Tag Archives: Headhunters / Recruiters

Associate Tips, Featured, Partner Tips, Tips

Navigating Your Performance Review

Bonus season is around the corner!  But first, associates need to make it through performance reviews.  Few people look forward to the review process.  Some find it stressful — after all, these can be complicated conversations.  Others may be tempted to dismiss it as pointless, considering that many firms award bonuses based primarily on class year and/or hours billed.  But even if you’re at a firm where performance reviews are not a critical compensation driver, you should treat the review process as a valuable opportunity to elicit helpful feedback.

Instead of viewing your performance review as something to be endured, take control of the process to the extent possible.  Put in the time to prepare fully, clarify the feedback you receive, and reflect on the implications for your broader career goals.

Prepare for the review conversation

It’s likely that your firm will ask you to do some form of self-evaluation ahead of the review process, but regardless of what is formally expected, preparation is critical to achieving a productive conversation.  Questions to ask yourself include:

  • Did you make your hours?
  • What sort of feedback have you gotten along the way?
  • Did you have a trend line this year of improvement, or did you have the same problems all year?
  • Did you successfully address the feedback you received in last year’s review?

Identify your weaknesses, and think about how to frame them constructively.  You want to go into the review conversation prepared to talk about what you learned and what you’ll do differently next time.  Demonstrating that you have a specific plan for future improvements helps your evaluator look past any bumps.

Ahead of the review, be sure to update your deal sheet or representative matters list!  In case you don’t already have a deal sheet, see how to make one here.  Updating your deal sheet will help you review your work and prepare to discuss both victories and setbacks.  It’s too easy and too common for a supervisor to forget about things you thought were really important, so don’t rely on your reviewer to generate a comprehensive list.  Having your deal sheet at your fingertips will make sure you’re prepared to advocate for yourself.

Listen carefully and seek clarification

During the review conversation, remember to take notes as best you can.  You can’t expect to remember it all, especially if you’re anxious or you get feedback that surprises you.  Detailed notes will be helpful if you need to follow up on something later.  

Ideally, the feedback you receive will be specific and actionable, but it’s possible it will be generic and unhelpful.  If so, it’s on you to ask granular questions to elicit more precisely what the reviewer is talking about.  This applies to either positive or negative feedback, but it’s especially critical in situations where the reviewer is expressing concern about your performance.  Valuable questions to ask include:

  • Am I on track for partnership?
  • What do I need to do this year to get there/stay there?
  • What specific skills would you like to see me acquire this year?
  • Are there any weaknesses I need to shore up?
  • Now that I’m a Xth year associate, how do you see my role on deals in the coming year?  In mentoring juniors on our team?  In business development?

Ask for clarification, especially about critiques, but don’t be defensive.  Remember: “curious, not furious.”  Achieving this balance can be really challenging for us over-achieving lawyers.  You may find it helpful to practice reacting to feedback in advance, ensuring you enter the review conversation with some default responses.  Ask A Manager has some great advice on this, as well as scripts for if you disagree with the criticism.  For example: “I’m glad you’re telling me this.  I’ve been letting some deadlines on this project slide because I had thought that projects x and z were higher priorities and was more focused there.  But am I looking at this wrong?”

Keep in mind that it’s perfectly acceptable to ask for a follow-up conversation!  You may find that you ask more effective questions after having had some time to gather your thoughts.  Ahead of the follow-up, draft a list of questions digging into the specifics of how the firm wants you to perform in the next year.

Reflect on your broader career trajectory

Although the review process is principally about your performance in your current role at your current firm, don’t forget to reflect on the bigger picture.  The end of the year is a great time to consider whether your firm remains the best setting to achieve your career goals.  Are you getting the work you want?  How do you feel about your professional development?  Have you found your people at this firm?  Are you content?

If not, keep in mind that other firms would be happy to have you.  I’d love to help you think through your options or connect you with one my colleagues in your area.

Good luck!

Featured, Tips

How to Survive an Economic Downturn

With talk of recession now impossible to avoid, many lawyers have started to wonder about their job security. It’s worth emphasizing that actual hiring data still looks healthy by historical standards. Nationwide, lateral moves in Q3 2022 were down more than 20% from the Q3 2021 level, but keep in mind that the 2021 market was unbelievably active. If we use Q3 2019 as a more normal base case, we find an almost 10% increase in lateral moves in Q3 2022. But even if widespread pain is not yet evident, there is much anecdotal discussion of so-called stealth layoffs. Additionally, at least one firm has deferred start dates for its incoming first-year associates, reviving an approach that was widespread in the Great Recession.

Making the conservative assumption that conditions will get worse before they get better, now is the time to assess your situation and take steps to position yourself to survive a downturn. Here are some things to consider.

