Legal Recruiting Manager

Summary

Supervises and coordinates the activities of the Legal Recruiting department in the Houston office, in addition to coordinating On-Campus Recruiting, the Summer Associate program, Lateral Recruiting and related event planning. Works with Legal Recruiting Committee, Summer Associate Committee, and National Recruiting Director to ensure Firmwide consistency.

Duties and Responsibilities

• Manage all financial aspects of Legal Recruiting Department and provide budget information to Office Recruiting Chairs.
• Prepare interview schedules for laterals, new associates, and students.
• Greet and host candidates during the day and provide required information to all candidates.
• Coordinate and monitor follow-up for, laterals, new associates, and students (including dinners).
• Oversee data and feedback regarding each candidate that has interviewed in the Houston office.
• Manage unsolicited resume process, including screening all resumes, routing resumes to appropriate attorneys, follow-up on prescreening, and relaying outcome to applicants.
• Prepare and organize National Association for Law Placement (NALP) forms and law school forms.
• Responsible for maintaining and updating content of Sidley’s recruiting website (as it pertains to Houston) and extranet site.
• Participate in recruiting conference calls with other offices on a regular basis.
• Coordinate all correspondence and recordkeeping of active and inactive applicants in various firm systems.
• Keep apprised of market trends for legal recruiting market.
• Perform other duties as assigned or as judgment or necessity dictates.

 RECRUITING COMMITTEE:

• Oversee development, implementation and updates of hiring policies and procedures for Hiring Partners.
• Provide candidate information and feedback to Hiring Partners.
• Prepare agenda items and meet regularly with Hiring Partners to discuss candidate offer and no offer decisions.
• Produce recruiting reports for Hiring Partners, Co-Managing Partners, etc.
• Prepare and process all offer letters for attorneys.
• Assist Hiring Partners in selecting attorneys who will interview on-campus at each school or participate in other recruiting events.

 ON-CAMPUS INTERVIEWS:

• Coordinate and schedule on-campus interviews at law schools.
• Serve as Firm liaison to law school placement directors.
• Coordinate on-campus interviewing including overseeing preparation of packets for all interviewers and manual for all attorneys.
• Organize fall “kick-off” meeting.
• Coordinate and attend hospitality suites at schools.
• Schedule and attend meetings for Hiring Partners and on-campus interviews teams to discuss call back decisions and relaying of call back offers to students.
• Coordinate call back decisions with other offices to ensure there is no overlap.
• Organize “sell” dinners at schools for candidates who have offers outstanding.
• Track all decisions and inform on-campus and in-house interviewers of the outcomes.

 SUMMER ASSOCIATE PROGRAM:

• Plan and organize all aspects of the Summer Associate Program including updating of summer manual, assignment of summer mentors, mentor groups, summer advisors, orientation schedules; assist with office assignments and secretarial assignments.
• Track all summer associate work assignments and evaluations using the Firm’s extranet.
• Work closely with Summer Chair and Summer Committee to ensure that Summer Associate Program is running smoothly.
• Prepare agenda and attend all Summer Committee meetings.
• Plan, organize and attend all summer activities (social, training, etc.) including evening and weekend events.
• Manage Summer Associate Program budget.
• Update, distribute, and collect summer associate new hire paperwork.
• Orchestrate the conflicts process and background checks for summer associates.
• Organize, prepare materials, and attend offer meeting.

 LATERAL ATTORNEY RECRUITING:

• Coordinate year-round lateral hiring. Work directly with Firm management, Hiring Partners, and Partners in specific practice groups to fill hiring needs.
• Work with external recruiters to identify potential candidates.
• Along with National Recruiting Director, read through all contracts pertaining to external recruiters.
• Orchestrate the conflicts process and background checks for new associates.
• When necessary, coordinate the advertising of lateral positions.
• Prepare new hire form for incoming laterals.
• Serve as main contact for all laterals.

CLERK HIRING:

• Organize and oversee any judicial clerk hiring.
• Oversee the development of and process letters to judicial clerks at various courts.

 OUTREACH EFFORTS TO SCHOOLS:

• Organize and attend receptions at schools (fall and/or spring).
• Coordinate with the various school teams and other offices regarding sponsorship opportunities at law schools.
• Work with law school career centers to identify areas where the Firm can become active and involved.
• Coordinate participation in other events such as pro bono fairs, alumni functions.

 DIVERSITY COMMITTEE:

• Work with Diversity Committee to recruit diverse candidates.
• Assist in planning dinners or happy hours for Diversity Committee and summer associates.
• Serve as the administrative liaison for the Recruiting sub-committee.

 MANAGEMENT

• Manage Legal Recruiting staff.
• Manage recruitment efforts for department including assisting in writing job descriptions and interviewing.
• Provide new employee orientation to all new hires on departmental procedures.
• Manage Performance Management system for Recruiting department.
• Write and conduct performance evaluations in conjunction with review meetings with Recruiting staff.
• Coach and counsel Recruiting staff regarding Firm policies and procedures in concert with the Human Resources Director.
• Maintain and manage Time & Attendance system for Recruiting department, and approve time off requests for Recruiting staff. 

Qualifications

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the Duties and Responsibilities (Duties) above satisfactorily and meet the requirements below.  The requirements listed below are representative of the minimum knowledge, skill, and/or ability required.  Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.  If you need such an accommodation, please email staffrecruiting@sidley.com (current employees should contact Human Resources). 

Education and/or Experience:

Required:

• Bachelor’s degree (B.A. or B.S.) from accredited college or university
• Minimum three years experience in a related field
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office Suite

 Preferred:

• Law firm experience
• Two years supervisor experience
• Law school/recruiting experience

Other Skills and Abilities:

The following will also be required of the successful candidate:

• Strong organizational skills
• Strong attention to detail
• Good judgment
• Strong interpersonal communication skills
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills
• Able to work harmoniously and effectively with others
• Able to preserve confidentiality and exercise discretion
• Able to work under pressure
• Able to manage multiple projects with competing deadlines and priorities

 Sidley Austin LLP is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer