Interview Tips for Partner Candidates
by Jon Lewis, Managing Director, Michael Lord & Company
Even in today’s difficult market for attorney hiring it seems that
just about every firm is looking for lateral partners with business.
If you are a candidate for such a position, there are a number of questions
you need to carefully think about in advance of your interview. Here
are three examples:
- What is your portable book of business? Although you (or
your legal recruiter) will have undoubtedly addressed this question when
submitting your resume, it will still be a major topic of discussion at
your interview.
When you are asked this question, the first word out of your mouth
should
be a number, expressed with confidence. While your interviewer realizes
that there is always some uncertainty in this area, if you begin your
answer with disclaimers, caveats and provisos your ability to bring
in any business at all will immediately come into question. Although you
shouldn't offer up an inflated number you won't be able to deliver,
it's also unwise to lowball your number. "Under promise and over deliver"
may sound like a good approach in the abstract, until you realize that
competing candidates may be puffing up their own numbers in answering
this question
and interviewers accustomed to such puffery may mentally apply a discount
to whatever number you offer.
- Are your compensation expectations realistic? Your answer
to the question of what you hope to earn needs to mesh with your representations
concerning
your book of business. As many attorneys have recently learned to their
dismay, in these tough economic times a partner's attractiveness and ability
to command big bucks typically depends less on technical skill and more
on business-generation ability. If you've got a portable book of $500,000
you can be pretty sure no one is going to want to offer you $400,000 to
join them,
regardless of what you're earning now or how impressive your credentials/experience
may be.
- Why exactly is the firm talking to you? Before you speak
with a potential new firm make sure you know exactly what role they envision
for you. Are they looking to you to develop a new practice area or will you
be adding depth to an existing group? What are the potential synergies and
cross-marketing opportunities between your practice and the firm's? If you
know the answer to these questions in advance of your interview it will be
much easier for you to present yourself in the light most attractive to a
potential employer.
© 2009 by Michael Lord & Company, New York, NY and Wilton, CT. All rights reserved.
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