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The Standard in Attorney Search and Placement
Let me start by saying that it is, unfortunately, very, very difficult for a Recruiter to place an unemployed Associate or Partner candidate at a law firm. Whether the candidate was laid off, fired or left the firm on his or her own accord, sometimes for a very good reason, future potential employers will assume the worst. The employer is much likelier to give the candidate's previous firm the benefit of the doubt rather than the candidate, and will think that the candidate doesn't play well with others, is a quitter, produces low quality work product, etc. Candidates who are unemployed will often do better applying directly to firms, or applying through internal referrals at firms, rather than going through a Recruiter. READ MORE >
Let me begin this case study by underlining the fact that it is very, very difficult for Associates to transition from one practice area to another, even at a junior level. I rarely, rarely see this done in my own practice. If a candidate is able to do this, usually it is because he or she is still very junior and 1) he or she applies through a friend at the firm (especially if the friend is in the practice area that he or she wants to transition to), 2) his or her practice area is closely related to the new practice area or 3) he or she has a demonstrated background and interest in the practice area that he or she is transitioning to, either in terms of law school classes, clubs, previous careers, etc. READ MORE >
I should mention right off the bat that I rarely work with Plaintiff-side Labor & Employment candidates. This is for several reasons: 1) these candidates usually apply on their own and get very quick traction on their own, 2) most of the openings in P-side Labor & Employment are at very small firms that often do not want to pay Recruiter fees and 3) even if a firm is willing to pay a Recruiter fee, I find that there is usually very high turnover at P-side Labor & Employment firms, and it is hard to find one with a good culture that I feel good sending my candidates to. READ MORE >
Recent law school graduates who are coming off of a clerkship can be a tough proposition for a Legal Recruiter. It is a lot easier for us to place candidates who left their firm, did a clerkship and are now looking to go back to a firm, than a candidate who went straight to a clerkship after law school and are now looking to land at their first firm. Another element of difficulty is added when the candidate is coming off of a Bankruptcy clerkship. Ideally, these candidates would land in a Bankruptcy position or at a Bankruptcy boutique firm, but these positions and firms are very few and far between, especially in this stronger economy (however, Bankruptcy will probably see a resurgence if the economy experiences a slowdown or recession). READ MORE >
I very recently placed an LLM candidate at a top Am Law 100 firm in Silicon Valley. I really didn't think that I would be able to place her. It is very, very hard to place LLM candidates. This candidate had reached out to me on LinkedIn, asking for help with her search. I found her profile in my company's database from a previous contact with my company, and saw that she had been rejected as a candidate that we didn't think that we could work with or place. I was, as a result, initially very on the fence about working with her. I hadn't previously had success with LLM candidates, and she currently worked at the Silicon Valley office of a Chinese law firm (a law firm that probably would be unrecognizable to most firms). However, she had several things going for her: 1) she is Chinese and speaks Mandarin fluently, 2) she was at one of the best Chinese law firms (and we could say so in her cover letter), 3) she is an American citizen and therefore has her green card, 4) she has sophisticated and high-level General Corporate and cross-border M&A /Venture Capital experience and 5) perhaps most importantly, she had previously worked at a top American Am Law 100 firm in Shanghai for a couple of years before lateraling to her current firm (she had wanted to move to the Bay Area to be with her American husband, but wasn't able to land at an American law firm at that time). I think that what really saved this candidate was that she speaks fluent Mandarin, regularly works in Mandarin and with Chinese clients, and that she worked at a top American Am Law 100 firm in the past. If she had only had experience at the Chinese law firm, I think that her search would have been a lot more difficult. READ MORE >
I recently worked with a candidate who was different from any other candidate that I had previously worked with. To her credit, she had great academic credentials – she graduated from a top five law school and a solid undergraduate school with top grades from the latter. However, she was currently in a policy fellowship at the headquarters of a renowned tech company in Washington, DC, had no law firm experience, either post-graduation or during her law school summers, and her resume was heavily public-interest focused (which can raise a red flag in law firms' minds about a candidate's commitment to going to a firm and staying there long-term). During her 2L summer, she did serve as a Legal Intern at a renowned government agency, and obtained some antitrust-related legal research and writing experience there, but otherwise her experience was mostly in international human rights and international justice. READ MORE >
