A Primer for Attorneys
One of the most common questions attorneys ask attorney recruiters is: “Who pays your fee?” The answer is simple and reassuring: the law firm (our “client”), not the lawyer (the “candidate”). This often seems counterintuitive: after all, in a typical situation the legal recruiter spends far more time working hand-in-hand with the candidate than with the law firm the candidate ends up joining.
In fact, with respect to any particular attorney placement, nearly all of an attorney recruiter’s time is spent working with the candidate, not with the client law firm. From giving the candidate in-depth briefings on each law firm under consideration and interactively preparing for partner interviews to gathering and presenting interview feedback and helping negotiate an attractive offer, most of the law recruiter’s activity is focused on assisting the candidate rather than the client firm. So why is it the case that law firms, rather than individual attorneys, pay for attorney recruiters’ services? There are several reasons.
First, law firms recognize that attorney recruiters provide them with valuable services. Anyone can find an attorney’s biography on the website of that attorney’s firm, but only attorney recruiters make it their business to learn about lawyers’ individual practices and to discover who may be receptive to a conversation about switching firms. In this way, legal recruiters function as an outsourced recruiting service to law firms: even the most capable in-house recruiting staffs are simply not set up to reach out actively to potential candidates the way recruiters do. In-house legal recruiting staffs are set up to hire, not to find.
Second, it is important to view the legal recruiting process from the “macro” perspective of multiple placements over time, rather than on the “micro” plane of any individual transaction. Knowledge of specific law firms—and the concomitant ability to promote them thoughtfully to many potential candidates—builds up during the course of an attorney recruiter’s career, as he or she presents a stream of candidates to law firms. Again, anyone can review a list of practice areas on a firm’s website but only recruiters take the time to understand the all-important factor that drives the bulk of candidate decision-making: firm culture. Thus, placement fees are the way that law firms remunerate legal recruiters for investing the time and energy to learn about them and thus be better able to advocate on their behalf when candidates consider their options.
Third, legal recruiting fees are, in most cases, already factored into a firm’s cost of doing business. Many if not most firms budget for recruiting fees precisely because they value what recruiters bring to the table: unique skills, knowledge, and relationships with lawyers at hundreds of other firms.
Fourth, lawyer recruiters furnish their law firm clients with far more than a stream of candidates. Perhaps the most important added benefit that firms receive from legal recruiters is market intelligence—e.g., how are competing firms positioning themselves in the market? what practice areas are strong or weak throughout the market? which geographies are “hot” for particular firms? what is our perspective on particular developments at other firms? These are but a few of the questions we often hear from our clients. We presume that our experience is typical.
In summary, law firms pay attorney recruiters because we add value to the recruiting process. (If we didn’t, we wouldn’t have an industry). On the strength of our knowledge, experience, and relationships we surface unexpected candidates from unexpected places, and on the basis of our dealings with firms we are in a position to educate candidates about options they might consider. In addition, we are well-placed to furnish market intelligence to law firms, both about the market for legal talent and about the market for legal services in general.