1. Are you a restructuring lawyer? Can you become one?

There’s nothing like a countercyclical practice to help you ride out a recession. If you do happen to be a restructuring lawyer, you should be worried more about a coming deluge of work than about job security. But assuming you haven’t worked in bankruptcy, now may be the moment to wedge your way in. In the old days, corporate lawyers tended to have broader skill sets, with bankruptcy being one component of a more diversified transactional practice. Even though modern law firms tend to be all about specialization, this historical legacy can still serve as an inspiration. If you’re already in a corporate or finance practice, call up a restructuring partner and ask if the group needs help. With the next wave of restructurings presumably on the horizon, if you can get in the door now, you might find yourself in the enviable position of having plenty of work.

More broadly, you may want to think about retooling, if not to restructuring then to another more recession-resistant practice. This is especially worth considering if you are a junior corporate associate who never particularly liked your work. The best time to retool is when your group is not busy — a slowdown in deals might present an opportunity to escape.

2. Assess your firm: is it well-positioned for a downturn?

In thinking about your firm’s relative strength, it’s helpful to consider the past, present, and future. As the disclaimer goes, past performance is no guarantee of future results. But if your firm is known to have conducted stealth (or outright) layoffs in the last recession, that’s probably a relevant consideration.

The present is relatively easy to assess. Are you busy? Is your group busy? What about your friends in other groups?

The future is inevitably murkier, but you can still make some educated guesses. Is your firm unusually reliant on corporate M&A and capital markets work? Bad sign. Is it well-diversified, with strong offerings in litigation and restructuring? Good sign.

3. Consider your alternatives

Keenly observing conditions at your current firm is an important first step, but you also need to contextualize against the rest of the industry. Talking to friends at other firms is a good idea. But for deeper insights informed by data, having a relationship with a trusted legal recruiter can be invaluable. We spend all day talking to people at various firms, so we’re always informed about how the market is trending. And we have access to extensive proprietary data specific to individual markets and practices. We know which firms are growing and which are losing people to the competition. As stealth layoffs pick up, you can be sure that seasoned recruiters will be among the first to know the real story.

If you learn that your firm is underperforming relative to peers, or that it’s perceived to be at greater risk in a downturn scenario, you’d be well advised to investigate whether firms in a stronger position may be seeking someone with your skill set. Naturally, a trusted recruiter can help with that diligence as well.

4. Watch the partners

Even in a good economy, most partners are open to hearing offers from rival firms. But with conditions deteriorating, it’s especially safe to assume that your partner is taking calls. Many partners feel the ground shifting under their feet, and they are just as worried as associates about potentially being pushed out. To the extent there may be concerns about the health of the firm overall, partners will be especially eager to flee: nobody wants to be the last person on a sinking ship. If you notice an uptick of partner turnover at your firm, it could be a sign that you too should look elsewhere.

Featured, Tips

Being Smart About Utilization and Realization: How to Improve Your Contribution to Firm Profitability

Law firm economics can be a little opaque for associates.  Partnerships typically aren’t great at explaining the business of law to non-partner firm members, and associates naturally focus their efforts on learning to be an effective lawyer.  But like it or not, a law firm is ultimately a business, and if you aspire to have a long-term career in private practice, you need to understand the drivers of firm profitability and how you fit into the equation.  In particular, you need to understand how to manage utilization and realization.

Utilization and Realization drive Profitability

Utilization is the proportion of your available time allocated to billable matters.  Specifically, it’s the number of billable hours you work divided by the number of “available hours,” times 100.  Let’s say your firm requires 2000 hours (your “available hours”), your billable hours are 1800 for the year, and you’ve got 300 in non-billables.  Your total hours tracked exceeds the 2000-hour threshold, but non-billables don’t factor into utilization.  Therefore, your utilization rate is 90% (1800/2000).

Realization is the percentage of recorded time that is actually paid by the client.  When your partner cuts your bills or offers the client a discount or write-off, that reduces realization.

Why do these metrics matter?  Simply put, firm profitability depends on them.  Here’s a simplified law firm profitability equation:

Profitability = Margin x Realized Rate (the “true” rate the client is paying) x Utilization x Leverage.

As an associate, you have no control over margin or leverage.  (Even as a partner, your ability to improve these metrics is constrained by market realities: for example, some practice areas are inherently lower margin than others.)  Conversely, although utilization and realization aren’t entirely within your control, it’s absolutely possible for you to influence them.

Track all your time, and resist the urge to cut it

Nobody enjoys billing, but accurate time tracking is a prerequisite to strong utilization.  If you’re not billing daily, you are likely failing to capture time that you would have remembered to bill if you had been more diligent about regular time entry.  Chronic underbilling is a major threat to law firm profitability, so you should do your best to ensure that you aren’t part of this problem.  (Of course, daily billing also guards against the risk of inadvertently overbilling, the consequences of which are even worse than underbilling!)

After you’ve accurately captured your billable time, do not cut it, even if you are uncomfortable with the pace of your work.  Partners need to know how long things are really taking, and the decision to cut a bill is theirs, not yours.  If you’re embarrassed about how long it takes you to complete a task, talk to someone about whether it truly is an issue and, if so, what steps you can take to improve your efficiency.

Knowing the accurate utilization rate within a department also helps partners decide when to request additional attorneys, and it’s a key input for firm management when approving requests to expand a group.  If everyone is underbilling, department leadership may not realize how close their lawyers are to burning out and potentially leaving the firm.

