Law360: Firms' Recruiting Specs Hinder BigLaw Litigator Hiring

Aebra Coe | July 30, 2024, 10:10 AM

Large law firms are hungry for top litigation partners who can bring strong client relationships and big books of business along with them, according to legal recruiters. But many are finding that a tall order in today's legal industry, where everyone is looking for the same thing and portability as a litigator can be a challenge.

The pendulum is always swinging with changes in the economy, with BigLaw firms pouring resources into growing in the transactional arena or in litigation, and at times both. But right now appears to be a time when litigation departments are in growth mode at many law firms, according to recruiters.

"The enthusiasm for litigation partners, especially those with significant portables, is higher than it's been for years," said Kathy Richardson, founder of legal recruiting firm HR Legal Search.

Richardson said she's seeing some of the highest initial offers related to partner compensation that she's ever seen.

"Firms are putting their best foot forward from an early stage and are giving stronger initial offers to the top talent they want to recruit," she said.

The level of competition is needed because the number of candidates who fit the exact bill BigLaw firms are looking for is extremely limited, according to Darin Morgan, a partner with legal recruiting firm Major Lindsey & Africa.

"I think that the demand is much higher than the supply generally, especially when you're talking about partners with a book of business," Morgan said. "Firms have a very specific profile and if a candidate doesn't meet it, they don't hire them and have to keep looking."

Michelle Fivel, a founding partner of recruiting firm Hatch Henderson Fivel, said she, too, sees that "specific profile" presenting a challenge to law firms when it comes to finding the partners they seek.

"If firms are looking for well-credentialed litigators with really solid experience, that's not hard to find, really, anywhere you look," Fivel said. "But if you pile on the criteria of legitimate first chair experience, then the requirement that they have a track record of generating significant cases over a period of time — that becomes much harder to find."

Litigation by its nature presents a different set of issues than transactions because bet-the-company lawsuits are so few and far between that a lawyer working on a big case today isn't promised another tomorrow, according to Gary Miles, of Miles Partner Placement.

Miles said he's seen law firms in recent years doubling down on their diligence when hiring litigators to attempt to ensure they bring business with them — something that can be elusive at times.

One way they're doing that, he said, is by seeking to hire groups instead of single partners, with clients more inclined to follow entire teams of lawyers rather than a single person from firm to firm.

"If a partner projects they will do $5 million next year based on the active cases in their pipeline, if that lawyer is not moving with a team to support that business, the question has to be, 'Are you really moving the client relationship?'" Miles said. "This is not to say a single litigator can't move a significant client relationship. But most law firm leaders tell me they want to hire groups more than onesies and twosies. It gives them a greater level of confidence that a client will be sticky."

And groups can be harder to find than a single partner, further exacerbating the challenge firms are facing in finding the exact hires they're looking for.

Morgan said he's encouraged law firms to open themselves up a little when it comes to hiring litigators, something he believes could benefit them.

"If you're not landing a $10 million book of business, keep looking at different types of partners," he said. "Maybe there are up-and-comers worth investing in."

Doing that becomes harder the further up the profitability ranking a law firm falls, because of the strong emphasis in today's legal industry on financial rankings, and the possibility that too many up-and-comers may skew profitability downward, he said. But, there is room for some more flexibility.

"The bottom line is, I do think some firms need to adjust their expectations a little bit of what is in the marketplace," Morgan said.

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