| Consulting services you provide: |
| Over the past eighteen years I've helped scores of partners and practice groups join some of the world's top law firms (ranging from global powerhouses such as Paul Weiss, Latham & Watkins, Gibson Dunn, and Freshfields to highly profitable three-partner boutiques), assisted firms in merger and branch office acquisitions, and conducted successful searches for General Counsels at corporations around the U.S. As the former Co-Chair of Major, Lindsey & Africa's Partner Practice Group, I've helped to set strategy and coordinate the partner practice for 22 domestic and international offices. The practice group has well over a century of combined legal search experience and has placed hundreds of partners with more than 80 different law firms. |
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| How did you come to hold your present position (specifically, what led you to become a legal recruiter, marketing consultant, etc.)? |
| I found myself 15 years out of Columbia Law School, having had four fantastic jobs (2d Circuit clerk, Debevoise & Plimpton, AUSA in the Southern District of NY, Counsel to the Chair of the City Planning Commission), but lacking the burning desire to go back to being a big-firm trial lawyer. I've always enjoyed being a matchmaker (3 weddings, several long-term relationships). Being a search consultant -- a profession with an uneven reputation back in 1990 -- seemed a perfect way to meld my analytical and advocacy skills with my natural inclination to solve complicated problems and help people choose the path that will best advance their careers and maximize their happiness. |
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| What is the best thing about working with lawyers? |
| I love helping intelligent people make intelligent choices. The partners I work with are extremely smart and extremely successful -- on the candidate side, rainmakers who have established a large and loyal client base, or senior government officials from the SEC and DOJ, Governors and U.S. Attorneys; on the client side, the Chairs of firms, Managing Partners and heads of lateral partner hiring -- and they invariably have that special spark. I learn an enormous amount from every one of them as we work together. |
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| What is the worst thing about working with lawyers? |
| All of the partners I work with are expert at analyzing their clients' situations and problems but some are less insightful in figuring out what makes them happy and what they need in order to be successful. It is great to be able to help them in that process but can on occasion be frustrating if they are unwilling to take the time to really think about the best long-term career decisions and to fully engage in the process. |
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| What has been the most satisfying moment of your career thus far? |
| Watching over the past two decades as our mom-and-pop operation has grown into the #1 rated legal search firm in the U.S., with over 150 professionals in 22 offices in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and throughout the United States, and watching an incredible group of MLA recruiters mature into stars of their profession. |
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| What are your favorite activities outside the law? |
| Spending time at the beach and elsewhere with my wife and our 15 year old daughter; flying two-string stunt kites; being engaged as a Trustee at our daughter's school (particularly chairing the Long Range Planning Committee); reading history and biographies. |
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