Remember that proper time tracking extends to non-billable hours also.  Your firm needs to know how much time you’re spending on administrative or other non-billable matters.  They may be tracking whether their workflow is efficient, if they’re using the right software, etc.  Useful analysis of those factors depends on you accurately reporting your non-billables.

Be smart about the wording of your bills

Healthy realization depends not just on how much time you spent on a task, but also on how you describe what you did.  Be aware that many different parties may review your bills: partners and clients, certainly, but potentially also courts or other third parties.  Take care to bill with the specificity that the client or firm requires (without including anything privileged or embarrassing, please).  Appropriately specific wording will make it easier to justify the bill for your work, creating the conditions for better realization.

Ensure aligned expectations

If partners are routinely cutting your hours, that is an indicator of misaligned expectations.  You should proactively communicate with partners about their expectations, so that you avoid incurring time that won’t be collected.  Find out how long the partner expects a project to take, and do your best to stay in that ballpark.  In the event the partner has an unrealistic view of what’s possible, have a conversation about it as early as you reasonably can.  You’re managing their expectations so they can manage the client’s expectations.  If you perceive a misalignment, it’s your responsibility to speak up and make an effort to resolve it.

Consider the bigger picture

So why am I sharing this, as a recruiter?  Managing utilization and realization makes you more productive and efficient: you’re a more valuable associate.  But this isn’t just about you.  It’s also about how much work the firm has: underutilization can result from not enough work to go around.  Conversely, understaffing can lead to overutilization.  And your personal utilization rate reflects your quality of life.  If your utilization is very high, then you’re likely overworked!

If this has got you thinking about your role in your firm, or your practice group, then let’s chat.

Featured, Market News

At the Pinnacle of the Profession: Latinos and Latinas Making Strides in Am Law Firm Leadership

Last week marked the beginning of National Hispanic Heritage Month, which extends from September 15 to October 15. Now is the perfect time to discuss the contributions of Latinos and Latinas in Biglaw and, in particular, to highlight our community’s representation in top Am Law firm leadership roles. As a Cuban-American, this is a topic close to my heart. Undoubtedly there is still much room for improvement, but the good news is that we increasingly have reason to celebrate!

Over the past couple of years, Am Law 100 firms have redoubled their efforts to increase diversity in their ranks. And when it comes to Latino and Latina lawyers, we are starting to see progress at various levels. The American Lawyer’s 2022 Diversity Scorecard indicated the most significant year-over-year improvement since 2001. Large law firms hired 1.5% more Hispanic associates, which was a greater rate of increase than for any other racial/ethnic group. At the partnership level, there was a 2.6% increase in Hispanic/Latino equity partners from 2019 to 2020.

But the most visible achievements have come at the top of the Biglaw pyramid, with an increasing number of Am Law firms now featuring Latino or Latina managing partners. Let’s take a look at these luminaries whose success is proof that the pinnacle of the profession is open to Latino and Latina attorneys, notwithstanding the inevitable challenges.

Yvette Ostolaza — Chair of the Management Committee, Sidley Austin

As the sole Latina at the helm of an Am Law firm, Yvette Ostolaza’s journey is particularly inspiring. Born in Miami to Cuban parents, Ostolaza attended the University of Miami School of Law and first made partner as a litigator in the Dallas office of Weil, Gotshal & Manges. She joined Sidley in 2013 as managing partner of the Dallas office and served as global co-leader of Sidley’s litigation practice before her elevation to Chair of the Management Committee in April 2022. She was recently honored by the Hispanic National Bar Association with the Mari Carmen Aponte Award, which recognizes a “Latina lawyer who is the first to break a glass ceiling.”

Miguel A. Zaldivar, Jr. — CEO, Hogan Lovells

Born in Venezuela to Cuban refugee parents, Miguel Zaldivar did not emigrate to the United States until adulthood. After graduating from the University of Miami School of Law, he joined Hogan Lovells and set about building a Miami-based Latin America project finance practice. As a partner, he became co-leader of the Hogan Lovells Infrastructure, Energy, Resources and Projects practice. In 2018, he relocated to Hong Kong to manage the firm’s 14 offices in Asia and the Middle East. Zaldivar began serving as Hogan Lovells CEO in 2020.

Frank Lopez — Managing Partner and Chair-Elect, Paul Hastings

Currently in the number-two role at Paul Hastings, Frank Lopez will assume the top leadership post (Chair) on October 15. The New York securities lawyer and former investment banker only arrived at the firm in 2019. A graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, Lopez spent 15 years at Proskauer Rose before jumping to Paul Hastings. In his relatively short Paul Hastings tenure, Lopez has succeeded in raising the firm’s profile in leveraged finance and has played a key role in attracting lateral partners from firms such as Skadden and Covington & Burling.

