The Foster Group Featured in Law360 on Will Remote Work Give Mid-Law A Recruiting Edge?
/Will Remote Work Give Mid-Law A Recruiting Edge?
As some attorneys make career decisions based on remote work options, recruiters say Mid-Law firms may be able to use the situation to pick off high-quality talent from the bigger players - if these firms are willing to offer the flexibility candidates are looking for.
Recruiters said a significant portion of lateral candidates, primarily associates, are deciding to leave their current firm over return to office policies, with many even willing to take a pay cut in order to have more remote work options.
This situation could present an opening for the mid-size, regional and boutique firms picked over during the 2021 and 2022 talent wars to turn the tables and pick off BigLaw talent for themselves, but recruiters say they don’t currently see firms capitalizing on that opportunity.
“I definitely think it’s something that’s on the mind of lateral associates,” said Miten Shah, a co-founder at legal recruiting firm VOYlegal. “I think firms definitely could use this to recruit.”
Since the COVID-19 pandemic forced lawyers to work from home, the question of what will become the norm for remote work has lingered for the legal industry. Many firms have struggled to nail down specific policies, and no standard approach has emerged.
“A lot of management at firms do seem to want folks back in the office, but are hard-pressed to figure out how and how often,” said Elaine Oh of The Foster Group. Firms are mostly trying out various hybrid arrangements, but different firms have different approaches, she said.
As firms start to require in-office attendance, however, some attorneys are jumping ship rather than go back to their commute.
“[Remote work] is highly desirable still,” said Chantal Raymond, founder of Inclusive Legal, a national recruiting firm focused on diverse candidates. “It’s probably one of the most common questions that I get … I think people have been working well from home the last few years, doing laundry or whatever else while they work, and they don’t want to go back into the office.”
For some people, it might be because they moved to a new house or apartment during the pandemic and can no longer easily commute - and potentially can’t commute at all. For others, it might be about parenting responsibilities or work-life balance. And for many, a return to office policy simply doesn’t make sense.
“I think there is this notion of ‘Why does this really matter? We proved we can be [productive remotely],” said Shah. “The proof of concept has really already happened.”
The sentiment is certainly not universal, and seems to be much more common for associates than for partners. Larry Watanabe, a recruiter based in California who only works with partner candidates, said that he hasn’t seen any partners willing to leave a firm over the question of remote work. "
“At the partner level, I’ve not seen anybody say they want to make a move because of the remote work issue,” Watanabe said.
By contract, for many associates, remote work tends to be highly desirable - and for some, might be the only way they have ever worked.
“There are people who started working in 2020, and they’ve only known remote,” said Raymond. “When they hear big firm attorneys used to be in the office until 1 o’clock, 2 o’clock in the morning, they say “Wow, those are the olden days.”
Raymond, Shah, and Oh said that remote work isn’t a motivating factor for the majority of their candidates, but it is a top issue for a significant minority. Shah estimated that about 25% to 30% of the candidates he speaks to are moving primarily because of remote work, and Raymond and Oh similarly described it as a common but not universal motivation.
Many candidates in this camp, however, are willing to make sacrifices in terms of salary or firm prestige in order to get that flexibility.
“It really is going to depend on the candidate,” said Oh. “If that remote factor is really the driving force behind their move, then absolutely there are attorneys that would take a pay cut or go to a firm that’s a bit downstream … I think that definitely is something that is an enticing factors for folks as we come out of COVID and decide what the new normal is.”
In fact, recruiters said, as more firms start to mandate a certain number of in-office days, laterals who insist on either fully remote or mostly remote schedules will have to bend on other items on their wishlist.
This represents a potential opportunity for Mid-Law firms, who could potentially leverage generous remote work options to recruit associate talent from their BigLaw cousins. But whether this segment of the industry will successfully capitalize on that opportunity remains to be seen.
“The mid-market and regional firms are actually really making a push to get people into the office,” Shah said. “I’m finding that these regionals firms are finding more issues with the remote work model than BigLaw.”
That decision often makes sense for them in the big picture, he notes. However, as more firms experiment with return to office policies, those firms that are more flexible will likely have an edge when it comes to a particular segment of the talent pool.
Overall, recruiters expect that this dynamic will continue for the foreseeable future as the industry continues to find its equilibrium.
“I think this will continue to be a factor for some time,” said Oh.