Assistant Director of Lateral Partner Recruitment - US

Mayer Brown is an international law firm positioned to represent the world’s major corporations, funds, and financial institutions in their most important and complex transactions and disputes. We are recognized by our clients as strategic partners with deep commercial instincts and a commitment to creatively anticipating their needs and delivering excellence in everything we do.

We are a collegial, collaborative, and diverse firm where highly motivated individuals with an unwavering commitment to excellence receive the opportunity, support, and development they need to grow, thrive, and realize their greatest potential all while supporting the Firm’s client service principles of excellence, strategic partnership, commercial instinct, integrated strengths, innovation, and collaboration across our international firm.

If you enjoy working with team members whose defining characteristics are exceptional client service, initiative, professionalism, responsiveness, and adaptability, you may be the person we are seeking to join our Human Resources department in our Chicago office as an Assistant Director of Lateral Partner Recruitment - US.

Working with the Director of Lateral Recruitment, Americas, the Assistant Director of Lateral Partner Recruitment will collaborate with practice and office leadership teams to strategically formulate and deliver lateral recruitment efforts to address needs with the most appropriate resources in the relevant market.  This role will primarily focus on the Chicago lateral partner market but will, especially over time, be expected to be involved in the lateral hiring projects work of other offices and national practice groups and product and industry teams. In particular, the Assistant Director of Lateral Partner Recruitment will proactively work closely with the Chicago Office Managing Partner, local practice leaders and other key stakeholders to ensure a cohesive recruitment strategy and process for the office.

• Develops a strong and comprehensive understanding of the Firm’s practices, brand, markets, global strategy, and lateral-hiring objectives
• Identifies individual and group candidates who will advance the Firm’s lateral-hiring strategy specifically but not exclusively in the Chicago, IL market, in alignment with the relevant practice, product and industry groups, and the Firm’s diversity hiring goals
• Develops a full range of candidate sourcing strategies and avenues, with an emphasis on strengthening direct sourcing capabilities and reducing our reliance on search firms
• Participates in initial meetings with candidates; be able to assess the candidate while describing the opportunity and the Firm’s strategy effectively and persuasively
• Develops, maintains, and manages relationships with recruitment firms and in conjunction with the Lateral Recruitment team, negotiates fee proposals and service agreements
• Works closely with the relevant sponsoring partner to establish a full slate of interviewers and provides support to implement best practices and talking points for effective in-person and virtual interviewing, candidate evaluation and collection of feedback
• Leads the day to day partner sourcing and recruiting efforts for the Chicago office, including but not limited to the arrangement of interviews, circulation of materials, briefing of interviewers, and collection of interview feedback
• Assists sponsoring partners with preparation of materials and offer packages for review by the Management Committee
• Works closely with the Firm's conflicts lawyers and sponsoring partners to assess potential client conflict issues
• Works closely with the Firm’s due diligence providers and identify potential problems for further analysis and consideration by Firm management
• Works with sponsors and Firm management to ensure effective execution of integration plan for each hire
• Works closely with business-development team to coordinate candidate’s arrival at the Firm; provide BD team with relevant candidate materials so they can prepare press release, internal announcements and website bio for the candidate
• Supports Director of Lateral Partner Recruitment, Americas to provide regular reports to the Global Chief Human Resources Officer and Firm management on (1) the lateral recruiting budget; (2) the performance of lateral hires; (3) market trends and activity (4) the candidate pipeline; and (5) other projects as required
• Manages integrity of data in applicant tracking databases and procedures
• Actively implements best practices for attracting a diverse pool of candidates and works to meet the firm’s diversity hiring goals; ensures the Firm’s commitment to diversity in the marketplace is well communicated to search firms
• Demonstrates a commitment to working collaboratively as part of the HR team and ability to lead and motivate others, being innovative and strategic, and providing a high level of professionalism and client service

Education/Training/Certifications: 

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent is required; JD or MBA is preferred

Technical Skills:

• Knowledge of software tools such as LawCruit and Legal Monitor a plus; experience with similar database tools for applicant tracking; proficiency with MS Office Suite applications including Excel, PowerPoint, Word and Outlook required
• Advanced proficiency in virtual platforms such as Teams, WebEx and Zoom

Performance Traits: 

• Ability to understand the Firm’s strategy, strengths, and objectives, and to identify candidates who will best serve those objectives
• Understanding of the Chicago, IL legal market; familiarity with the offerings of competing firms
• Ability to develop operational plans based on business objectives
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to establish credible relationships with recruiters, candidates and at all levels within the Firm
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Ability to exercise discretion and sound judgment
• Demonstrated problem-resolution and follow-through skills
• Effective team player
• Strong organizational skills
• Ability to maintain professionalism and strict confidentiality

Minimum years of experience:

• Minimum of 10 years of professional recruitment experience in a client-service environment, including significant involvement with partner-level hiring
• Prior experience of lateral hiring within an agency and/ or law-firm desirable

The above is a general description of the essential duties associated with this position and does not represent an exhaustive or comprehensive list of all duties.

The Firm may modify and amend this job description at any time at its sole discretion. Nothing herein creates a contract of employment or otherwise modifies the at-will nature of employment.

We offer competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits, including medical/dental/vision/life/and AD&D insurance, 401 (k) savings plan, back-up childcare and eldercare, generous paid time off (PTO), as well as opportunities for professional development and growth.

Thank you for your interest in Mayer Brown. We are committed to providing equal opportunity and reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities and disabled veterans. To request a reasonable accommodation related to the application process and/or job interview, please email uslateralrecruiting@mayerbrown.com. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.

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