10 Things You Should Know Before Hiring
/Looking For Top Legal Talent? Here Are 10 Things You Should Know Before Hiring
You've got a critical opening to fill. Maybe a key leader just gave notice. Maybe you're building out a new specialty area. Or maybe you're ready to target growing into a new jurisdiction.
Whatever the reason, you're about to embark on one of the most consequential decisions your firm will make this year: hiring top legal talent.
Here's the thing, most firms approach this process the same way they did a decade ago. Post a listing, Collect resumes, Interview the candidates who look good on paper, Make an offer, Hope it works out.
That's not a strategy. That's a coin flip.
If you're serious about building a team that defines your firm's future, not just fills a seat, there are a few things you need to know before you start.
1. Resumes Only Tell You What, Not Why
Let's get this out of the way: a resume is a marketing document. It tells you where someone worked, what they did, and how long they stayed. It doesn't tell you why they left, why they're looking, or why they'd be a good fit for your firm specifically.
The best legal talent isn't just a collection of credentials. They're people with motivations, ambitions, and deal-breakers that won't show up in a PDF.
If you're making decisions based primarily on resume review, you're operating with incomplete information. And incomplete information leads to expensive mistakes.
2. Cultural Fit Isn't a Buzzword, It's a Business Imperative
You've heard "cultural fit" thrown around so much it might feel meaningless. But here's the reality: a technically brilliant attorney who clashes with your firm's values, leadership style, or collaborative expectations will create more problems than they solve.
Cultural misalignment leads to:
Increased turnover within the first 18 months
Friction with existing teams and clients
Damage to your firm's internal morale
Wasted time, money, and opportunity cost
Ask yourself: Do you have a clear understanding of what your firm's culture actually is? Can you articulate it to candidates? More importantly, do you have a way to assess whether a candidate will thrive within it?
If the answer is "not really," you're not alone. But it's a gap worth closing before your next hire.
3. Understanding Candidate Motivations Changes Everything
Why is this candidate interested in your opportunity? And just as importantly, what would make them say yes to someone else?
These are questions that most hiring processes gloss over. But they're the questions that separate successful placements from regrettable ones.
Top candidates have variables they're weighing:
Compensation and equity structures
Leadership trajectory and partnership potential
Practice area growth and client opportunities
Work-life integration and flexibility expectations
Firm reputation and stability
When you understand what's driving a candidate's decision-making, you can have honest conversations about fit. You can identify red flags early. And you can craft an offer that actually resonates: rather than guessing and hoping.
4. Speed in Process Matters More Than You Think
Here's a stat that should make you uncomfortable: the best legal talent is typically off the market within 10 days of seriously engaging in a search.
Ten days.
If your hiring process involves multiple rounds of partner interviews, committee approvals, and week-long gaps between touchpoints, you're not competing. You're watching from the sidelines while faster-moving firms close the deal.
Empower your decision-makers to act quickly. Streamline your approval cycles. And recognize that a drawn-out process doesn't signal thoroughness: it signals dysfunction.
5. Behavioral Assessments Reveal What Interviews Miss
Every bad hire carries a price tag far beyond the recruiting fees and salary. Consider:
Client relationships that may be damaged or lost during the transition
Team productivity that suffers while colleagues compensate for the gap
Morale that erodes when people see poor hiring decisions go uncorrected
Time that partners and leadership spend managing the fallout
The cost of a failed senior hire can easily reach six figures when you account for all the ripple effects. And that's before you factor in the opportunity cost of what you could have accomplished with the right person in place.
Getting it right the first time isn't just preferable: it's economically essential.
6. Strategic Hiring Beats Reactive Hiring Every Time
There's a significant difference between hiring because you have to and hiring because you've planned to.
Reactive hiring: scrambling to fill a gap after someone leaves puts you in a weak negotiating position. You're rushed. You're desperate. And candidates can sense it.
Strategic talent acquisition means:
Building relationships with potential candidates before you have an opening
Understanding the market landscape in your target practice areas
Having a clear succession plan for critical roles
Treating recruiting as an ongoing discipline, not a seasonal emergency
The firms that consistently attract top talent aren't lucky. They're prepared.
7. The Best Candidates Are Already Employed
This is worth repeating: the attorneys you most want to hire are not actively job hunting. They're not scrolling job boards. They're not sending out resumes.
They're busy. They're successful. And they're waiting for the right opportunity to present itself.
This means your hiring strategy can't rely on inbound applications alone. It requires proactive outreach, relationship-building, and a compelling narrative about why your firm is worth considering.
If you're only seeing candidates who are actively looking, you're only seeing part of the market.
8. Operational Disruption Is a Hidden Cost
Every bad hire carries a price tag far beyond the recruiting fees and salary. Consider:
Client relationships that may be damaged or lost during the transition
Team productivity that suffers while colleagues compensate for the gap
Morale that erodes when people see poor hiring decisions go uncorrected
Time that partners and leadership spend managing the fallout
The cost of a failed senior hire can easily reach six figures when you account for all the ripple effects. And that's before you factor in the opportunity cost of what you could have accomplished with the right person in place.
Getting it right the first time isn't just preferable: it's economically essential.
9. Technology and Business Acumen are Non-Negotiables
The legal profession is evolving. AI tools for contract review and e-discovery are no longer futuristic: nearly one-third of legal teams are already using them, with more than half planning adoption within two years.
Top candidates expect your firm to be investing in:
Robust legal technology infrastructure
Training and development programs
Modern document management and collaboration tools
But it's not just about tech. Business acumen is increasingly critical. Fifty-nine percent of Chief Legal Officers cite it as a top skill to develop. Candidates who understand the business side of law: client development, profitability, operational efficiency: are worth their weight in gold.
When you're evaluating talent, look beyond legal expertise. Ask: Does this person understand how to build and run a practice?
10. Your Search Partner Matters More Than You Realize
Not all executive search consultants operate the same way. Some are transactional: focused on filling seats quickly. Others are strategic: focused on finding the right person for the long term.
The difference shows up in results.
A strong search partner will:
Take time to understand your firm's culture, goals, and challenges
Provide behavioral and cultural assessments, not just resume matching
Serve as a sounding board and advisor throughout the process
Maintain relationships with passive candidates you'd never reach on your own
Move quickly without sacrificing quality
At CGAVERY, we believe executive search should be about building teams that define futures: not just filling today's vacancy. That means going deeper than credentials, understanding the why behind every candidate and every firm, and treating every search as a strategic investment in your firm's trajectory.
The Bottom Line
Hiring top legal talent isn't about luck. It's about discipline, preparation, and partnership.
If you're still relying on resume-first processes, reactive timelines, and gut-feel interviews, you're competing with one hand tied behind your back.
The firms that win the talent war are the ones that treat recruiting as the strategic function it actually is.