Niko Olsrud McIver brings a unique insider perspective to legal recruiting as an attorney who has held recruiting roles at both prestigious law firms and leading technology companies. In this conversation, she discusses how her background informs her approach to guiding attorneys through strategic career transitions.
Can you describe your background and how you found your way into legal recruiting?
I started my career as a patent paralegal at Perkins Coie and later went to law school. I graduated in 2013 from a regional law school in Seattle, which was a challenging hiring market, so I had to be creative and open-minded about building a career in the legal space.
I spent time as an in-house lawyer with a small app developer and then returned to Perkins Coie as a discovery attorney. Around that time, the firm’s Legal Recruiting Manager went out on maternity leave. I already knew the attorneys, the culture, and the internal processes well, so I was asked to step in and cover the role during her leave. I quickly realized I loved the work. Recruiting allowed me to stay close to the substance of legal practice while focusing on what I’m best at: understanding people, spotting patterns, and helping lawyers make smart career moves. I transitioned fully into recruiting and haven’t looked back.
You went to law school and later worked in recruiting at places like Perkins Coie, Meta, and Tesla. What did you take from those experiences that you bring into your role at Lateral Link today?
Those experiences taught me how hiring decisions get made on the inside, and how much context matters beyond what’s on a resume. At a law firm, you learn how practices run, what different partners value, and what cultural and professional alignment looks like in practice. In-house, you learn how legal teams think about headcount, business needs, and how attorneys integrate into a larger organization.
I bring that perspective to my candidates. I can help them read between the lines on what a firm or legal department is really looking for, how to position their experience for the right platform, and how to navigate situations that aren’t straightforward, whether that’s a retool, negotiating compensation or a sign-on bonus, or managing timing when multiple opportunities are moving at once. The goal is always the same: make sure the move improves the lawyer’s career, not just their next title.
How does Lateral Link’s reputation in the legal market help you do your job and build trust with candidates and clients?
Lateral Link’s brand opens doors, but the bigger advantage is the depth of the platform. We have recruiters who are deeply specialized by practice area and geography, and we collaborate constantly. Even an experienced recruiter can only see so much of the market alone. When I’m advising a candidate or calibrating a search, I can pull in real-time perspective from colleagues who are seeing the same trends across different cities, firms, and practice groups.
That shared market intelligence matters because the best advice is specific. It’s not “here are some firms you could apply to.” It’s “here’s where your profile is likely to land, here’s how this group is trending, here’s what the partner cares about, and here’s what would be a mistake.” That’s what builds trust.
You were recently promoted at Lateral Link. What has that growth looked like for you, and what do you think has driven it?
The growth has come from doing the unglamorous parts of recruiting consistently well: being responsive, being candid, following through, and staying close to the details. Lawyers make high-stakes decisions based on imperfect information, and my job is to reduce that uncertainty by understanding what they want, pressure-testing it, and then executing thoughtfully. I’m also very relationship-driven, and I take confidentiality seriously. People share real career concerns, and you have to handle that with care.
Lateral Link has supported that growth by giving me a high-trust environment and a genuinely collaborative team. I’m surrounded by people who share information, workshop strategy, and care about doing the work well. That matters.
What do you enjoy most about recruiting lawyers, and what do you think people misunderstand about the job?
I like the strategy. At its best, recruiting is a mix of market intelligence, counseling, negotiation, and relationship-building over time. The most rewarding part is when someone makes a move that clearly improves their professional trajectory and their day-to-day life.
What people often misunderstand is that recruiting isn’t transactional. It’s not just “sending resumes.” The highest-impact work is helping someone get clear on what they actually want, translating that into a viable search strategy, and then navigating the process carefully with timing, messaging, and risk management included.
Niko Olsrud McIver specializes in associate and partner level placements across multiple practice areas. She works with attorneys at AmLaw firms nationwide and advises on both law firm and in-house transitions. You can contact her via LinkedIn or email at nmciver@laterallink.com.