Wally Martinez — Managing Partner, Hunton Andrews Kurth

Unlike his colleagues on this list, Wally Martinez’s ascent to the helm of a major law firm is not a recent development. Born in Manhattan and raised in New Jersey by Cuban emigre parents, Martinez graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He first made partner at Holland & Knight in Miami before leaving to found a new Hunton & Williams Miami office in 1999. Martinez served briefly as general counsel at Diageo North America before returning to Hunton & Williams as managing partner in 2006. He has remained at the helm through the merger with the former Andrews Kurth Kenyon. For many years, Martinez was the only Latino leading an Am Law firm, so the fact that he now has significant company in the Am Law leadership ranks is especially noteworthy. 

A rising generation of leaders
The four leaders profiled above occupy particularly visible roles, but it is worth acknowledging in addition the rising generation of Latino and Latina lawyers poised to ascend to top posts in the coming years. To take just one example of a Latino partner to watch, Eduardo Fernandez currently serves as co-head of the European Committee at Willkie Farr and co-managing partner of the Paris office. A native New Yorker who received his J.D. from NYU, Fernandez began his career as a Wilkie Farr associate in New York. He is now recognized as one of the leading M&A and private equity lawyers in France.

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How to Help Recruiters Alert You to Relevant Opportunities on LinkedIn

It won’t come as a surprise to you that virtually every recruiter uses LinkedIn to source candidates. You’ve likely received at least a few unsolicited LinkedIn messages from recruiters. Chances are, some of those messages were for positions that do not align with your practice area. This can be a source of frustration, leading some lawyers to become pretty jaded about the general notion of recruiter outreach.

But here’s the thing. If your LinkedIn profile doesn’t clearly communicate your skills and specific experience, recruiters are left to guess. The best way you can improve the quality of recruiter outreach is to maintain an informative, up-to-date profile. This gives recruiters quick and valuable insight into your background, enabling us to contact you if there’s a strong match and, conversely, to move on if you’re obviously not the right candidate. I can’t promise that a more informative profile will entirely solve the problem of messages for irrelevant roles, but it will definitely help.  

Introduce yourself effectively

The “intro” portion of your LinkedIn profile (the top section) is in many ways the most important. This is your opportunity to communicate crisply who you are and what you offer. The best way to enable a recruiter to find your profile is by inserting informative keywords into the “headline” (the line immediately below your name). Describing yourself simply as an “Attorney” is a missed opportunity: instead, tell us what type of attorney you are. The more specific, the better. For example, “Litigation Attorney” is better than “Attorney.” But the best is  a headline like “Litigation Employment Attorney Specializing in Discrimination and Retaliation.”

Double check that your location is current. Many lawyers moved cities during the pandemic, and some have neglected to update their LinkedIn profiles accordingly. It only takes a moment! While you’re at it, consider selecting the “open to opportunities” setting that is only visible to recruiters. This will confidentially communicate to recruiters that you’re receptive to relevant outreach.

Photos are another critical element of an effective intro section. Adding a photo increases the likelihood that a potential contact will accept your connection request by 9x. In addition to uploading a professional profile photo, make sure to include a background photo. Your background is a visual representation of your personal brand and is one of the first things recruiters will see when they visit your profile.

Fill in the details

A basic rule: if it’s there, fill it in. The more complete your profile, the better. Obviously, you have to fill out Experience and Education. But beyond that, add some content to Skills (in case recruiters are filtering on those keywords) and your licenses & certifications (you’re a member of a bar, right?). Other optional sections can help give your profile a more personal touch. Are you bilingual? Fill out the Languages section!

Ensure that your Experience section is more informative than a simple list of titles. The nice thing about LinkedIn, in contrast to a resume, is you don’t have to worry about fitting all the content onto a printed page. So go ahead and include a couple of bullet points about each of your past positions to indicate specifically what you did and what you achieved. Naturally, this will change over time as you advance in your career and accomplish new things, so don’t just fill in the Experience section once and forget about it — be proactive about keeping the description of your current role up to date. As a matter of style, note that it’s perfectly appropriate to write in the first person on LinkedIn, in a way that would be uncommon on a resume. Using “I” statements helps to humanize you.

Education should be fairly straightforward, but do keep in mind that this is not the place to be modest. If you graduated with honors, say so. You may also wish to list your GPA and/or class rank, especially if you’re early in your career, with limited work experience.

Stay active

At a minimum, you should log into LinkedIn weekly to check your messages. If you aren’t in the habit of logging in regularly, you can also put your contact info (personal email and/or cell phone) on your profile, enabling recruiters to contact you through those alternative channels.

As an optional bonus, consider creating content on LinkedIn. This will boost your ranking in search results and can be a great way to get noticed — not just by recruiters, but maybe even by law firm partners directly. Being active on the platform builds credibility, demonstrating that you know your area of law and are comfortable speaking about it publicly. This is by no means required, but when you do it well, it certainly helps!

Check your search appearances 

Be sure that you are getting noticed by the right audience. To do this, go to your profile page, look under the Analytics heading, look for the magnifying glass icon, and click on “search appearances.” This lets you see how often you appear in search results. In addition to the number of search appearances, it also shows you the keywords you were found for. If these do not align with your current practice area or industry, consider adjusting your headline and intro section until you are appearing in more targeted searches. 

