Employers Cast a Wider Net in Search for Associates
Law firms are forced to work harder to identify and recruit associates as the national demand for legal talent continues to grow, the National Law Journal reports.
Law firms are planning more recruiting trips to more schools, conducting 'remote' interviews through videoconference facilities, and tapping alumni networks to draw in career candidates.
Baker Botts, for example, added Emory, Notre Dame, and Washington University in St. Louis to its list of recruiting destinations this year. Although the firm has always hired students from those schools, it has typically reserved recruiting trips for higher-profile schools such as Yale, Stanford, and Harvard. This year's tight competition for top legal talent prompted the firm's recruiters to take the extra step of sending recruiters to the lower-profile campuses.
Similarly, the University of Richmond School of Law's associate dean for career services told the NLJ that his campus was hosting recruiters for firms that had not targeted the school previously, including Haynes and Boone, Bingham McCutchen, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
One of the qualities that recruiters are looking for in potential associates is some likelihood that candidates will stay with the firm if hired. Nationally, almost 4 out of 5 associates at private law firms seek other employment within six years. Recruiters say they expect job candidates to ask about work-life balance and strive to be honest about candidates could expect as an associate with a private firm, but note that candidates who ask too many questions about work-life balance risk being written off as not serious.
One standard that recruiters are not compromising on in their search for associates is academic standing. Baker Botts told the NLJ that it will not consider applicants for internships or associateships who fail to meet the firm's academic requirements.
Source: "Law Firms Rework Campus Recruiting," by Leigh Jones. The National Law Journal, August 3, 2006.
Law firms are planning more recruiting trips to more schools, conducting 'remote' interviews through videoconference facilities, and tapping alumni networks to draw in career candidates.
Baker Botts, for example, added Emory, Notre Dame, and Washington University in St. Louis to its list of recruiting destinations this year. Although the firm has always hired students from those schools, it has typically reserved recruiting trips for higher-profile schools such as Yale, Stanford, and Harvard. This year's tight competition for top legal talent prompted the firm's recruiters to take the extra step of sending recruiters to the lower-profile campuses.
Similarly, the University of Richmond School of Law's associate dean for career services told the NLJ that his campus was hosting recruiters for firms that had not targeted the school previously, including Haynes and Boone, Bingham McCutchen, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman.
One of the qualities that recruiters are looking for in potential associates is some likelihood that candidates will stay with the firm if hired. Nationally, almost 4 out of 5 associates at private law firms seek other employment within six years. Recruiters say they expect job candidates to ask about work-life balance and strive to be honest about candidates could expect as an associate with a private firm, but note that candidates who ask too many questions about work-life balance risk being written off as not serious.
One standard that recruiters are not compromising on in their search for associates is academic standing. Baker Botts told the NLJ that it will not consider applicants for internships or associateships who fail to meet the firm's academic requirements.
Source: "Law Firms Rework Campus Recruiting," by Leigh Jones. The National Law Journal, August 3, 2006.
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