country, he is also the founder of BCG Attorney Search, a recruiting powerhouse that has helped thousands of attorneys transform their careers. His vision for BCG goes beyond just job placement; it is built on a mission to provide attorneys with opportunities they would never have access to otherwise. Unlike traditional recruiting firms, BCG Attorney Search operates as a career partner, not just a placement service. The firm's unparalleled resources, including a team of over 150 employees, enable it to offer customized job searches, direct outreach to firms, and market intelligence that no other legal recruiting service provides. Attorneys working with Harrison and BCG gain access to hidden opportunities, real-time insights on firm hiring trends, and guidance from a team that truly understands the legal market. You can read more about how BCG Attorney Search revolutionizes legal recruiting here: The Story of BCG Attorney Search and What We Do for You.
The Most Trusted Career Advisor for Attorneys
Harrison's legal career insights are the most widely followed in the profession.
- His articles on BCG Search alone are read by over 150,000 attorneys per month, making his guidance the most sought-after in the legal field. Read his latest insights here.
- He has conducted hundreds of hours of career development webinars, available here: Harrison Barnes Webinar Replays.
- His placement success is unmatched-see examples here: Harrison Barnes' Attorney Placements.
- He has created numerous comprehensive career development courses, including BigLaw Breakthrough, designed to help attorneys land positions at elite law firms.
Submit Your Resume to Work with Harrison Barnes
If you are serious about advancing your legal career and want access to the most sought-after law firm opportunities, Harrison Barnes is the most powerful recruiter to have on your side.
Submit your resume today to start working with him: Submit Resume Here
With an unmatched track record of success, a vast team of over 150 dedicated employees, and a reach into every market and practice area, Harrison Barnes is the recruiter who makes career transformations happen and has the talent and resources behind him to make this happen.
A Relentless Commitment to Attorney Success
Unlike most recruiters who work with only a narrow subset of attorneys, Harrison Barnes works with lawyers at all stages of their careers, from junior associates to senior partners, in every practice area imaginable. His placements are not limited to only those with "elite" credentials-he has helped thousands of attorneys, including those who thought it was impossible to move firms, find their next great opportunity.
Harrison's work is backed by a team of over 150 professionals who work around the clock to uncover hidden job opportunities at law firms across the country. His team:
- Finds and creates job openings that aren't publicly listed, giving attorneys access to exclusive opportunities.
- Works closely with candidates to ensure their resumes and applications stand out.
- Provides ongoing guidance and career coaching to help attorneys navigate interviews, negotiations, and transitions successfully.
This level of dedicated support is unmatched in the legal recruiting industry.
A Legal Recruiter Who Changes Lives
Harrison believes that every attorney-no matter their background, law school, or previous experience-has the potential to find success in the right law firm environment. Many attorneys come to him feeling stuck in their careers, underpaid, or unsure of their next steps. Through his unique ability to identify the right opportunities, he helps attorneys transform their careers in ways they never thought possible.
He has worked with:
- Attorneys making below-market salaries who went on to double or triple their earnings at new firms.
- Senior attorneys who believed they were "too experienced" to make a move and found better roles with firms eager for their expertise.
- Attorneys in small or remote markets who assumed they had no options-only to be placed at strong firms they never knew existed.
- Partners looking for a better platform or more autonomy who successfully transitioned to firms where they could grow their practice.
For attorneys who think their options are limited, Harrison Barnes has proven time and time again that opportunities exist-often in places they never expected.
Submit Your Resume Today - Start Your Career Transformation
If you want to explore new career opportunities, Harrison Barnes and BCG Attorney Search are your best resources. Whether you are looking for a BigLaw position, a boutique firm, or a move to a better work environment, Harrison's expertise will help you take control of your future.
Submit Your Resume Here to get started with Harrison Barnes today.
Harrison's reach, experience, and proven results make him the best legal recruiter in the industry. Don't settle for an average recruiter-work with the one who has changed the careers of thousands of attorneys and can do the same for you.
About BCG Attorney Search
BCG Attorney Search matches attorneys and law firms with unparalleled expertise and drive, while achieving results. Known globally for its success in locating and placing attorneys in law firms of all sizes, BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys in law firms in thousands of different law firms around the country. Unlike other legal placement firms, BCG Attorney Search brings massive resources of over 150 employees to its placement efforts locating positions and opportunities its competitors simply cannot. Every legal recruiter at BCG Attorney Search is a former successful attorney who attended a top law school, worked in top law firms and brought massive drive and commitment to their work. BCG Attorney Search legal recruiters take your legal career seriously and understand attorneys. For more information, please visit www.BCGSearch.com.
Harrison Barnes does a weekly free webinar with live Q&A for attorneys and law students each Wednesday at 10:00 am PST. You can attend anonymously and ask questions about your career, this article, or any other legal career-related topics. You can sign up for the weekly webinar here: Register on Zoom
Harrison also does a weekly free webinar with live Q&A for law firms, companies, and others who hire attorneys each Wednesday at 10:00 am PST. You can sign up for the weekly webinar here: Register on Zoom
You can browse a list of past webinars here: Webinar Replays
You can also listen to Harrison Barnes Podcasts here: Attorney Career Advice Podcasts
You can also read Harrison Barnes' articles and books here: Harrison's Perspectives
Harrison Barnes is the legal profession's mentor and may be the only person in your legal career who will tell you why you are not reaching your full potential and what you really need to do to grow as an attorney--regardless of how much it hurts. If you prefer truth to stagnation, growth to comfort, and actionable ideas instead of fluffy concepts, you and Harrison will get along just fine. If, however, you want to stay where you are, talk about your past successes, and feel comfortable, Harrison is not for you.
Truly great mentors are like parents, doctors, therapists, spiritual figures, and others because in order to help you they need to expose you to pain and expose your weaknesses. But suppose you act on the advice and pain created by a mentor. In that case, you will become better: a better attorney, better employees, a better boss, know where you are going, and appreciate where you have been--you will hopefully also become a happier and better person. As you learn from Harrison, he hopes he will become your mentor.
To read more career and life advice articles visit Harrison's personal blog.
