Partner Issues, Small Law Firms

Hire People (Or Not) Because Of Who They Are, Not Because Of Who You Hope Them To Be

When making hiring decisions, even if it takes time to find the right person, you will have saved yourself -- and the prospect -- a lot of grief by being honest and saying no if you're not sure about fit.

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Optimism helps you build a law firm right.  But take care not to be too positive in your view about whether a new person is right for your law office. Be realistic about personnel fit. 

I work with the best people in the law. I mean it. I’d not trade the team I work with now, and which slowly continues to grow, with any other group of professionals I’ve ever worked with, or ever heard about. I don’t mean that the sum of their academic and work experience is the most prestigious or “elite.” The schooling and professional experience of my team is noteworthy, but anyone honest knows schooling in particular has next to nothing to do with quality of legal work. I mean that I’d put our team of litigation professionals against anyone, anywhere.

This is not an accident. This is the result of years of making mistakes in hiring and firing, hopefully learning from those mistakes, and trying to come up with the best method for deciding how to grow and develop the right crew.

If I listed all my hiring errors we’d be here all day. I want to focus on one recruiting error I hope we don’t make anymore. We no longer hope for the best in new hires or partners. We honestly see who they are and make hiring and partner decisions accordingly.

This may seem basic, and it is, if nonetheless a rule frequently ignored, and for an understandable reason. This error — hoping for the best in a prospective new join to your team — is common amongst successful organizations. Organizations are successful for many reasons, but a common one is the optimism and flexibility of the managers of the organization. The leaders are positive, and when things don’t work out as they expect, those leaders find a way to work through the situation to achieve success.

But this optimism, this willingness to see the good in things, can lead to bad judgment calls when deciding who joins your law office. Those responsible for making hiring decisions may see unrealized promise in a prospective hire.  The law firm manager sees that the prospective hire can fit in, maybe, and with some work and time, the new hire might succeed. It’s natural for a successful law firm leader to bring this hopefulness to hiring as with everything else.

The law firm manager may also have a need at her firm and it seems, maybe, this person in front of the manager being interviewed will fill that need. Or the manager knows the firm needs a senior person with bankruptcy experience, and, great, this person has that (even if the manager has other concerns about the prospect). Or the prospective hire seems like he or she will fit in socially, but then the managers have concerns about his lack of experience for the position in question.

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But don’t make your hiring decisions based on hope and optimism. I’m not suggesting you be negative and only see the bad in people. Don’t be unduly positive or negative.

Instead, be honest with yourself: what do you need in someone and does the prospective hire have that?  The question isn’t will she maybe, hopefully, eventually have what you need. The question is whether she has what you need (admittedly in someone new to your firm) now.

If she doesn’t, the law firm manager shouldn’t hire her. As they say, there are other fish in the sea. It can be a pain. You had hoped after seeing the application materials that the prospective hire might fit. But if, after an interview, or follow up with a reference, or anything else, you honestly realize the prospect is not a good fit, don’t hire them.

There will be someone else. And even if it takes time to find the right person, you will have saved yourself — and the prospect — a lot of grief by being honest and saying no.

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John Balestriere is an entrepreneurial trial lawyer who founded his firm after working as a prosecutor and litigator at a small firm. He is a partner at trial and investigations law firm Balestriere Fariello in New York, where he and his colleagues represent domestic and international clients in litigation, arbitration, appeals, and investigations. You can reach him by email at john.g.balestriere@balestrierefariello.com.

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