Recently, The American Lawyer caused quite a stir with a recent article, “How to Hire a Home-Run Lateral? Look at Their Stats” indicating that law firms are beginning to use statistical analysis similar to those used in Major League Baseball, as made famous in the book and movie Moneyball. According to the article, more than 20 percent of the AmLaw 200 firms are starting to use these techniques.
If that’s the case, the analysis is rudimentary at best. Although many law firms may be collecting more data about their lateral hires, the vast majority of firms that we have spoken to haven’t yet analyzed that data to determine what has been effective in their lateral recruiting program, and what factors lead to success. Many of those factors were outlined in an article that we authored last June for Bloomberg BNA.
This stands in contrast to the data that firms are collecting about their business development strategies. At a recent Legal Marketing Association event in Washington, DLA Piper reported on a very sophisticated analysis of what factors influenced whether key clients continued to do business with the firm, and whether the volume of work increased. If law firms are working this hard at targeting and retaining clients, shouldn’t they be equally committed to the partner hires who will represent those clients?
However, we are seeing signs that the market will change soon. Firms are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in their lateral recruiting efforts in terms of administrative costs, lawyer time spent, travel, and of course, recruiting fees. The recent focus of many firms on improving their integration programs indicates that firms have realized they need some return on their investment. This is an opportune time for aspiring market leaders to implement a sophisticated, metric-based, assessment system.
TMG’s Take is a regular e-mail advisory produced by The McCormick Group. The company’s Legal, Government Affairs, and Law Firm Management groups combine the expertise of more than 15 Consultants to help law firms fulfill all of their lawyer and administrative recruiting needs. TMG’s Take covers topics across the spectrum of law firm management, including associate and partner compensation, growth strategies, marketing and business development, operations and facilities management, finance and accounting, professional development, and technology. Please direct all inquiries to Steve Nelson, Managing Principal at (703) 841-1700 or snelson@tmg-dc.com.