Have fun 

Finally, have fun. Networking and being open to new opportunities can be intimidating, but LinkedIn makes it relatively simple and stress-free. Treat it as a no-pressure environment for you to be yourself and engage with like-minded people.

Associate Tips, Featured, In-House Tips, Partner Tips, Tips

How to Get Better at Networking: A Critical and Learnable Skill

Do you want to build a long-term career in private practice? As you likely have noticed from observing your firm’s most successful partners, a critical enabler will be your business development ability. It’s not the only factor: law firms also care about your legal skills and your internal contributions like mentoring more junior lawyers. But nothing lets you write your own ticket like a solid (and portable) book of business.

Success in business development is a cumulative process, built through years of strategic investment of your time and energy. It requires commitment and a well-crafted, regularly-updated plan. One of the most important components of that plan is networking. Through savvy networking, you will build your contacts, expand your referral network, and burnish your brand.

For some people, networking comes naturally, but many of us find it daunting at first. Fortunately, networking is a learnable skill. Here are a few tips to help you become a more effective networker.

Think broadly.

Some networking opportunities are pretty obvious: events sponsored by bar associations, legal industry conferences, service on committees with other lawyers. But don’t narrow your focus exclusively to professional events. Networking can happen at college reunions, community gatherings, and even on a flight. In other words, don’t wait until your next conference — you should be networking everywhere you go.

Do you have kids? Chat with other parents at the playground or at school events. Attending a fundraiser? That’s a perfect opportunity to meet people. Are you involved in an affinity group or diversity initiative? Those can be great venues to build connections based on shared heritage or interests. Are you a veteran? Attend a military event and use the opportunity to make new contacts.

Set yourself up for success.

Networking shouldn’t feel like a chore. Make sure you are putting yourself in situations where you’ll be in a positive frame of mind. Attend events that are relevant to you personally and that you find enjoyable. As with any activity, you will be more successful if you’re having fun.

If it makes you feel more comfortable, bring a “date.” A colleague or a friend can help you work the room. But be careful. Don’t bring someone who will serve as a crutch and prevent you from circulating.

Be prepared.

Keep in mind that every networking “event” offers an opportunity to build your brand, and that first impressions matter greatly. Be sure to represent yourself well, both with respect to your physical presence as well as the substantive content of anything you’re presenting. Be genuine and embrace your personal style.

Do your research in advance: find out who will be there and make a list of “targets.” You want to make the most of your time, so be strategic: arrive with a plan to prioritize engaging with the most relevant attendees. Prepare some stock questions that you can use to help start a conversation. For example, if you’re attending an event for lawyers, you might ask: “What are the biggest challenges your law firm has faced during the pandemic?” or “What have you found works best with regard to business development?”

Be ready with your elevator pitch: a short summary of what you do and your background. When you have someone’s attention, you don’t want to be fumbling for words or going off on long-winded tangents.

Be human.

When you first strike up a conversation with a new contact, don’t go straight to business. Nobody likes to feel used, and your first interaction is not the time to close a deal. Instead, build rapport, and let the other person talk. Ask open-ended questions, displaying a genuine interest in the answers. Remember that there is value in building relationships with a wide variety of people, including those who are unlikely to become your client. For example, making strong connections with other attorneys in private practice can lead to fantastic referral relationships that yield lucrative dividends over many years.

Follow up.

Take the time to follow up with everyone you meet after a networking event. Add your new contacts on LinkedIn, making sure to add a quick personalized note. Sending something by mail can also be remarkably effective. The important thing is that you have a process in place and stick to it.

Understand that practice makes perfect!

If you aren’t already comfortable attending networking events, try breaking down the process into small steps. Set yourself the goal of making three new contacts at each event. Commit to making a post on social media before each event you attend: this helps elevate your brand and may even lead to contacts approaching you! If you make it a habit to set and achieve attainable goals like these, I guarantee you will find that networking becomes increasingly natural over time. Good luck!

Associate Tips, Featured, In-House Tips, Partner Tips, Tips

An In-House Reality Check: The Grass May Not Be Greener

As a legal recruiter, one of the most common things I hear from law firm associates is that their goal is to go in-house. Law firm associates often can’t wait to leave behind the billable hour.

On the face of it, there’s nothing wrong with that — in-house roles can be a good fit for many lawyers. But the way law firm associates idolize in-house counsel positions often indicates an incomplete understanding of the realities of these jobs.

Having spent the majority of my legal career working in-house, I am deeply familiar with the tradeoffs associated with working in-house and can tell you it is not what you’ve been led to believe.

A lengthy interview process

If you land an interview, buckle up because it’s a long road.

You’re likely to get your first taste of the differences between law firms and companies during the in-house interview process.

Law firm interviewing tends to prioritize efficiency: you interview with some partners, meet a few associates, go to lunch, and get an offer. The whole process takes about a month and sometimes much less. 

