I am pleased to have my colleague Meredith Haydon back and working with us again on a regular basis. As some of you may know, Meredith lost her husband Chris to cancer earlier this year and she took some time off. So this photo from a holiday party on Dec. 3 takes on special meaning for me. It also reflects our different styles. As Meredith would say, I’m the “schmoozer” with the big grin. And I’m always trying to get her to chill out more! Since 1999, our complementary strengths have served our clients well, and we look forward to more of the same in 2016.
HR Connections
The party with the huge Christmas tree in Chicago’s Union League Club was a networking event for STAR Chicago, a human resources association for Talent Acquisition professionals. We were pleased to help as an event sponsor, as we want to improve our visibility with your internal recruiters who are often responsible for handling your attorney searches. Once upon a time, general counsel would simply call us directly to recruit mid- to senior-level lawyers for their law departments. The process has become more collaborative, and internal recruiters often play an important role in the engagement.
And so, once again, I ask and will continue to ask this favor of you: please refer us in advance of your department’s hiring needs to your internal recruiter for a no obligation introduction. Let your HR folks do some vetting of our firm so that we will be positioned to help your law department if and when an external search makes sense.
Be a Part of Our Survey!
We have something fun for you to do! If you have not done so already, please take a look at our Career Satisfaction Survey. It is specific to the interests of inside counsel and does not focus on the almighty dollar (i.e. it’s not a compensation survey). I believe that attorneys rise up in law departments or move to other companies for reasons that almost never have to do with money. Perhaps you disagree? I welcome your comments either way.
Participation is anonymous, and we’re already getting tremendous input. We are excited about relaying the results along with our editorial analysis of your answers in the next issue of eNews (Feb. ’16).
My thanks to Cate Flahardy and her team at Cate Flahardy Communications for their leadership on this project.
Great Adjunct Counsel Available
For Chicago area clients: We have two fabulous in-house commercial generalists who are each on assignments that wind down at year-end. Although we are always onboarding new contract lawyers for our clients, this is a specific opportunity to get proven winners. Add resources, plug holes, and get more done without adding to headcount.
As a reminder, our contract attorney service is only available in the Chicago area. Our traditional search services are national, and now we have placed attorneys in 18 states.
Happy holidays!