Managing Director, Drew Foster, Interviewed by Law360 on '4 Things Attorneys Should Ask Before a Move'
/4 Things Attys Should Ask Before A Move In Hot Job Market
The legal industry has thousands of vacant jobs and firms are throwing out bonuses and pay increases to tempt attorneys to switch firms, but legal recruiters say lawyers should ask several key questions before jumping to a new firm.
According to legal service provider Leopard Solutions’ job database, the legal job market has more than 12,000 open positions for attorney and nonattorney jobs including associates, staff attorneys, law clerks, paralegals and legal secretaries. That doesn’t include partner and counsel positions, which usually don’t have job listings.
Leopard Solutions CEO and founder Laura Leopard told Law360 Pulse in a recent interview that the legal job market has so many open positions because firms are still playing catch-up from when the hiring slowed down in 2020. She said that while firms have made up for lost hiring in 2020, they are now trying to grow their attorney head count.
“So we expect at least the first half of this year for recruitment to stay at this fever pitch,” Leopard said.
Here are factors Leopard and other legal recruiters say attorneys should consider before taking advantage of the hot job market.
Is the Additional Pay Worth the Extra Work?
Attorneys who work at midsize firms and have six-figure student loan debt might be especially tempted to leap at a BigLaw associate job with a starting salary of more than $200,000 and da signing bonus that could completely wipe out their debt.
However, those attorneys should consider that a BigLaw salary will come with more work, Leopard said, noting that BigLaw attorneys work much more than 40 hours a week.
“The price for getting that law school debt wiped out might be too high for them to pay on a personal level,” she said.
Leopard added that lawyers who are happy at their current firms and are receiving offers for higher pay at other firms should ask their firm if it can make it more attractive to stay.
“No one should move just because of money,” Leopard said.
What Are Your Career Goals?
Lawyers should define both their short-term and long-term goals when deciding whether to switch firms, according to Drew Foster, managing director of legal recruiting company The Foster Group.
Foster said that if attorneys know whether they want to make partner, move in-house or go into management, it will be easier for them to decide whether to switch firms.
“There’s certainly firms that are terrific at sending people in-house. There are firms that are particularly good at elevating people to partnership and helping them grow a practice. It’s really kind of an evaluation in terms of what’s important to this specific attorney, and then deciding in the first instance, ‘Am I on the good path where I am?” Foster said.
Leopard said that if associates are trying to make partner, they should compare how long it takes at their current firm versus other firms, as they might be able to make partner sooner by switching.
“If I was an associate and I was getting calls, and I had some firms that I was looking at, I would ask my recruiter … ‘How long does it take to make partner at that firm?” Leopard said.
Does the Firm’s Remote Work Policy Work for You?
Many attorneys want to work remotely, but not all firms are offering their employees that option, according to Natasha van der Griendt, vice president of Robert Half Legal.
Van der Griendt said lawyers should ask recruiters whether a firm is offering a remote work option and whether the firm plans to allow employees to work remotely long-term.
According to a fall 2021 survey by legal recruiting firm Major Lindsey & Africa and Law360 Pulse of more than 2,500 attorneys, coming into the office one to two times per week was the top choice. About one-third of associates and partners preferred this option over coming into the office more frequently or being fully remote.
“Remote wins the day,” van der Griendt said. “We definitely see our clients that are fully remote attracting much better talent and gaining just a wider access to the pool of candidates we have.”
Will You Have a Support Network?
Before attorneys jump to a new firm, they should assess whether they know anyone at the firm, Leopard said.
She said lawyers will have an easier transition if they already know people at their new firm.
“We’ve always seen some attorneys that kind of boomerang back to the law firm that they came from … but we’ve also heard anecdotally from folks about people who’ve been unhappy once they moved, and they found the grass really wasn’t greener,” Leopard said.
Foster said attorneys should consider whether they have a mentor at their current firm.
“In the law firm world, it is important to have people who are helping push your career forward,'“ Foster said.