For in-house roles, you typically apply online, send your resume into the ATS abyss, and hope for the best. If you are one of the lucky ones, you will advance to a recruiter phone screening. Once that is complete, expect to wait at least a week to meet with the hiring manager. After interviewing with the hiring manager, you will be scheduled to meet members of the legal team. If all goes well, you’ll be introduced to the functional leaders you would support. Finally, you may meet with the Chief Legal Officer. The time between rounds is usually about a week. In the interim, you may be expected to complete a take-home assignment or a case study, which you then may or may not present to your potential future colleagues. Overall, expect this process to take four to eight weeks or longer. 

From profit center to cost center

As a lawyer at a law firm, you are part of the profit center: you bill hours and directly generate revenue. You are paying for staff salaries and keeping the lights on. In contrast, an in-house legal department is a cost center, supporting the revenue-generating parts of the business, but not bringing in revenue independently. 

When you go in-house, all eyes are no longer on you, and you are somewhat less important. This shift affects every aspect of your job, including resource allocation, leadership focus, and budget.

No longer the profit center and no longer keeping time, in-house counsel must find ways to add value to the business and develop creative ways to measure those contributions. Adding value and measuring it is doubly important in times of economic uncertainty, when companies move to cut costs.

A change of pace — but not necessarily slower

Whoever told you that in-house counsel enjoy a well-balanced 9-to-5 was wrong. Let’s be clear: the typical in-house role is far from the relaxed 40-hours-a-week you’ve been pitched. In reality, 60-hour weeks are not uncommon for many in-house lawyers.

First, the decision to hire in-house counsel is made for a reason: there is a lot of work to be done. You are expected to take on the work of outside counsel independently, and to do so with fewer resources.

Remember that hearing you went to 30 minutes away or the time you spent sitting in court waiting to argue? As an associate, this counted as productivity. As in-house counsel, when you spend time on activities where your presence turns out not to have been necessary, you’re the one who bears the cost. You still have to get your work done, and frequently that means putting in time in the evenings or on weekends to catch up.

Finally, businesses move at an incredible pace. You’re likely to find that timelines are extremely short. Gone are the days when you had two weeks to complete a memo. Now you need to do it in 30 minutes. Your internal clients need quick answers, and if you don’t weigh in immediately, the business will take action without you.

Juggling many responsibilities

Private practice is all about specialization. But at most companies, especially smaller ones, every in-house counsel has a much more diverse range of responsibilities on their plate. That can be exciting, but it’s also time-consuming and stressful, especially when you are given responsibility for an area unrelated to your prior law firm practice.

Startups take this to the extreme. Not only will you be one of the few lawyers in the company (perhaps even the only one!), but you will also probably be one of the smartest people in the room. People will recognize that, and they’ll want to tap you for projects that aren’t squarely within the legal domain. Being involved in non-legal subject matter might sound fun, but it can be exhausting when combined with the legal work that forms the core of your portfolio.

Be realistic about the tradeoffs

There’s no denying that law firms can be a tough environment, and a long-term career in private practice isn’t for everyone. But it’s easy to take for granted the benefit of being surrounded by smart and well-credentialed colleagues. Not to mention resources like immediately responsive paralegals and subscriptions to any database you desire. Or a well-defined career progression with material increases in compensation every year. As an in-house counsel, you can’t expect a luxury building in a prime location, a private office, an assistant, a paralegal, or even Westlaw.

You may be more than happy to make those tradeoffs. But do think it through carefully. The grass isn’t always greener.

Featured, Market News

Midwest Markets Update: Smaller Cities Are Holding Their Own

With talk of a potential recession making some candidates hesitant to explore lateral moves, it’s especially important to ground our assessment of the market in data. Analysis of lateral hires in 2022 indicates continued strength, not just in the largest cities like New York and Chicago but also in many smaller markets. Taken together, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Detroit offer a useful case study.

These smaller midwestern markets are more than holding their own. In both St. Louis and Detroit, hiring this year has outpaced the level of 2021. In Kansas City, it has been comparable to 2021. Unlike in markets such as Austin, where multiple office openings and large group moves have supercharged lateral hiring, growth in these smaller midwestern markets has mainly been driven by individual hires into existing offices.

Robust hiring across these markets

Lateral opportunities have been especially plentiful this year in the St. Louis and Detroit markets. According to Leopards data, in the first half of 2022, there were 42 lateral moves in St. Louis (partner, counsel, and associates), a jump from 35 in the first half of 2021. Detroit saw 59 lateral hires, as compared to 48 in the same period of 2021. (The Detroit totals are for the broader southeast Michigan region, including offices in Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham, Ann Arbor, and Troy.) Kansas City was trailing its 2021 pace at the mid-way point this year, but activity picked up in July with 11 additional lateral moves.

Kansas City is the only market with a notable new office opening: K&L Gates set up shop, bringing over a team of Energy attorneys from Husch Blackwell. Detroit has seen some group hiring, with corporate attorneys leaving a smaller firm to join Dinsmore and Honigman, but even there, individual one-off moves predominate.

