Those of us at Kinney Recruiting have built a lot of connections and friendships over the years with law firm partners and staff. Luckily, most of us are likeable most of the time, and we don’t have many enemies (though there are a few small firms and one large firm out there who don’t like us because we made them pay their bills when they would rather have not, but that’s another story).

So we tend to see lots of opportunities.

One of our favorite things to do for firms is a major “soup to nuts” staffing project for a new office.  We’ve become experts at that, and I thought it might be useful to use the backdrop of recent experience to describe the anatomy of how that sort of deal can work well for firms considering opening a new office.

Last year we had the opportunity to be part of the team tasked with the exclusive to staff a major office in a major U.S. city. Initially, after identifying and onboarding a few of the key lateral partners, we were asked how we would suggest coordinating rapid hire of as many as 25 or 30 associates. So what was the process for recruiting an entire team? Below I’ve outlined the basic steps we took and a few of the considerations we had during the process.

Step 1:
The office opened with a strong M&A/PE team.  In an initial meeting with the recently added partners and those in charge of hiring, we established the hiring criteria for candidates.  We were asked to focus first on just one practice area (M&A/Private Equity) for the associate build-out, the most pressing need.

We helped the client understand the market for the level of talent they sought. Together, we developed our strategy, which in the case of this particular client necessitated willingness to pay significant cash signing bonuses.

Our first priority was to get as many 1-4 year attorneys as we could to interview. Since the firm had several needs, including the addition of Finance and CAPM Partners, Kinney was able to make contact with 100’s of attorneys nationwide, many of whom were people we already knew.

Step 2:
Without an inside recruiting director/coordinator, the level of hiring our client sought to accomplish was nearly impossible. So we staffed the internal firm recruiter position temporarily with none other than myself, a recruiter who previously ran an AmLaw 25 law firm’s recruitment programs.  I was seconded from our firm to the firm’s new office to act as the on-site recruiter. There I worked closely with the firm recruitment team as well as those in firm leadership and administration opening the office.

From there, we emailed, called, tapped into our network of contacts and ultimately sourced well over 100 candidates.  I was charged with submitting the candidates to the firm as well as scheduling all the interviews and getting all the potential candidates into both the Kinney and firm databases. Being on-site was extremely helpful because it enabled Kinney to really develop an understanding of the work the group does, the personalities, the office dynamics and culture. It ultimately gave us insight that allowed us to market and sell the opportunities that would not have been possible had we not had the chance to sit in the office day to day.

Step 3:
I worked with the partners and the firm’s recruiting managers to coordinate all logistics, prepare offer letters and follow up until acceptance. The most important part of this entire process was communication. For this reason, I acted as the link between our client, the firm, and the Kinney team on this project.

Overall, the communication, trust, and perseverance of the entire team allowed us to succeed at getting the right people in the door at this exceptional firm.   In the end, our client wound up with an office of 40 or so attorneys and we learned a number of valuable lessons along the way as always.

If our experience can be of value, please feel free to get in touch with us.  I can be reached at .