The Foster Group Interviewed by Law.com on Recovering From the Loss of Multiple Attorneys
/Texas Takeaways: Recovering From the Loss of Multiple Attorneys, Part 3
It’s helpful to redouble your recruitment efforts, and work closely with a trusted recruiter. There are many attorneys and many experienced partners who welcome the challenge of assisting a firm in building a practice area, says Michelle Foster, founder and managing partner of legal recruiting firm The Foster Group.
Over the past two weeks, Texas Takeaways has focused on two high-profile cases where a large number of Texas attorneys left their respective firms and took up residence at new destinations. Michael Newman, office managing partner at the Dallas office of Foley & Lardner, told us what it means for your attorneys who remain and how you can keep your law firm from being in a similar position. In our most recent Texas Takeaways column, we spoke to Kent Zimmermann of Zeughauser Group about the possible reasons why your attorneys would walk out together.
In this installment, we spoke with Michelle Foster, founder and managing partner of legal recruiting firm The Foster Group, and her colleague, Elaine Oh, managing director at the firm, about how your firm can recover from the loss of a group of attorneys.
What causes a large number of attorneys at a firm to jump ship?
MF: There are a number of reasons why attorneys would leave together as a group. Most importantly, attorneys want to ensure that their clients are well-taken care of especially when making a move to a new platform. Oftentimes, their practices are tied to one another’s and moving as a lateral group allows them to mitigate their risk, and ensure that more of their clients follow them to a new firm, knowing that there is already support in place, coming from a familiar and cohesive team.
More generally (and not directed to the firms referenced here), when we see large numbers of attorneys leaving, it is attributable to any of the following: a firm’s overall financial decline, a firm’s culture, steep billing rate increases making it challenging to maintain clients, conflicts, a lack of expertise in critical practice groups and lack of associate support.
How does the loss of so many attorneys at once affect the firm and more importantly, those attorneys who remain?
EO: Oftentimes, when the attorney who leaves is a “rainmaker,” has had a long tenure there, or serves an important role within the firm, this may shake attorneys’ confidence and lead them to contemplate a move for themselves. With that being said, firms have plans in place for lateral departures and one group decamping does not equate to the “sky falling,” but will mean additional time and resources spent to shore up a specific office and potential strategy adjustments.
If you lose a group of attorneys at once, what is the best way to recover?
MF: I wouldn’t presume to advise managing partners, but in my observation over the years, when a firm loses a group, firm management typically looks to rebound by communication and transparency with their attorneys, as well as with their recruiters. Oftentimes, the firm will offer an explanation as to why the group was not strategically well-aligned. The best way to recover from a public relations perspective is typically to announce a new hire aligned with the firm’s strategic group and, in essence, change the topic to positive news. It is important to stop the bleeding as soon as possible and not have a steady drumbeat of departures.
Say you are a midsize firm and a larger out-of-state firm opens an office and lures away and entire practice area in your city, what should you do to find replacements?
MF: I wouldn’t presume to advise managing partners, but in my observation over the years it’s helpful to redouble your recruitment efforts and work with a trusted recruiter. There are many attorneys and many experienced partners who welcome the challenge of assisting a firm in building a practice area. We have also seen firms that lose a practice area merge with another firm in order to replace a practice area that they need.