One of the many advantages to using a Recruiter, in particular BCG, for your lateral law firm is that we have honed some very close relationships with and connections to our client firms, and these firms therefore take our candidates seriously, even preferencing them over other candidates that may apply on their own. We have relationships with all different sizes of firms boutique, mid-sized and Big Law firm. Whereas a lot of Recruiting companies only work with Am Law 100 and 200 firms, we work with everything from mom and pop solo practices all the way up to Big Law firms. This placement was with a tiny plaintiff-side Labor & Employment / consumer class action firm (I have spoken with Recruiters at other companies, and they do not work with Plaintiff-side Labor & Employment firms). READ MORE >
I first met this candidate in February 2019, when she reached out to us about a litigation opening we had posted on the BCG website. This candidate was very junior, law school class of 2018, and had attended a regional law school. She had, however, excelled in law school, graduating ranked second in her class and serving on the executive board of her school's law review. After reviewing her resume, I reached out to the candidate via text message and set up an introductory phone call for the next day. READ MORE >
Every time that I place a candidate at a law firm, I try to take away some lesson, or some rule that I can apply to other candidates. Of course, it is hard to do this, as every candidate is different in his or her own unique way (his or her "unique value proposition", as my CEO calls it). But there are always some general overarching themes that I take away from each candidate, and the same is true for the candidate that I just placed. READ MORE >
Every candidate placement teaches me something and adds valuable data to my Recruiter knowledge bank. Occasionally, a candidate placement will challenge preconceived notions that I've held about certain types of candidates and whether or not they are marketable. In the case of the candidate that I just placed, the idea that was challenged was that unemployed candidates are by and large unmarketable, and that once you've left Big Law, you're never going back. READ MORE >
The candidate that I just placed, a Class of 2016 Associate at a Big Law firm in Portland, taught me a couple of valuable lessons: 1) Candidates come to you at all different points of their lateral firm searches. Some are ready to hit the ground running and apply broadly, others are interested to see what's on the market, but perhaps only want to submit a couple of applications or a couple of feelers, and still others are not ready to get their search started quite yet, but want to establish a relationship with a Recruiter for when they are ready to hit the ground running. READ MORE >
The lateral hiring process can be very quick or it can take several months to a year or more. In the case of this candidate, the process was very, very quick! Before I placed this candidate, the quickest that I had experienced was about two weeks. In the case of this candidate, the process took only a week to slightly less than a week - six days! READ MORE >
Making a lateral move as an experienced attorney without a book of business is possible, if you have specialized experience in a busy practice area. READ MORE >
An appellate litigator in his fourteenth year of practice with top credentials who was a (non-equity) partner at an extremely well-regarded firm left his firm to take a high-level position with the government. When the security clearance process started taking too long, coupled with the fact that the new administration was taking actions his wife found questionable, the attorney began to reevaluate the move. READ MORE >
This was an interesting placement! READ MORE >
This placement was a very interesting one. I'd been working with a junior to mid-level Labor & Employment candidate since the end of July. She was never very responsive to me, but did approve fairly large batches of firms in July, August, and September. She didn't want to send me her transcript (apparently her grades were not good) and did not tell me when she left her firm in August. I realized on my own that she had left her firm sometime after August, as she was no longer on her firm's website. However, at the end of November, she became much more responsive. I started approaching her with several Labor & Employment opportunities, both Plaintiff's Side and Defense, and it turned out that the firm that she had accepted on her own in August was terrible and she wanted to leave as soon as possible. READ MORE >
I usually find and bring in new candidates by texting and emailing candidates through my company's database, or by emailing lawyers at their firm email addresses outside of our database. I do occasionally have prospective candidates reach out to me by LinkedIn personal message, which I always really appreciate, and this was the case with the candidate whom I just placed. READ MORE >
