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When considering a move between firms at the partner level working with a successful career recruiter can both ease the process as well as help to ensure the best possible result both in finding the right fit as well as financially. During this process the recruiter can help identify specific firms that fit set parameters as well as additional needs that the partner may not be aware of. With longtime relationships with a large network of firms in the Southern California area, the recruiter at The Jameson Group will also act as a go-between with the firm and partner throughout negotiations, which is particularly important to prevent misunderstandings. Going through a recruiter also guarantees that the partner will have an active, positive proponent consistently in contact with the firm whereas even if they have an existing connection to someone at a given firm they may not necessarily put their own reputation on the line to promote the partner as a good hire. During negotiations, the recruiter will also help to prepare a business plan based on the specific needs of the partner and what they can bring to the firm. Finally, they will do their utmost to help the partner close the best possible deal.

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When considering a move between firms at the partner level, working with a successful career recruiter can both ease the process as well as help to ensure the best possible result both in finding the right fit as well as financially. During this process the recruiter can help identify specific firms that fit set parameters as well as additional needs that the partner may not be aware of. With longtime relationships with a large network of firms in the Southern California area, the recruiter at The Jameson Group will also act as a go-between with the firm and partner throughout negotiations, which is particularly important to prevent misunderstandings. Going through a recruiter also guarantees that the partner will have an active, positive proponent consistently in contact with the firm whereas even if they have an existing connection to someone at a given firm they may not necessarily put their own reputation on the line to promote the partner as a good hire. During negotiations, the recruiter will also help to prepare a business plan based on the specific needs of the partner and what they can b

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Developing and maintaining a portable book of business is critical to the long-term growth and flexibility for the majority of law-firm lawyers. By constructing a legal book of business, a lawyer can ensure a higher level of understanding, communication, and collaboration with clients while at the same time securing revenue sources independent from their respective firm. This individually sourced revenue can also help provide lawyers with more career options both at their current firms and otherwise, especially in hard times economically. Whereas before the turn of the millennium it was rather rare for partners to switch law firms, today it was effectively become commonplace for a variety of reasons. The first and most obvious concern when considering switching law firms is that of compensation. This factor is directly tied to the lawyer’s book of business, which dictates the potential revenue they can bring and can provide powerful leverage in such a situation. However, building a large book of business as part of a larger firm can prove especially difficult considering that many such firms primarily take on cases in the millions or tens of millions of dollars, eclipsing a single partner’s stake. As such, the relationship between the lawyer and the client has become more critical than ever and as we move further into the digital age social media has become an increasingly necessary tool to maintain these relationships. Most clients tend to award their accounts to those they know and trust, so cultivating these relationships by devoting a weekly period of time to client development can prove invaluable. While Twitter, Facebook, and especially LinkedIn play important rules in extending your network today, in building a book of business it is important that you do not only rely on these rather impersonal methods of communication; things such as networking events […]

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With today’s blog entry we finish up our three-part series on the ins and outs of working with a legal recruiter.  With parts I and II we looked at the reasons a partner might find themselves considering a move from their current firm and we discussed the benefits of working with an experienced headhunter as opposed to going it alone.  But how does one know whether the voice at the other end of the phone belongs to a talented, informed professional or just some schmuck with a lead list and a speed-dialer?  While there’s no absolute litmus test, there are some basic rules of thumb. We’ll start by saying it’s unrealistic to expect any recruiter to know everything about you or your prospective firms.  However, they should have a strong sense of your practice (i.e. your areas of expertise, your work history, your typical clients/industries, etc.) as well as a solid grasp of why a particular opportunity might be right for you. Odds are your first contact with any legal recruiter will be an email or voicemail message.  We can begin the winnowing process here.  Simply put, the recruiter should know who you are and what you do—i.e., does the opportunity presented actually match your skill-set and area of focus?  As an example, if you’re a healthcare partner with a practice primarily representing doctors and hospitals but you’ve been contacted about a payor-side opportunity, you clearly have someone who hasn’t done their homework.  This is probably a recruiter simply working their way down a list rather than an expert engaged in a focused search. Between your firm profile, your LinkedIn page (if you don’t have one, you should; please see our November 7th blog), press releases, news items and any articles you may have authored, your professional life is no […]

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We recently began a series of short articles on the how, when and why of working with a legal recruiter.  Now some may say (pessimistically, we think) that, as recruiters ourselves, we can’t help but be a little biased on the subject.  That’s probably true; after all, if we didn’t believe in the value of legal recruiting, we’d almost certainly be doing something else.  But we’re going to do our best to be honest and objective (you can let us know how we do with your feedback). In Part I we opened with an illustration of the partner whose decade-plus practice was surviving without really thriving, and the fundamental change in perspective that resulted once he sat down and considered where he was and where he might go.  But what about the partner who knows it’s time to move on from his/her current firm and is committed to taking the leap: should they embark on the journey alone or with the assistance of a recruiter?  While we think the answers are a resounding “No” and “Yes!” respectively, let’s discuss why that is by looking at what a recruiter can—and can’t—provide. First and foremost, a recruiter should be a source of quality intelligence, offering insight and information that might not be available anywhere else.  Every recruiter worth their noise-cancelling headphones knows the importance of keeping an ear always to the ground.  It allows us to listen for creaks and groans in the market and to decipher whether it’s the sound of emerging opportunity or impending doom; the ability to read between the headlines and behind the rumors is imperative to our success and to the success of the attorneys we assist. But just as often, information comes to us far more directly.   In a typical year we meet with twenty or […]

