Recruiters ‘Attack Like Piranhas’ as Law Firms Start to Crumble
The first sign of trouble for a law firm often occurs when partners with a large portable practice become dissatisfied with management and jump to a new opportunity.
Then the next tier of partners fears problems and they circulate their resumés, according to New York recruiter Jerome Kowalski of Kowalski & Associates. He told the Legal Intelligencer what happens next.
“Hiring and managing partners then inevitably call recruiters they have relationships with, ask if they have heard anything about what’s happening at firm X and mention the incoming tide of resumés,” he told the publication in an e-mail. “The recruiters then attack like piranhas. And they do draw blood.”
At that point, he said, more lawyers leave the firm and it becomes known as “damaged goods,” making a merger impossible.
Potential merger partners often end up cherry-picking the remaining partners, offering only short-term contracts and often making the offers contingent on a minimum number of partners coming aboard, he said.
The article cites Howrey’s lawyer defections as the latest example of poaching by rival firms.