We are finding that 2016 law school graduates are just starting to be marketable now. I have been working with a 2016 graduate since the end of October, and have only very recently placed him. He is currently at a very small firm in Los Angeles (practically a solo practitioner's office), and was looking to make an upward move in his career to a bigger firm. We did get him an interview almost immediately after submitting him in October, but the firm's feedback was that while they really liked him, his experience was too limited and for too short of a period of time. READ MORE >
A corporate attorney in Texas was interested in relocating to the San Diego area. Her husband was with a military and going to be stationed in the area. The attorney had excellent qualifications and overall very strong skills as a corporate attorney with a major law firm. In addition, anticipating the move to California the attorney had taken the bar exam while working a rigorous schedule in the current firm. READ MORE >
An attorney from a top law firm in Detroit contacted me looking to relocate to New York City. The attorney had been a referral from an attorney that I had placed from a firm in Detroit in a major city as well. The attorney had attended a local law school and did not have the sort of qualifications that attorneys typically have in major New York law firms; however, the attorney was with a major law firm and had gotten very good experience with this firm both as a summer associate and associate within the firm. The attorney had also done exceptionally well at the law school they attended. READ MORE >
A trademark attorney with a small law firm in New York City contacted me looking to move to a larger law firm. While the attorney was working for a law firm, this firm did not comprise more than a few other attorneys. The attorneys practice was solely doing trademark related work that they had good experience doing it. The attorney had attended college in New York City and also who graduated from a local New York law school where they had been a night student. READ MORE >
An unemployed bankruptcy attorney in Chicago contacted me seeking a new position in Chicago. The attorney had gone to a top law school in college and lost their position after approximately a year and a half practice. In addition, the attorney had somewhat of an unusual background because they had never gotten a position as a summer associate either. They had run into trouble getting their first job out of law school and had worked in a public interest job for a year before getting their first position. READ MORE >
A bankruptcy attorney who originally worked in New York City after law school had left to go to a smaller East Coast market. The attorney had been in the smaller market for the past few years when they decided that they wanted to return to the fast pace of New York City. This was unusual, most New York City attorneys leave this market and go to work in smaller markets because there is more perceived opportunity, fewer hours and it appears to make more sense for them as a place to settle down. Here, this attorney was making the opposite move and wanted to work in the most competitive firms they could find in New York City. READ MORE >
A contract attorney currently working at a law firm in the Midwest contacted me looking to move to Seattle. The attorney had excellent qualifications but the firm they were currently working for was not that busy. In fact, the attorney only had enough work to keep themselves busy as a contract attorney. The attorney had excellent qualifications but because a law firm did not have enough work, they were interested in investigating other opportunities. The attorney spent time in Seattle with friends and thought a move there would be something they would enjoy. READ MORE >
An attorney who spent the past year working as a contract attorney contacted me looking to transition back to a large law firm. The attorney had been out of school for several years; however, prior to becoming a contract attorney the attorney had worked for several years in major Texas law firms. The attorney also had excellent law firm experience with these firms and a good law school pedigree. In addition, the attorney was a hard worker and someone that I knew would succeed if they found the right firm. READ MORE >
MORE RESOURCES
"[BCG was] very pro-active. I thought [they had] expansive thinking as far as different..." Read more James FicenecUniversity of California, Berkeley, Class Of 1989Placed at Newmeyer & Dillion, L.L.P.
"I had a really good experience. My recruiter was great, she was very responsive. I loved..." Read moreFrank SciremammanoSyracuse University College of Law, Class of 2012
"I really appreciate that BCG kept me up to date on the openings and found those for me and..." Read more Joseph VenierUniversity of Michigan Law School, Class Of 2017Placed at Lerner David Littenberg Krumholz & Mentlik LLP
"Besides the fact that I got the job, the recruiter I worked with was friendly. You guys are..." Read moreEric LauritsenDuke Law School, Class Of 2014Placed at Greenberg Traurig, L.L.P
"Christina was great. She listened to what I wanted. She worked really hard and found me..." Read moreS. S.UC Hastings College of the Law, Class Of 2011Placed at Solomon Ward Seidenwurm & Smith LLP.
"It was really easy to work with [BCG Attorney Search]. I was able to get a wide variety of options that I may not..." Read more Erin KaprelianNew York University School of Law, Class Of 2009Placed at Swissport USA, Inc.
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