Huse discusses the "5 Things You Should Never Say When Luring A Lateral"
Law360 quoted Huse in the recent article “5 Things You Should Never Say When Luring a Lateral”, where she discusses ways to improve your lateral hiring process. Excerpts from the article are below. To view the entire article, click here.
5 Things You Should Never Say When Luring A Lateral By Lisa Ryan
Law360, New York (November 30, 2015, 1:38 PM ET) - The lateral market is hotter than ever, with BigLaw firms fighting tooth and nail to reel in top attorneys with impressive client rosters.
Top firms that are in expansion mode are in a fierce battle to recruit the best laterals out there, trying their hardest to persuade these attorneys to join their team. But a firm can miss out on luring the most sought-after laterals by putting its foot in its mouth — without even realizing it.
Here, Law360 looks at five things a firm should never say to a lateral candidate if it wants to win the recruitment battle.
“That other firm is a joke.”
In sports, it’s perfectly acceptable to talk smack about your competitors. But in the legal industry, speaking negatively about a competitor is a bad idea.
A lateral recruit doesn’t want to hear from you that his or her current firm is lacking in any way or that another firm the recruit is considering just isn’t up to snuff. It reflects poorly on the person — or firm — talking trash, and could make the lateral find your firm less attractive as a result, according to Jill Huse, a partner with Society 54 LLC.
“If you’re bringing someone on, you don’t want to talk badly about the firm they were just at. It shows your character as a firm,” Huse said.
Instead of playing up the bad aspects of other firms, it’s a better idea for a recruiting firm to play up the great aspects of their firm. Maybe the other firm doesn’t share the same exciting attributes as your firm, and outlining your great qualities rather than listing the other firm’s faults can help the laterals come to that conclusion on their own.
“You want to talk about your firm; you don’t want to downplay someone else’s firm,” Huse said.
“Everything's rosy here.”
When it comes to telling a lateral all about your firm’s accolades or culture, make sure you’re not feeding the recruit a big lie.
“Don’t overstate the capabilities that the firm has. Making those untrue characterizations of how the firm is and their capabilities is something you’d never want to do. The lateral is leaving their life for the new firm, and you want to make sure it’s the right fit,” Huse said.
If your firm is dealing with specific issues or challenges, be upfront with the lateral about them. It’s better to lay everything out on the table than to paint an unrealistically rosy picture of just how wonderful things are at the firm, only to have the lateral feel blindsided on day one when he or she realizes that things are not as you made them seem.