Lateral Partner Recruitment Specialist – EMEA/Asia

Mayer Brown - UK; Greater London; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading international law firm is seeking a Lateral Partner Recruitment Specialist in London. The role includes supporting the recruitment cycle across regions, conducting diligence on candidates, and coordinating interviews. Candidates should possess 3-5 years’ experience in a professional services environment, strong organizational and communication skills, and a proactive mindset. If you thrive in a fast-paced setting and value diversity, apply to join this collaborative firm that supports inclusion and professional growth.

Benefits

Inclusivity support and Employee Resource Groups

Professional development opportunities

Qualifications

• 3-5 years’ experience in a professional services environment.
• Preferred experience in agency or in-house recruitment.
• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines.
• Exceptional attention to detail.

Responsibilities

• Support lateral recruitment cycle for candidates in London and EMEA.
• Conduct initial e-diligence on candidates.
• Design bespoke interviews and coordinate across time zones.
• Prepare onboarding integration plans for new hires.

Skills

Organizational skills

Communication skills

Discretion

IT skills

Ability to take initiative

Education

Graduate level or equivalent

Tools

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft Word

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft PowerPoint

Job description

Overview

Mayer Brown is an international law firm positioned to represent the world’s major corporations, funds, and financial institutions in their most important and complex transactions and disputes. We are recognised by our clients as strategic partners with deep commercial instincts and a commitment to creatively anticipating their needs and delivering excellence in everything we do.

We are a collegial, collaborative, and diverse firm where highly motivated individuals with an unwavering commitment to excellence receive the opportunity, support, and development they need to grow, thrive, and realise their greatest potential all while supporting the Firm’s client service principles of excellence, strategic partnership, commercial instinct, integrated strengths, innovation, and collaboration across our international firm.

If you enjoy working with team members whose defining characteristics are exceptional client service, initiative, professionalism, responsiveness, and adaptability, you may be the person we are seeking to join our Commercial department in our London office as a Lateral Partner Recruitment Specialist.

Recruitment

• Support all aspects of the lateral recruitment cycle for each candidate in the London, EMEA and Asia offices; work alongside a global team to ensure a seamless recruitment process for lateral partner hires;
• Conduct initial e-diligence on each candidate introduction, escalating issues or concerns if needed to the Director: Lateral Partner Recruitment;
• Monitor and maintain candidate pipeline, including regular check ins on the stage of each process, updating all candidate records insuring data integrity on a daily basis;
• Design and schedule bespoke interviews tailored to each candidate, including complex coordination across global time zones; resolve independent issues if conflicts arise;
• Collect and collate feedback following interviews, proactively and consistently following up with Partners for feedback;
• Manage the collection of candidate documentation, including but not limited to business plans and Lateral Partner Questionnaires;
• Coordinate and communicate with the Risk and conflicts team on preliminary conflict checks for each candidate;
• Assist with the preparation of all materials related to each candidate's business case in preparation for management approval, liaising with relevant sponsoring partners and departments for necessary documents;
• Assist with the preparation of targeted searches by prepare market maps, marketing materials, search briefs, liaising with recruiters, scheduling interviews, and other related tasks as required;
• Review market intelligence, market mapping reports, and internal research to identify and assess prospective candidates;
• Act as a point of contact for lateral partner candidates and/or recruiters from initial approach and throughout the process, ensuring consistent communication and feedback;
• Lead targeted searches on an ad hoc basis, acting as the primary point of contact for candidates and partners; working closely with sponsoring partners to ensure recruitment is aligned with the Firm's Global Strategy;
• Assist partners with guidance on the hiring policy and best practices throughout each process to enable effective and efficient decision-making.

Onboarding and Integration

• Prepare offer letters for all candidates liaising with other departments as necessary;
• Support sponsoring partners through pre‑onboarding and onboarding stages; delivering a tailored post‑offer cultivation experience;
• Collaborate closely with Business Services teams (including but not limited to Finance, Conflicts, HR, and BDM) across regions and offices to ensure a tailored and seamless onboarding process;
• Assist and collaborate closely with Director, Sponsoring Partners, Practice Managers and BD leads in drafting bespoke integration plans and associated KPIs for each candidate, ensuring the smooth and successful integration of each lateral hires into the local office as well as the global Firm;

General

• Produce reports for distribution to internal stakeholders on recruitment activity, search updates and progress, and key market themes on a regular basis, assist with ad hoc reporting requests;
• Build, manage and maintain relationships with preferred external recruiters, including negotiation and regular review of terms to ensure alignment with market norms, and maintaining agency tracker; organize meetings with recruiters for general catch‑ups or more targeted search discussions;
• Stay abreast of industry trends, lateral hiring moves and practices, and competitive market developments;
• Log and process recruitment invoices when required;
• Collect DE&I data for analysis

In addition to the Director: Lateral Partner Recruitment – EMEA/Asia, you will work within the wider Commercial team globally, including the Director and Assistant Director of Lateral Partner Recruitment – Americas and the Senior Director of Commercial Strategy and Growth Strategy, assisting and providing cover as needed.

Qualifications

Graduate level or equivalent

Experience, skills and personal attributes:

• A minimum of 3-5 years’ experience working in a professional services environment;
• Previous agency or in‑house or Recruitment experience is preferred;
• Ability to work in a busy, fast‑paced environment sometimes under pressure and adhering to tight deadlines;
• A strong administrative background with highly developed organisational skills and exceptional attention to detail;
• Ability to take initiative and think outside the box;
• Possess strong communication skills;
• Ability to be discreet and maintain confidentiality at all times;
• Experience working with key stakeholders at an international level preferred;
• Ability to work with minimal supervision;
• Strong IT skills with literacy in Microsoft packages including Outlook, Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
• Excellent written and spoken English;
• Adaptable, flexible and reliable;
• Personable with strong team‑based work ethic.

At Mayer Brown, we are committed to creating an inclusive work environment that offers our people the opportunity and support they need to succeed.

Our culture promotes mutual respect, acceptance, cooperation and productivity among people from all backgrounds and values different perspectives and ideas.

One of our core values at Mayer Brown is to promote inclusion at all levels within the business which is actively supported by our Employee Resource Groups – LGBTQI+, Fusion (Race & Ethnicity), Multi‑faith, Women, Enable (Disability), Social Inclusion and Opportunities Network and Work and Me (Family).

We are happy to discuss any reasonable adjustments that individuals may require throughout the recruitment process and once they have joined the Firm.