As the Firmwide Attorney Recruitment & Development Director, you will support the strategic initiatives of the firm’s Recruiting, Management and Executive Committees with respect to the hiring of associates and lateral partners for the firm’s Chicago, New York, Richmond, Springfield and Tampa offices. Working in support of the hiring partners, this role will provide leadership to and work closely with the recruiting committee to develop and implement effective recruiting efforts to ensure that the firm is successful in recruiting top legal talent. The successful candidate will interface regularly with senior firm Directors, lawyers at all levels, recruiters and others. They will continually create, develop and implement effective and innovative processes and best practices for all aspects of the recruiting life cycle while accomplishing these and other critical functions: Reporting to the CHRO and the Recruiting Committee, the Firmwide Attorney Recruitment and Professional Development Director will work closely with firm management involved in the recruitment of lateral candidates and the integration of new attorneys. Essential functions include:
Recruitment Committee:
Analyze recruiting trends to develop and implement recruiting strategies to best directly source lateral talent both locally and firm wide.
Oversee traditional and creative sourcing methods, including but not limited to: online searches, job postings, internal database searches, law schools, referrals and third-party search firms.
Manage outside recruiting firm relationships and service agreements.
Drives and supports cohesive talent strategy across the firm and works to further develop recognizable talent “brand” both internally and externally.
Work with supporting staff to oversee the recruitment process, which includes creating and communicating schedules, arranging all interviews, handling logistics, collating, disseminating and tracking feedback, and maintaining a reliable organizational system to ensure data related to candidates is accessible and useful over the course of a candidate’s recruitment process.
Work with the Hiring Partners to ensure that candidates or their representative are kept fully informed and updated at every stage throughout the recruitment process.
Prepare and communicate statistics, advertising/information materials, and progress reports
Assist the Hiring Partners with preparation of materials and offer packages for review by the Management Committee.
Coordinate the candidate due diligence process including conflicts, reference and background checks and bar verification process.
Manage the development and implementation of various diversity recruiting initiatives in conjunction with the Hiring Partners and the firm’s Diversity Committee.
Track recruiting budget.
Organize training and guidance in effective and appropriate recruiting and interviewing skills.
Professional Development:
Facilitate the successful integration of all lateral associates and partners.
Coordinate lawyer training programs and initiatives.
Maintain the lateral associate recruitment website pages and content.
Oversight of firmwide CLE programs.
Requirements:
Bachelor’s degree or equivalent combination of education and experience required. Minimum of five years of full cycle recruiting experience required.
Prior legal recruiting experience, including the demonstrated ability to manage all aspects of legal recruiting.
Sophisticated and strategic research skills to identify candidates.
Prior experience implementing attorney training programs and initiatives
Outstanding interpersonal, teamwork, and communication skills. Ability to work in a cross-functional team environment demonstrating reliability, dependability and flexibility is essential.
Exceptional organizational, process, and follow-through skills. Ability to prioritize assignments and work independently to meet critical deadlines.
Ability to understand the Firm’s strategy, strengths, and objectives, and to identify candidates who will best serve those objectives.
Understanding of the markets in which the Firm operates; familiarity with the offerings and compensation structures of competing firms.
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.
Must possess superior judgment and discretion and be able to protect and maintain highly confidential information.
Computer proficiency in Outlook, Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel
About Freeborn & Peters
Freeborn & Peters LLP is a full-service law firm headquartered in Chicago, with international capabilities. Freeborn is always looking ahead and seeking to find better ways to serve its clients. It takes a proactive approach to ensure its clients are more informed, prepared and able to achieve greater success – not just now, but also in the future. While Freeborn serves clients across a broad range of sectors, it has also pioneered an interdisciplinary approach that addresses the specific needs of targeted industries, including food, transportation, and insurance and reinsurance. Freeborn is a firm that genuinely lives up to its core values of integrity, caring, effectiveness, teamwork and commitment, and embodies them through high standards of client service and responsive action. Its lawyers build close and lasting relationships with clients and are driven to help them achieve their legal and business objectives. The firm currently has offices in Chicago & Springfield Illinois, New York City, Richmond Virginia and Tampa Florida.
