| Consulting services you provide: |
| Major, Lindsey & Africa is the world's largest legal recruiting firm, placing lawyers in law firms, companies, non-profits and universities, and financial institutions. My own practice emphasizes recruiting General Counsels of public and private companies. |
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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.)? |
| After six years of practicing law (first in a large law firm and then in-house), I was bored. I read an article about legal recruiters in The American Lawyer magazine. Six days later, I was in business (January 1982). |
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| What is the best thing about working with lawyers? |
| The candidates seeking the jobs I am handling are almost uniformly well-credentialed, accomplished, ambitious, goal-oriented, engaging, and wholly professional. That makes my job a pleasure. |
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| What is the worst thing about working with lawyers? |
| 1. Trying to distinguish among all the lawyers with the above attributes. 2. Explaining why they were not chosen to all those candidates who did not get the job. |
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| What has been the most satisfying moment of your career thus far? |
| Around 1986, a local legal newspaper ran a profile on my firm, which was just a small one-office recruiting firm at the time (we now have 24 offices). The article quoted a competitor who said of us, "They are very tough competition. But they are very ethical about what they do." The legal recruiting business is ultra-competitive and that invitation to a competitor could have resulted in an unflattering remark. I was really proud that we were given high marks for our ethics and I'm grateful to that search firm for saying as much. |
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| What are your favorite activities outside the law? |
| Truth be told, I spend most of my time on my business, which I really love. I have great clients and wonderful colleagues at MLA. I try not to be one-dimensional. I read, travel, spend time with loved ones, and I am a devoted fan of Stanford athletics. |
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