Trademark Attorney at a Small Law Firm in New York City Placed with a Major New York Law Firm

The attorney was a good candidate for potentially moving to a larger law firm because of a couple of reasons. First, the attorney had graduated very highly ranked in the law school class. Second, the attorney was very focused on trademark related work and their entire career have been spent doing this. Third, the attorney had a technical background in college and is taken the past patent and trademark exam. While the patent and trademark exam is not something that is necessary for someone to be a trademark attorney, it is something that gives and that level of credibility to attorneys in the IP field. Fourth, the attorney had done a lot of outside writing on trademark related issues and had a lot of credibility in the field. Fifth, the attorney was in the third year of practice and at a point where their experience was quite marketable.
 
I started out contacting the few firms that had openings for trademark attorneys. Because the attorney was at such a small law firm most large law firms with openings were more interested in attorneys with better qualifications coming from other large law firms. There are typically not very many trademark openings at any one time in most markets in New York is no exception. With an absence of openings, it can be very difficult for trademark attorneys to find new positions when they want them.
 
In cases such as this, I have found that it’s often productive to market candidates to law firms that have strong trademark practices but do not necessarily have any openings. To that end, I contacted several law firms and explained in general terms the attorney’s background and tried to get them interested in the potential addition to the trademark practice. I was able to interest several law firms in seeing the attorneys resume. Once I had interested these law firms in seeing his resume, I was able to get one law firm interested in interviewing the candidate. The attorney went out on an interview and was able to get a position.
 
In many practice areas such as trademark, a good legal recruiter needs to be able to create positions where none exist in the market. Here, I was able to generate interest for this attorney in the market without any current positions. What made this task easier for me was the strength of the attorney’s background as a trademark attorney and how many things they had done right. This attorney deserved to be working in a larger law firm and I was happy to have them achieve that goal.