Biglaw, Job Searches

Saying Biglaw Hiring Coordinators ‘Have More Beauty And Fewer Brains’ A Bad Move For Headhunter

Most legal recruiters don't hurl sexist rants at the people they have to work with. Some, apparently, do.

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This is, apparently, a law firm hiring coordinator in this guy's mind.

This is, apparently, a law firm hiring coordinator in this guy’s mind.

I don’t get it. I’ve tried these many years to figure out what drives him, but I just don’t get it. Every few months, Harrison Barnes, the big boss man over at BCG Attorney Search and LawCrossing, decides to take a break from dispensing straightforward career advice and delves into these massive screeds that absolutely never end well for him.

Finally, he may be starting to figure this out.

For a guy whose business is based on building relationships with prospective laterals and the law firms that might hire them, Barnes just keeps going out of his way to make public statements that only seem to alienate everyone he’d theoretically hope to attract. He’s waxed philosophic about whether or not poor black people can have the work ethic required for Biglaw and told attorneys to avoid anything that might suggest they aren’t a white, heterosexual male. One could imagine a charitable reading where he’s just decrying the ugly yet persistent biases of law firm hiring, but he never seems to make those connections as much as he gives them further currency.

Perhaps he thinks that once he crosses the 9,000-word threshold, no one is going to bother to read up to the point where he starts going into how important it is to provide a phrenology map in your résumé or whatever his bugaboo of the week happens to be. Personally, I think he should probably try putting his thoughts in a diary, locking it, then setting it aflame, scattering the ashes in multiple states, then hiring a ghostwriter to write color-by-numbers “Put Your Best Foot Forward!” pieces for his business from now on.

So now Barnes has managed to insult law firm legal recruiters because on a long enough timeline he’ll get around to insulting everyone. In a piece ostensibly about helping applicants understand the Biglaw hiring process, he throws in some now deleted passages about his estimation of firm recruiters:

“If you have not noticed by now, most legal recruiters are women, and most are quite attractive and fit. This is because they are in positions that involve public relations—sort of like an on-air television newscaster. There is nothing wrong with the fact that most law firms put people like this in these positions because they are the public face of the law firm. What is problematical, though, is that some of these people can also—occasionally—be a little ditzy and not have the other sorts of qualifications that would make them qualified for the job. Not only do they sometimes have more beauty and fewer brains, but they also may have more beauty and less interest in people, less ability to connect with people, and similar negative characteristics. This means they expect people to treat them as if they are special and sometimes are more focused on themselves than their jobs.

It is not uncommon for recruiting coordinators to use their workspaces as a hunting ground for mates—and it works. Many recruiting coordinators marry (or get married to) associates and partners inside of the law firm. This is what happens when attractive and successful people are put in confined spaces 10 hours a day. Once a legal recruiting coordinator gets close to an associate or partner in the firm, the recruiting coordinator may start playing favorites—and often does. People who are close to the associate or partner may get special treatment when applying to the firm, for example. If there is tension in the job of the associate or partner (i.e., getting fired, getting a bad performance review, or leaving), this can affect the performance of the recruiting coordinator a great deal.”

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This is vintage Barnes ranting right here. He could have said that firm hiring folks vary in skill and attention to the applicant’s file — which would probably still irk the firms — but instead he decided to kick it up that extra notch by throwing in a surfeit of retrograde sexism. Consider the deft handling of both the dumb-hot dichotomy and the conniving golddigger trope — in the same passage! This isn’t easy folks. And this gem: “marry (or get married to).” Masterfully stripping away her very agency! After all, she doesn’t get married, a male lawyer gets married to her.

Remember, this is an article about how to deal with not hearing back after an interview. If you give a thousand monkeys with a thousand typewriters to work on a piece about not hearing back from an interview… they still wouldn’t write any of this.

As you might imagine, recruiting coordinators didn’t appreciate the piece. A sampling of comments made on LinkedIn (where Barnes mind-bogglingly decided to put it):

  • This article is offensive and sexist, and Harrison Barnes, you should be ashamed to have published this.
  • This article is extremely sexist, not to mention full of overbroad, inaccurate statements offered without any supporting evidence. Qualified candidates should know better than to take advice from anyone spouting this sort of nonsense.
  • If this article is any evidence of how you treat and regard these professionals, then perhaps that is the reason you don’t receive the feedback or responsiveness you’d like, not because of their own skills or attributes.

As the uproar mounted, Barnes began his much-needed apology tour, writing law firms a mercifully non-rambling mea culpa that concluded with a key announcement:

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I take this issue very seriously. It has become clear to me that I need to take some time to reflect on my comments. To that end, I have decided to take an extended leave of absence from BCG Attorney Search to reflect on my actions, and I will no longer be making submissions on behalf of our candidates. I am very, very sorry for any offense this article has caused.

Good for him. Seriously, I’ve been covering his posts for over four years and every single time I wonder when it’ll dawn on him how self-destructive these posts are. Stepping away for a while is a good first step.

What Does Silence Mean When a Law Firm Fails to Respond to Your Application, or Interviews You and Then Goes Dark?

Earlier: Poor, Black Lawyers Lack Work Ethic, Says Legal Recruiter
How To Make Your Résumé Shine For Racist, Homophobic, Misogynists
If You Care About Work-Life Balance, You’re A Bad Person
Legal Recruiter Fails To Understand Hiring Process, Basic Social Conventions

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

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