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GENERAL COUNSEL |
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General Counsel Search Specialists
In conducting a general counsel search, our goal is to recruit an attorney who will ultimately act as a trusted advisor to the CEO and other members of the senior executive team, and who will serve to advance the business goals of the company while protecting its interests.
Working as a general counsel is very different from working as a partner in a law firm. It takes a certain type of person, often with very specific skills. The emphasis is often on giving quick, pragmatic, and commercial advice that supports the objectives of the business. Not all lawyers are able to do this in a way that meets the demands of the corporate world, and not all recruiters know how identify these skills and attributes in a lawyer.
Our experience completing a number of general counsel searches, for Fortune 500 companies to companies looking to appoint their first general counsel, has given us insight into the practices best suited for ensuring that a general counsel search concludes with the hiring of a highly skilled attorney who will be a valuable contributor to the company.
While every search is different, ESQ Recruiting provides the following approach in conducting a general counsel search:
We Work Closely With Senior Management
Since the general counsel will ultimately become a trusted advisor to the CEO, and the CEO is most often the ultimate decision-maker in hiring the general counsel, we prefer to involve senior management in the process early to encourage discussions and build consensus about the requirements and preferences sought for the position.
We initiate meetings with the CEO and members of the senior management team, including members of the HR department, at the outset of the search to fully understand management’s vision for the role. We also look for the opportunities and challenges that potential candidates will face, both when interviewing for the position and over the long term should they become general counsel. These meetings allow us to gain insight into the personality and style that will work best with senior management, what type of lawyers will be a good fit for the company, and focus our search efforts accordingly.
We Identify and Prioritize Key Competencies
The main challenge of recruiting a general counsel is to identify the core competencies that are critical to the position, while prioritizing other skills that are considered important but not indispensable. While most employers would prefer to hire an existing public-company general counsel, that pool of candidate is not only very narrow, but it may not necessarily be appropriate to the needs of the recruiting company.
Requiring skills that are not of key importance for the company may narrow the pool of candidates unnecessarily, and derail the process before it begins. Of importance are cultural fit and industry experience with a similarly sized company, factors that may be overlooked in an attempt to focus on competencies that are not critical. Therefore identifying and prioritizing key competencies are essential to allow the search to be filled within a reasonable amount of time by allowing the company to identify a pool of qualified and appropriate candidates who may not offer every attribute on a company’s “wish list,” but who will make an excellent fit.
We Advise On Tangible Elements of The Search
We provide advice on a whole range of other issues related to the search including salaries, market trends, location, job descriptions, opportunities for advancement, and the best means to go about recruiting your general counsel.
General Counsels today are very highly compensated – often in the top five of the most highly compensated company executives. Given the high compensation qualified attorneys command, it is important for management to accept that it will need to offer a competitive compensation package to attract top general counsel talent. To assist our clients make this assessment, we provide them with market information to more effectively determine what is an appropriate compensation package given their candidate requirements, market trends, industry, company size, and location.
We Strive To Provide Diversity Candidates
Today, CEOs want to be presented with strong diversity candidates. We make every effort to provide exceptional counsels that meet our clients’ requirements – including diversity candidates. However, the pool of diversity candidates with general counsel experience is still quite small. Minorities make up less than 8 percent of Fortune 500 general counsel, and women make up less than 15 percent of Fortune 500 general counsel. Diversity candidates are in high demand, and yet remain highly underrepresented in the legal marketplace, whether they come from private practice, companies, or government positions.
We assist companies looking to hire diversity candidates for their general counsel position to set meaningful priorities and formulate attractive propositions to successfully recruit candidates in this narrow and highly sought-after segment of the general counsel pool.
We Deliver Results
We have considerable experience finding the right general counsel for the right company. We take the time to gain a thorough understanding of the skills and attributes required for the position, as well as the individuals and culture that makeup the organization. We also take the time to understand the subtleties of your business and how the general counsel will support it. We take a long-term view of our relationship with our clients and all our advice is given with this in mind; we do not just tell you what we think you want to hear, but rather what you need to know. This consultative approach allows us to consistently and successfully find the right general counsel for your business. See our representative list of recent general counsel placements. |
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