Overview
This role manages the organization’s recruiting function with a primary focus on lateral attorney recruitment and additional responsibility for administrative and professional staff recruiting. You will oversee the full recruiting lifecycle—from identifying approved hiring needs through candidate sourcing, interviewing, selection, offer acceptance, and transition to onboarding—while ensuring an organized, responsive, and professional experience for candidates and firm leadership.
You will work closely with Managing Partners, Practice Group Leaders, and other hiring managers to translate staffing needs into recruiting strategies, develop candidate pipelines, manage relationships with external recruiters, coordinate recruiting activities and administration, and provide leadership visibility into recruiting activity and market conditions.
Responsibilities
Attorney Recruiting & Search Management
- Manage the full lifecycle of lateral attorney recruiting from approved hiring need through accepted offer.
- Partner with Managing Partners, Practice Group Leaders, and hiring attorneys to understand staffing needs, position requirements, experience levels, and desired candidate profiles.
- Develop an appropriate recruiting approach for each open position based on seniority, practice area, market conditions, and urgency.
- Review candidate submissions and resumes and conduct initial candidate screening.
- Present qualified candidates to hiring attorneys with relevant background and recruiting context.
- Coordinate conflicts, background checks, references, and other pre-employment requirements with appropriate internal resources.
Candidate Management & Experience
- Serve as the primary point of contact for candidates throughout the recruiting process.
- Develop strong relationships with prospective candidates and maintain consistent, professional, and timely communication.
- Conduct initial candidate conversations to evaluate experience, career objectives, compensation expectations, availability, and alignment with the opportunity.
- Ensure candidates receive timely communication regarding next steps and hiring decisions.
- Maintain relationships with strong prospective candidates who may be appropriate for future opportunities.
- Ensure the candidate experience reflects professionalism, responsiveness, and organizational values.
Recruiting Administration & Coordination
Own and coordinate administrative aspects of the recruiting process, including:
- Schedule candidate interviews involving attorneys, firm leadership, and administrative team members across multiple calendars and time zones.
- Prepare and distribute interview schedules, videoconference information, candidate resumes, biographies, and other interview materials.
- Maintain accurate candidate status information within applicable recruiting systems, spreadsheets, and trackers.
- Post approved positions to appropriate job boards, professional organizations, and other recruiting channels.
- Coordinate background checks, reference checks, conflict reviews, and other pre-employment processes.
- Prepare draft offer letters and other recruiting documentation following appropriate approvals.
- Maintain recruiting agency agreements, candidate ownership information, fee documentation, and related records.
- Coordinate recruiting-related invoices and expenses with Finance.
Interview & Selection Process
- Develop appropriate interview processes based on the position and level of hire.
- Identify appropriate interview participants in consultation with hiring attorneys and firm leadership.
- Coordinate interview logistics and ensure participants receive necessary information in advance.
- Develop or maintain candidate evaluation tools and interview guidance.
- Establish processes for timely collection and documentation of interviewer feedback.
- Facilitate post-interview discussions and help hiring teams evaluate candidate strengths, concerns, and overall fit.
- Identify unnecessary delays or inefficiencies in the interview process and recommend improvements.
External Recruiter & Search Firm Management
- Manage relationships with external legal recruiters and search firms.
- Develop and maintain a network of recruiting partners with expertise in the organization’s practice areas.
- Determine when external recruiter support is appropriate for individual searches in consultation with leadership.
- Communicate position requirements and candidate expectations clearly to recruiters.
- Review and route recruiter submissions appropriately.
- Monitor recruiter responsiveness, candidate quality, placement success, and overall performance.
- Maintain recruiting agreements, fee structures, candidate ownership records, and related documentation.
- Coordinate with Finance regarding placement fees and recruiting expenses.
- Identify opportunities to reduce unnecessary reliance on external recruiters through direct sourcing and internal candidate development.
Direct Sourcing & Talent Pipeline Development
- Develop proactive sourcing strategies for priority and difficult-to-fill positions.
- Identify prospective candidates through professional networks, LinkedIn, industry organizations, referrals, legal directories, and other appropriate resources.
- Conduct direct outreach to prospective lateral candidates.
- Develop and maintain relationships with candidates who may not be ready to make an immediate move.
- Build talent pipelines for practice areas and positions in which the organization anticipates recurring hiring needs.
Offer Management & Pre-Hire Transition
- Coordinate the offer process in partnership with HR, Finance, and appropriate firm leadership.
- Gather candidate compensation expectations and other information necessary to support offer decisions.
- Prepare offer documentation following appropriate internal approvals.
- Maintain regular communication with candidates between offer acceptance and start date.
- Coordinate a clear and timely handoff to Human Resources and Firm Operations for onboarding.
Final compensation decisions, employment terms, and hiring approvals remain with the organization’s designated leadership.
Administrative & Professional Staff Recruiting
- Manage recruiting for administrative and professional staff positions as assigned.
- Partner with COO and other relevant department leaders to identify position requirements, qualifications, and candidate profiles.
- Develop sourcing strategies appropriate to the position.
- Screen candidates and manage interview processes.
- Coordinate associated scheduling, communication, documentation, and follow-up.
- Manage external agencies when appropriate.
- Support offer preparation and candidate transition into onboarding.
- Ensure a consistent and professional candidate experience across attorney and non-attorney recruiting.
Recruiting Operations & Process Improvement
- Develop and maintain standardized recruiting workflows, procedures, templates, checklists, and documentation.
- Establish clear recruiting processes from hiring authorization through onboarding handoff.
- Identify opportunities to streamline, standardize, or automate recurring recruiting activities.
- Evaluate recruiting technology and tools and recommend improvements as appropriate.
- Maintain appropriate recruiting calendars and annual planning resources.
- Develop resources and guidance for attorneys participating in interviews.
- Establish appropriate service expectations for candidate and hiring-manager communication.
- Periodically evaluate the effectiveness of recruiting processes and recommend improvements.
- Partner with Human Resources and Firm Operations to ensure seamless transitions from recruiting into onboarding and employment.
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience.
- Approximately 5–8+ years of progressive recruiting experience, preferably including substantial attorney or legal recruiting experience.
- Experience recruiting lateral attorneys strongly preferred.
- Experience working in a law firm or professional services environment required.
- Familiarity with legal recruiters, search firms, attorney compensation structures, and the lateral attorney market preferred.
- Experience working directly with partners, executives, or senior-level hiring managers.
- Demonstrated experience with candidate sourcing and pipeline development.
- Experience with applicant tracking systems, recruiting technology, LinkedIn Recruiter, or comparable sourcing tools preferred.
- Experience supervising or mentoring recruiting or administrative staff is preferred but not required.
- Strong proficiency with Microsoft Office and related business technology.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience recruiting lateral attorneys.
- Familiarity with attorney compensation structures and the lateral attorney market.
- Experience with recruiting technology and sourcing tools (including applicant tracking systems and LinkedIn Recruiter or comparable platforms).
- Experience supervising or mentoring recruiting or administrative staff.
Compensation & Benefits
- Health, dental, vision, Rx, long-term disability, short-term disability, and life insurance.
- PTO and paid holidays.
- 401(k) with annual employer contribution.
- Fully remote work, allowing employees to work from home.
Location
Fully remote.