A diversity of practice area strengths

Although all three markets are expanding, there are meaningful differences between them in terms of practice area growth. In Kansas City, litigation and real estate appear to be growing most strongly, while corporate hiring has slowed. Real estate historically punches above its weight in KC, which has a smaller proportion of corporate attorneys than in some comparable markets. In St. Louis, in contrast, there has been a significant uptick in corporate/banking hiring, whereas litigation has remained steady. IP is also significantly more active than in 2021: in the first seven months of 2022, there were double the number of lateral moves seen in all of 2021. In Detroit, corporate/banking lateral moves are also notably outpacing 2021, with litigation/L&E, real estate, and IP close to matching last year’s pace.

Hiring numbers are low in all markets for tax, trust & estates, and ERISA/comp & benefits, but it does appear that hiring has increased in 2022 compared to 2021. That reflects a trend we have seen in larger markets as well. It will be interesting to observe whether the corporate practice groups continue to build in these smaller markets, even in a period when they seem to be cooling slightly in the largest cities.

Salary increases have attracted new talent

In Detroit in particular, several firms have raised salaries to at or just slightly below the major market level. Examples include Foley, Jones Day, Honigman, and Gunderson. These increases have been especially effective in attracting candidates from Chicago Big Law offices. The Michigan firms have understood that many Chicago-based associates grew up in the Detroit suburbs but started their legal careers in Chicago to take advantage of higher compensation and more extensive Big Law opportunities. Some members of this group have jumped at the chance to move home without taking a substantial pay cut.

In the Missouri markets, salaries remain below the national market scale, but the largest players such as Bryan Cave, Polsinelli, and Husch Blackwell have raised pay substantially over the past year. Those increases have widened the gap between the highest-paying Missouri firms and their smaller peers in these markets. Local candidates who previously believed that the incremental pay difference wasn’t worth Big Law hours requirements have been reconsidering that assessment. Although at first glance one might expect Missouri offices to face difficulty attracting top talent from larger markets without paying on the national scale, it’s worth noting that cost of living remains quite low in both Kansas City and St. Louis. Going forward, it will be interesting to monitor whether the leading firms in these markets have done enough to bring in a significant number of major-market laterals.

Associate Market, Featured, Market News

New York Market Update: Strong Lateral Demand, Though With Variation Across Practice Areas

With talk of recession on the rise nationally, how are law firms in New York holding up? So far, the lateral market remains open for business. Firms are emphasizing some different practice areas compared to a year ago, but they continue to hire broadly.

Lateral placement data indicate a healthy market: there were around 75 more lateral moves in New York in Q2 2022 than in Q2 2021. That’s saying something, considering that 2021 was an exceptionally strong lateral market.

Litigation rises as transactional starts to slow

Demand for transactional lawyers has moderated compared to last year: there were 341 lateral placements in Q2 2022 into corporate practices (35% of all placements in the quarter), as compared to 420 the year before (46%). However, other practice areas are picking up the slack. Demand for litigators is on the rise: whereas in Q2 2021, there were 162 lateral placements in litigation, the number rose to 210 in Q2 2022.

A central driver of the growing opportunity in litigation is a widespread effort among firms to expand their white-collar practices. The Biden administration has made no secret of its intention to increase enforcement, and firms are positioning themselves to compete for what should be a lucrative wave of white-collar assignments. Boutiques that are mainly known for complex commercial litigation have lately been especially active in the lateral market, seeking to build up their white-collar credibility.

Many opportunities in niche practices

Among more niche practice areas, antitrust is in strong demand, as firms anticipate coming enforcement activity. Funds is a particular bright spot on the transactional side, with practices sufficiently stretched such that they have been willing to retool junior associates from other groups. And both real estate and bankruptcy are on the rise, with around twice as many lateral placements in Q2 2022 as compared to the same period a year earlier. Bankruptcy and restructuring practices are particularly interested in candidates who have both transactional and bankruptcy litigation experience. Of course, if a recession does materialize, demand in this area should accelerate further.

Who is best placed to make a move?

Across practices, midlevel associates have the broadest range of lateral opportunities, with the sweet spot around 3-5 years of experience. In litigation, there has been an unusual level of demand for more senior associates in addition to midlevels. Boutiques in particular have been extending offers to sixth and seventh years.

With most firms having adopted a hybrid working model in their New York offices, we are seeing an increasing number of interviews conducted in-person, which candidates tend to find helpful in gaining insight into a firm’s culture. This summer is a particularly good time to enter the lateral market because an unusual number of associates are tied down by bonuses issued last year or in early 2022, either as part of a lateral move or as a retention incentive.


Though candidates shouldn’t worry about changing firms right now, we are urging those exploring in-house roles to proceed with caution. The risks of a layoff appear to be elevated in the current environment, especially for lawyers entering at more junior levels. Keep in mind that unlike at law firms, the most recently hired employees tend to be most vulnerable when companies go through layoffs.

Featured, Tips

Is Your Firm Recession-Resistant Enough To Thrive In An Economic Downturn?