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I had originally intended to write this week’s blog on lawyers (more specifically, law firm partners) generating new business and clients. Specifically, why it’s so important to develop one’s own book of portable business and avoid becoming the “unintentional service partner.” But I decided against it. Not because it isn’t a valid topic. It is. And certainly not because developing a stable of clients whose continuing business—and enduring loyalty—is anything other than imperative, particularly in our current era of eleventh hour mergers, unexpected dissolutions (firms, you know who you are) and now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t market opportunities. But because it’s just a bit too self-evident to really be useful. Of course you should strive to develop your own business—every lawyer needs to! I don’t think that’s really in question. And in this information age you have more tools at your disposal than any other time in history to identify and reach out to potential clients (see any one of our previous three blogs). So instead of telling you what you already know, I thought we’d give you some insight that might not be so obvious. Call it the perspective from the other side of the phone, as only as a partner legal recruiter could provide. Odds are, as an attorney and a law firm partner, you receive one, two or ten calls a week (a day!?) from legal recruiters. You may even have offered your assistant a healthy bonus and a week in your Maui timeshare if he/she proves capable of intercepting and dispatching such calls before they ever reach your ears. Understandable, particularly when you’re overwhelmed with work and changing law firms is the last thing on your mind. But it is nearly a statistical certainty that you will change firms at some point in your career—perhaps more than once—and when that […]

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In our previous two-part LinkedIn series, we focused on how to use the service to find the connections you need, so we now want to discuss how others can find you.  After all, networking is a two-way street.  With that in mind, let’s start with a few tips to strengthen your profile and your presence.  Our intent is simple: we want to direct as many people as possible to your page and, when they arrive, we want them to be impressed. Get Ready for Your Close-Up Unless you’re somehow accessing this blog from the mid-1980s, odds are you already have an attorney profile floating around out there on your firm’s website.  As such, there’s little point in creating a LinkedIn profile with the exact same information.  Sure, you’ll want to include all the basics (professional summary, work history, education, areas of specialty, etc.), but LinkedIn allows you to do much more.  So let’s look at how you can get your LinkedIn profile to work for you. Get Connected As discussed in our first LinkedIn blog post, the key to networking via the service lies in a healthy connections pool.  Take advantage of the site’s ability to scour your email contacts to grow your connections (if you’d like a refresher on how to do this, just see our November 7th post below).  Again, make sure your connections represent your real world contacts – the caveat from our first LinkedIn blog still stands (i.e. don’t include weak contacts just to pad your numbers). This means taking the time to reach out to past clients and colleagues, the effort will be well worth it as it will increase your exposure and your likelihood of turning up in searches. It’s All In The Details Focus on increasing the detail/content of your LinkedIn profile.  Use […]

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This is the second part of our blog series on how attorneys should use LinkedIn to get better contacts and introductions to more effectively develop clients. From our previous posting, we have shown how you build your contacts and search for new client introductions. This part of our series assumes you have read our previous blog and now have a list of connections that might be able to facilitate contact with your target client sorted by relationship. Degrees of Separation With two simple steps we’ve now generated a list of individuals who, in some way, connect you to your target.  Because we’ve asked the site to sort by relationship, the top of your list should be populated by those having first- or second-degree relationships to the “company” we’ve searched (this is helpfully represented via a numeric designation next to each individual’s name).  If you’re lucky, then your search will have generated one or more individuals having a first-degree relationship to your target entity.   If this is the case, fantastic.  It means that someone among your pool of LI connections works directly for, or with, your target.  Now you might be thinking, “If one of my personal connections works for my target, wouldn’t I have known this without LinkedIn’s help?”  The answer, often, is not necessarily.  Lateral movement is just as ubiquitous in most industries as it is in the legal field.  It can be easy to miss a colleague’s transition to a new company or position (although LinkedIn tries to help with this by emailing us every time one of our connections updates their profile) and a search of this kind will often yield a surprise or two. But just as likely, your search will yield a string of second- and third-degree relationships—individuals who are not among your personal connections […]

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With the unveiling of The Jameson Group’s new website, it seems only appropriate that our first blog entries address the subject of social media.  Specifically, how social media can be used by attorneys to develop business and facilitate more effective and efficient networking.  Your options for connecting with clients and colleagues via digital media are myriad, but we’re going to start this discussion by focusing on just one service: LinkedIn.  The site has grown exponentially over the past year, and if you’re not already a member, odds are you will be soon.  But, despite the number of legal professionals currently swelling LinkedIn’s ranks, the attorneys we work with often express more than a little uncertainty as to the practical benefits of the site.  We’ve lost count of the number of times a colleague has told us they have a LinkedIn account but they’re not sure why or how to take advantage of it.  The truth is, with a little know-how, the service can be an incredibly effective means of connecting you with the people you need to reach, whether to create new client relationships or strengthen existing ones.   Accordingly, our first two blog posts will focus on helping you better understand and use LinkedIn. LinkedIn is often described as Facebook for professionals.  The comparison, while certainly oversimplified, is understandable.  After all, both sites allow users to create individual profiles complete with personal photos and lists of interests, each seems to have transitioned overnight from novelty to necessity and in both cases amassing as many connections as possible seems to be the ultimate goal.  If we were to stop there then the comparison would be apt.  Unfortunately, many professionals do just that: they stop there.  But with a basic understanding of LinkedIn’s powerful search functions, turning the site into one’s own […]

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