Divya Bala’s legal recruiting career began with a single conversation.
After graduating law school and working with the public defender’s office, Bala wanted to explore her options. She told a legal recruiter that she was open to a non-traditional legal career. Her recruiter, a former lawyer, said, “Would you ever think about doing what we do?”
Now with more than 15 years in the legal recruiting world – including a decade exclusively focused on elite law firm partner searches – Bala has made her mark on the legal industry by having those same kinds of honest, forward-looking conversations with partners. Known for her close, long-standing relationships with candidates and leadership at Am Law 50 firms, Bala builds connections with trust, honesty and unparalleled market knowledge.
Integrity and patience are the cornerstones of her practice. “I don’t do this to have repeat business with candidates,” says Bala. “I do this so that when I place somebody, their trajectory at their firm is a long and fulfilling one, where their needs are met.”
Bala took on a new adventure again in 2023 when she started her own firm, Avance Partner Search. The boutique firm continues her mission to make rewarding, unprecedented matches for top-flight partners and firms. In the last three years, Avance has been widely recognized for its ability to operate at the highest echelons of the market with integrity.
“We compete at the top of the market and we, with just a few people, are able to do more with less,” she says.
Bala has placed individual partners and groups in the nation’s most influential firms, bolstering firms’ current offices and expanding into new markets. Recently, Bala has made high-profile placements at firms like Sidley, expanding the firm’s New York, London and West Coast offices. Bala also received national attention when she spearheaded the move of a 17-lawyer group from Munger, Tolles & Olson to Baker McKenzie’s L.A. office in 2023. The group – who handled matters including acquisitions by Berkshire Hathaway and Intel at $11.6B and $9B respectively – are power players in a highly competitive industry, and finding the right match for a group of that scale required Bala’s unique industry insight and trust.
Though she has deep roots on the West Coast from her office in L.A., as law firms have become increasingly global, so has her work; much of the firm’s work is East Coast-based, and they’re making moves in London, as well. “In order to understand a global law firm you have to understand what is going on in their major markets,” Bala explains.
A partner’s career transition is an experience that Bala herself knows intimately, having taken leaps into the recruiting world and into her own firm. Remembering the importance of the conversation that changed her trajectory, she guides partners through difficult personal decisions to ultimately take the next step and find fulfillment on every level.
Lawdragon: What brought you to law school and a legal career?
Divya Bala: I was born in London, but then grew up in India for five years. My grandfather was a lawyer, and he and my grandmother were instrumental in raising me at that time. He had a home office, and I remember sitting in his lap as he was lawyering. I think that probably impacted me more than I thought.
I obviously did not realize that recruiting was an option when I became a lawyer. I actually came to hear about it as I was looking for a job. I went into a recruiter’s office, and she asked if I’d be open to doing what she did.
LD: How did she describe it to you?
DB: She said they worked with lawyers to matchmake. I was excited to do that work because it used some of the skills that I already had, both as a lawyer and a person.
LD: Which skills are those?
DB: You have to like listening and talking to people; you have to be really personable. You have to be willing to learn about what makes somebody tick, and on the other side, really understand what an opportunity looks like. You have to be pretty tenacious. It’s a lot of psychology.
LD: How do you determine what makes a person tick?
DB: By really getting to know somebody. Who they are, what motivates them, their practice, their clients – but also the softer pieces, like their family. Most of the partners I work with are in a great situation, and a lot of our job is about understanding what could make that even better, if that’s even possible, at different points in their career. So, it might not be now; it might be in three years or five years or even 10 years down the road. Having the ability to make that match, really getting to know them, and not doing it for a quick deal is important. Unfortunately, a lot of recruiters dabble in this work or they’re doing this for a quick fee. For me, I’ve been really lucky to have placed candidates at firms where they’ve grown into leadership positions and, in some cases, become part of the fabric of the firm and running the firm. Then, they become clients. That’s the goal.
In order to do that, you can’t have a quick phone call with somebody and call it a day. It has to be more than that. In some cases, I’ve met with candidates and their spouses. They’re making these big career decisions maybe once or twice in their lives, and you serve as a trusted advisor. They’re trusting you with some of the most important decisions of their lives. In some cases you become a friend. I keep in touch with a lot of the people that I’ve worked with.
Most of the partners I work with are in a great situation, and a lot of our job is about understanding what could make that even better, if that’s even possible ... in three years or five years or even 10 years down the road.
LD: How do you encourage candidates to open up so that you can discover exactly what it is that will be fulfilling for them?
DB: By bringing forth the most recent market knowledge and the best opportunities. A lot of partners that I work with have told me, “I returned your call because I feel like you were actually calling about something.” I’m fortunate to have relationships at the top of the Am Law with firm chairs, heads of practice groups, policy committee members, management committee members, et cetera. They’re going to take my calls because when I’m bringing something forward to them, it’s with a deep understanding of what is driving that need for the firm. For the partners that I’m calling, that relates to them, too.
