Michael Allen
Ed. note: This is the latest installment in a series of posts from Lateral Link’s team of expert contributors. Michael Allen is the CEO of Lateral Link. He is based in the Los Angeles office and focuses exclusively on Partner and General Counsel placements for top firms and companies. Prior to founding Lateral Link in 2006, he worked as an attorney at both Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Irell & Manella LLP. Michael graduated summa cum laude from the University of California, San Diego before earning his JD, cum laude, from Harvard Law School.
As Baby Boomers are pushing towards the mandatory retirement age, the prospect of replacing them has some complications. Cohort analysis suggests that Millennials — broadly defined as having been born mid-1980s to mid-1990s — place great emphasis on a work life balance. By 2025, 75 percent of the workforce will consist of millennials, and firms will have to adapt, or risk losing attorneys to their biggest competitors: in-house legal departments.
Employer preferences are clearly demarcated among our clients; a much higher percentage of our younger attorney clients are generally looking to go in-house the minute they set foot in Biglaw, while our Baby Boomer clients are more or less content with the current Biglaw status quo.
In the past, there has been a noticeable compensation gap tilted greatly in favor of law firms. However, in-house departments are catching up quickly and are offering a competitive mix of cash and equity to equal and often surpass Biglaw pay for commensurate experience and responsibility.
Biglaw attorneys are leaving en masse for in-house positions. The exodus however is not just tied to a desire for a better work/life balance, but also the desire to work as part of a team working towards a common goal.
Unfortunately for attorneys, the candidate demand high-paying in house legal positions far outpaces the supply of opportunities. The market is very competitive and in-house recruiting is much different than law firm recruiting. Relationships are even more essential in the in-house market, as companies generally limit the number of recruiters they work with to one at a time and they can afford to be very particular with who they hire. The market is very much client driven and not candidate driven. For example, a mid-level Corporate Cravath associate or partner with $5 Million in portables at a Am Law 100 firm is driver when it comes to looking for another law firm gig. However, with an in-house opportunity, it’s the opposite. The client is the driver. That is key to remember when assessing your value in the market and timing to find an opportunity.
We have been around almost 15 years now and have cultivated our in-house contacts from the largest corporations in the world to the greenest startups in Silicon Beach. Right now for example, we are working exclusively on two plum positions for our hedge fund client in Los Angeles.
The first is a General Counsel opportunity at a major Hedge Fund, Direct Lending Investments. This is an opportunity to come on as one of the key executives in the firm. The second is a Senior Counsel/Vice President of Asset Management Counsel opening, for which the hedge fund is seeking an attorney to provide legal and transactional support to management and investment teams.
If either of these positions interest you, feel free to reach out to me or my colleagues at Lateral Link.
Lateral Link is one of the top-rated international legal recruiting firms. With over 14 offices world-wide, Lateral Link specializes in placing attorneys at the most prestigious law firms and companies in the world. Managed by former practicing attorneys from top law schools, Lateral Link has a tradition of hiring lawyers to execute the lateral leaps of practicing attorneys. Click here to find out more about us.