Lawyers should be able to connect with interviewers because this is something they will need to do (1) with other lawyers in the firm if hired and (2) with clients of the firm.
Attorneys who are looking for positions inside of law firms without law firm experience most often do not have law firm experience because they did not get positions inside of law firms when they were in law school or were not motivated enough to get these positions early in their careers.
Attorneys not motivated by money. The attorney not motivated by money is likely not to be the best fit for a law firm. To work the hours and put up with the sort of internal competition that is common inside of a law firm, an attorney needs to be interested in money—there is no other way.
A law firm loses control over attorneys when they are not interested in working long hours and exposing themselves to the sort of stress that they experience inside of law firms if the attorney is not interested in money.
The motivation of prestige is important to attorneys—very important.Law firms use their prestige to both attract and retain attorneys. An attorney that does not buy into the idea of prestige is likely not to do well in a major law firm because it is prestige that keeps many attorneys going.
Attorneys take great pride in working with groups of highly qualified attorneys because they believe this too makes them prestigious.
An attorney not motivated by the importance of a law firm’s work, the people in the law firm and so forth, is not likely to be a good fit. Entry level and lateral attorneys with very poor law school performance. There are plenty of good attorneys out there who did poorly in law school.
An attorney that moves firms often is generally because they do not get along with their firm. They don’t like taking orders from others, putting in the hard work, or other reasons that a law firm will not tolerate.
Attorneys are typically applying to more than one job. An attorney that actually wants a job with your firm will demonstrate that desire during the interview by how invested and interested they appear. Your mannerisms, the way you answer questions, and other verbal and nonverbal cues will show what you are thinking.
Law firms have to make their clients happy because they are the one paying the bills. If the law firms is concerned that their clients will not like you and what you have to offer them then they will not hire you. Clients are looking for top quality and top experience.
Fitting in with a law firm is a big part of long-term success for you and the law firm. There is a push for law firms to become more diverse but more at the associate level. When a law firm is hiring a lateral attorney, they are more concerned with making a hire that will fit.
Fitting in with a law firm is a big part of long-term success for you and the law firm. There is a push for law firms to become more diverse but more at the associate level. When a law firm is hiring a lateral attorney, they are more concerned with making a hire that will fit. Law firms tend to have a culture that they stick with ...
When a law firm is desperate to fill a position, caution can get thrown to the wind, especially when a promising and pedigreed candidate presents herself. But firms shouldn’t skimp on due diligence; instead, they should go beneath the surface.
Finding the “perfect” candidate can be difficult because many firms are seeking that same person. But if a firm is willing to be flexible in terms of the nature or amount of experience required, it might be possible to fill a position. 5. To attract a lateral candidate, you need to “think like a lateral.”.
None of this means that lateral hiring isn’t a viable strategy. Instead, it means it is a growth strategy with inherent risks that should be addressed prior to hiring a lateral ...
A systematic analysis of lateral hiring is just the first step in executing on a plan to use laterals to drive law firm growth. This examination focuses on thinking through the potential pitfalls in lateral hiring and building a business case for mitigating the risks.
On the other hand, that technician is likely to be a better fit for a law firm seeking to fill a skill or practice area gap. In culture, the firm size and environment are factors to consider as well.
Most major law firms do not hire people out of the government, from in-house positions, solo practitioners, small law firms, and so forth: These attorneys never learned how to do the work the way the firm wants it done. They pick up habits and ways of working that are simply not conducive to working in a law firm.
An attorney may not be able to work with people the way the law firm needs them to. In one of the law firms where I worked, one of the partners had a team of six attorneys (a counsel attorney, a junior partner, and four associates) who did everything with her.
Most major law firms work for in-house counsel, and these in-house clients are acutely aware of the quality of the attorneys working on their matters. When law firms are “pitching” clients to work on new matters, the firms will often include the biographies of the people who will be staffed on the matters.
Because law firms compete with other law firms to get the work from clients, the quality of the staffing makes a big difference in winning new business. The larger and more prestigious the law firm, the better the “paper” qualifications of the attorneys who are working on the firm’s matters.
Attorneys may move between firms because they are having substance abuse issues, family problems, and other difficulties that make it untenable for them to do the job.
Many law firms may want the work done in a certain way that you may not agree with. Some law firms will overburden their attorneys with lots of work that may seem completely unnecessary. They do this for various reasons—to increase the bills is one of them—and attorneys may not agree with it.
Many law firms are extremely risk averse and hire people who want to play by these rules, or the opposite. Many established law firms with huge clients are very risk averse and do not want to hire attorneys who will take risks. They hire cautious, bookish types with pleasant personalities who are not aggressive.