Law firms need to sell their lateral integration process to recruiters

In my eight years as a recruiter of partners and teams into UK and US law firms in London, at no point did a firm tell me about their process for integrating lateral partners.

At first I wondered if my experience might be a bit out of date (I stopped being a recruiter in 2010) but I asked around a bit and seems they’re still not doing it.

It’s only since I put together a report for IntoGreat Coaching – ‘Lateral Partner Integration in Law Firms’ – that I fully realised what a trick law firms are missing.

There are three good reasons for selling your integration process to recruiters.

First, many firms have really impressive and well-resourced procedures for integrating new partners. That’s a sales point.

Second, taking candidates through how you integrate new partners also challenges them to think about how they will integrate themselves. Most partners will be moving for the first time in their career, and it doesn’t occur to them that other firms do things quite differently.

Third, it will show candidates what kind of firm you really are, because the integration process is unique to each firm.

Firms always talk about hiring to culture, but find it difficult to explain except via a few generic words (‘collegiate’ etc). In my view, how you integrate lateral partner hires is where your cultural rubber really hits the road.

Take these two examples of integration process turned up by my research:
1: Up to four sponsors for every lateral, regular monitoring meetings every three months. Sponsorship performance part of a sponsoring partner’s appraisal.
2: One sponsor, no real monitoring except an annual check-in and a much more liberal attitude to targets. No real oversight of sponsors.

Now, some laterals are going to be able to adapt to any system, others are not. The kind of lateral who wants to be left more or less alone might not respond well to thirty meetings at various levels in the first hundred days. You don't want to frighten them off, but you also don't want people who can't adapt.

But it’s not just how you check on them, it’s what you offer them.

Do you have mentoring or buddy schemes? Do they get to meet senior management beyond the recruitment process? Does anyone in business support ‘own’ partner integration? What kind of training do laterals get, and how is that organised? Do they have access to specialist integration coaching?
Remember, recruiters always like good ‘ammo’, and really value gaining a deeper understanding of their clients, so sell integration where you can.

If you’re interested in the report contact Stephen Rodney at IntoGreat Coaching.

If you’re looking to review your lateral hiring and integration processes, drop me a line to set up a call.