Page 6 - 2014_0203_SSPartnership

S6 | MONDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2014 | Partnership
| NYLJ.COM

A Behind-the-Scenes
ful and thriving legal practice and a solid
reputation in the marketplace.
In this article we will attempt to dispel

Look at Partner Recruiting
some of the mystery involved in the recruiting
process to reveal how candidates are evalu-
ated, describe what differentiates successful
candidates from their peers and suggest what
candidates can do to increase their chances
of getting to an offer. We start with questions Improve your chances of getting an offer.
lateral partner candidates should ask them-
selves before submitting their materials to
a law firm.

Why Are You Looking to Move?

It may seem obvious, but before meeting
with a potential new firm, you should make
sure you can articulate a clear and well-
reasoned response when asked why you’re
looking to make a move because you can be

sure that will be foremost in the interviewer’s
mind. As an example, instead of just saying
you need lower billing rates, be prepared to
point out a few instances where you lost work
due to rate pressure and highlight specific
opportunities you expect to have at a plat-
form with more rate flexibility. It is easy to
speculate that you will originate more work if
you can offer clients a lower billing rate, how-

ever without any reasonable examples to back
that up, a new firm likely won’t give you any
credit for the additional work you anticipate
will materialize. What they will infer is that
the dollar value of your estimated portable
practice will be lower than originally stated
if you reduce your rate, possibly making you
a less desirable candidate. By anticipating
this issue and illustrating exactly how you

intend to grow your practice by lowering your
rates, a firm likely will be impressed by your
preparedness and more inclined to support
your vision.
As another example, if you are looking
to move because you have run up against
a significant conflict, make sure you have
done your research about each prospective

firm’s client roster and be prepared to explain
the context of your situation in detail. If you
are currently conflicted out of representing
client X, who is doing the work for that cli-
ent in the interim? What assurances do you
have that you can recapture that work at a
new platform? If this conflict has existed for
some time, why didn’t you choose to switch
firms sooner? There may be excellent, valid

answers to all these questions; if you’ve got
them at the ready, you’ll make yourself that CK
much stronger a candidate.
TO
Many candidates will say they are not BIGS
necessarily looking to move, but agreed to
a meeting after a particularly compelling one of very few ways for law firms to increase mutual. And no matter how many other
conversation with a recruiter. It may well BY JENNIFER MARKMAN their revenue. For some practice areas, the options a candidate may have, this is still
be that you are relatively content at your competition for talent is especially fierce, a rejection. As someone interviewing for a
current firm; however, there must be some AND KATHERINE BRANDT
making lateral candidates with these practices prospective job, you always want to make a
A
room for improvement or you would not tfirst glance, partners with portable feel they are in the driver’s seat when it comes great impression, and you want the ultimate
have agreed to meet with a new firm. Even practices who are interested in switch- to selecting their new law firm. Firms tend to decision to be yours. But even more impor-
if the idea of moving is new to you and you ing law firms appear to have an array of be candid about the practice areas they are tantly, you want to get off on the right foot
are not fully convinced that you are ready options. Law firms are aware of the fact that seeking to grow and the minimum thresholds with everyone you meet during the recruiting
to proceed, you should still be prepared to corporate legal budgets are being slashed, of portable business they require, so identify- process, because beyond influencing your
discuss what brought you to the table—if companies are keeping more legal work in- ing a potential fit seems like it should be easy.
opportunities at a particular law firm, those
not, you risk sending the message that you house and the competition for outsourced Yet all too often candidates and exter- you meet may have the ability to affect your
are essentially wasting the interviewers’ time. work is extremely fierce, so attracting lateral nal recruiters are puzzled as to why a firm overall reputation in the legal community

After one or two meetings it is certainly pos- partners with successful portable practices is
decides to reject a particular partner, par- and might possibly impact the amount of
sible you’ll abandon the idea of a move and ticularly when, on paper at least, that partner work referred to you. Paths cross often and
appreciate your current platform more than seems to have exactly the characteristics the in unexpected ways. By establishing posi-
ever. But you don’t want to get to that point JENNIFER MARKMAN is the recruiting manager at firm is seeking. From time to time candidates tive relationships, you not only improve
with a damaged reputation in the view of Thompson Hine in New York and KATHERINE BRANDT return from meetings energized about an your chances of getting to an offer, you also
everyone you’ve met in the interim. Make
is the partner-in-charge of the New York office.
opportunity only to learn the feeling isn’t
enhance your ability to sustain a success-