Like I said, most often, I work with partners that are really happy. It’s about specific opportunities that exist for them in an ever-changing market. So, it’s critical for me to know and understand what’s going on in the market. That can be anything from upcoming leadership changes to compensation systems changing, and even changing strategy or philosophy within a firm and how that can impact someone’s opportunity at that time. It also helps that I do this nationwide, and increasingly in Europe and Asia. So, I know the market trends. Most, if not all, of the top firms are now global. So, instead of having a focus in a particular geography, it’s really important for a partner making a change to understand what is happening across offices. I think that helps with relationships too – it’s about understanding the trends not only from now, but from what happened five years ago and five years before that. Then, I convey that knowledge to people who are busy in their own way and therefore may not have that up-to-date information.
LD: Looking at your practice now, are there any practice areas you tend to work with the most, or is it more about the firm and the partner?
DB: The practice area for me is irrelevant; I enjoy working with people. Over my 10-plus years of doing partner placements, there have been trends. I’ve worked with groups, large and small – so, a couple partners all the way up to five to 10 partners. I’ve opened offices, which is a different but fun thing to do. Anytime you have more than one or two individuals involved in a decision, it just makes it more complex. Those deals are challenging and fun, and they require a lot more in terms of really understanding what makes each person tick.
LD: What do you enjoy about that bigger scope of challenge?
DB: So many things can happen in these deals, and that’s why they are complex; that’s why I like them. A lot of things are not in your control, because you’re dealing with people – and, as we know, people are not always in our control. You never know if somebody’s going to get cold feet, or maybe there’s a meeting that doesn’t work or what have you. So, in those deals, you control everything you possibly can, and then you hope that there is love on both sides – because there has to be a little bit of that for it to work. Whether you’re an individual or a group, you’re choosing to be partners with new people. Of course, everything else has to work – the compensation has to be right; the feeling has to be right; the ability to know that there’s an upward trajectory has to be right. But there’s also this gut feeling that happens. When that’s there, it’s a win-win.
LD: What trends are you seeing impacting your practice?
DB: Overall, firms are understanding that they’re not just hiring because they need more of one certain area or skill. They’re being opportunistic about building the next generation of talent. One trend we have seen is that virtually nobody is untouchable. Firms who were historically slow to bring in lateral talent are being forced to be commercial and hire the next generation of leaders.
LD: Interesting. What else is going into that shift?
DB: Obviously it’s a very competitive market now. Firms are having to change compensation models, and Wall Street firms are trying to be commercial and hire. Because nobody is untouchable, we are seeing partners we never thought would leave their firms doing so. There will be more law firm mergers. There will be more changes with AI, the billable model, etc., in the next 5 years. I wonder if retirement ages are even going to come into play. I think you’re going to see a lot of people leaving the law firm world earlier than they used to just because if you’re making $15M a year every year for 10 years, I don’t know that you need to work until you’re 65.
LD: That’s such an interesting point. And what changes are you seeing with AI?
DB: As AI comes more and more into play, many partners we work with are curious to understand what firms are doing with AI. We’ve been working on that internally, as well; we brought on a tech and data expert as a Knowledge and Innovation Manager. He is building databases to streamline our processes. We’ve used AI as everyone has, to have more hands and eyes on things that would otherwise take us longer to do and can allow us to focus on what is important, which is guiding and coaching the folks that we represent to the best decision possible. We get to things faster. Everything is much more at our fingertips. Because we’re small, it allows us to punch above our weight.
The compensation has to be right; the feeling has to be right; the ability to know that there’s an upward trajectory has to be right. But there’s also this gut feeling that happens. When that’s there, it’s a win-win.
LD: Speaking of the firm, tell me about the start of your firm, which has celebrated three years now. Does it look now how you planned?
DB: It’s been great. We are doing a lot of exciting work. I always tell partners I work with now that I’m empathetic to their situation because I’ve gone through it. At any stage of your career when you’re reevaluating, there is some self-doubt that always creeps into your mind. It did for me, certainly, in doing this. But I’m so happy that I did it because it was not worth the worry. It’s paid off immensely. Every year has been better than the last in terms of goals, revenues and thresholds we wanted to cross. It’s been a great three years and we are excited for what is next.
LD: Is there any advice you’d give a lawyer about working with a recruiter on the next stage of their career?
DB: I don’t envy lawyers because I know that they get a lot of recruiting calls. Most partners fall into two camps: There are partners who are skeptical of recruiters, and then there are partners who have had good experiences because they have found someone who actually adds value. It’s important to choose someone to work with who has connectivity to firm leadership, who really knows the market and whose deal sheet speaks to that.
LD: Lastly, what do you enjoy doing for fun outside of your work?
DB: I was a Division I tennis player in college, and I still play for fun. I’ve more recently taken up golf, which is a new challenge. My goal is not to be embarrassed to take a client to play nine holes. I exercise all the time. I also have two busy girls – a twelve-year-old and a nine-year-old. My husband is an ER doctor and equally busy, so we make it work. We love to travel as a family and spend time with our dog, Dr. Pepper!