We’ve all heard the adage that sex sells. But when it comes to the financial press, no topic is more irresistible than speculating about the possibility of a recession. Are we on the verge of an economic downturn? I don’t know, and frankly, neither does anyone else. But given all the recession talk, now is a good time for lawyers to consider their strategy in the event we do experience a downturn. 

There are two key messages to keep in mind. First, the good news is that if you are at a well-diversified firm, recession fears should not keep you up at night. Most major Am Law 200 firms are recession-resistant thanks to their diversity of practice areas.

Second, hiring remains strong by any normal standard: there were around 300 more lateral placements in Q2 2022 among Am Law 200 firms than there were in Q2 2021. And as you might remember, spring of 2021 was not exactly a slow market!

Law firm hiring is like squeezing a balloon. Last year we saw an overwhelming appetite for capital markets and M&A laterals to fill the never-ending demand for attorneys to service deal flow. Today we are seeing a large uptick in the demand for litigation laterals. That’s exactly what we would expect given the historical pattern of recessionary times fueling more litigation and insolvency work from deals gone bad and inevitable breakups.

In Q2 2021, 30% of lateral placements in the Am Law 200 were in corporate practices, and 27% were in litigation. By contrast, in Q2 2022, only 24% were corporate and 30% were litigation. Bankruptcy hiring was a small proportion of the total in both quarters, but it is clearly picking up. There were 67 bankruptcy lateral placements in Q2 2022, as compared to 46 in Q2 2021.

Is now a good time to lateral?

If you aren’t happy at your firm, don’t let concern about the economy dissuade you from making a lateral move. If you’re in a situation where you don’t feel supported, it would be a mistake to resign yourself to being miserable just because people are talking about recession. The truth is that demand for lateral candidates is persisting across a broad range of practice areas, so you likely have options.

However, if you are at a firm overly dependent on corporate M&A and capital markets work, perhaps you should look at some alternatives that are better positioned to weather the storm, if not come out of it even stronger.  The benefit of being at a well-diversified law firm is roughly analogous to the benefit of being in a long-short fund as an investor. The long-short structure gives you upside while protecting the downside through diversification of puts, shorts, and long positions. Similarly, a strong bankruptcy practice may not “pull its weight” in the good times, but it is extremely useful when the economy sours.

Although you shouldn’t hesitate to accept a good lateral offer, you may want to think twice about pivoting to a new practice area unless you are certain retooling meets your long term career goals. With an uncertain economic outlook, it’s especially important that you make an immediate impact at your new firm — now is not the best time for a long ramp-up period.

If we reach the point of layoffs — which, again, are not happening yet in any widespread way — firms will primarily consider the revenue impact of each practice group and lawyer. An advantage of the billable hour model is that individual contributions are more easily measured than in a typical corporation. So instead of taking a blunt “last in, first out” approach, firms can be more targeted. The way to protect yourself isn’t necessarily to cling to your current job, but rather to put yourself in a situation where your skills will be well utilized.

What about a move in-house?

It’s more difficult to generalize across in-house roles because some sectors are likely to be more resilient in recession than others. But broadly speaking, you should be wary about moving in house with a downturn potentially on the horizon. When a company is forced to cut costs, the most recent hires are often the first to go. You could then find yourself looking for a job in a relatively weak market.

If you are considering an in-house transition, it’s important to understand that switching back to a firm likely won’t be easy. Firms value law firm experience more than in-house experience, so returning to law firm work can be a challenge even in a good economy. Now imagine trying to make that switch while unemployed, in a soft economy, when your skill set has stagnated.

That’s not to say that going in house is definitely a mistake. Individual circumstances vary. But make sure you are clear-eyed about the risks and your potential backup plan.

Strengthening your position at your current firm

What if you’re reasonably happy at your current firm and just want to guard against a layoff?  The first thing to realize is that this is not 2009, where we had a complete collapse of the financial markets and widespread law firm layoffs. Instead, we expect that the uptick in litigation and insolvency work will largely offset any slowdown in corporate.   

So the better question is how do you protect yourself and stay relevant if you are a corporate attorney? There’s a few things you can do to strengthen your standing ahead of a potential downturn.

First, do you have strong relationships with partners? If not, make it a priority to develop some. You should be doing this regardless of the economy, as it will both improve your experience at your firm and position you to be recommended for future external opportunities. But obviously these relationships can be especially valuable in the event a practice group head is instructed to cut headcount.

One way to build stronger relationships is simply to make yourself more visible. Spending less time in the office over the past two years may have made it easier to hide, whether intentionally or not. If you haven’t been making an effort to connect with partners, either in person or virtually, now is the time to start. Make sure they know who you are and that you’re eager to be helpful.

As mentioned above, your recent record of billable hours will be an important factor in case of layoffs, so an obvious way to strengthen your position is to make sure you’re meeting billable expectations. For most Biglaw associates, that hasn’t been a problem recently, but if the economy slows, billable hours will be less plentiful in some practices. In that scenario, you will want to be flexible about accepting work outside of your primary practice area. You may not enjoy bankruptcy work as much as M&A, but if the alternative is falling short on your hours, the choice should be clear.