Lateral Recruitment Manager

Katie Bard; Birmingham; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Katie Bard is seeking an experienced Lateral Recruitment Manager to lead fee-earner recruitment on a national scale. The role focuses on developing a strategic, consistent and commercially aware approach to attracting top legal talent, working closely with Partners and senior leadership to align with growth plans.

The successful candidate will own the end-to-end lateral recruitment process, build agency partnerships, gather market intelligence and advise on remuneration and market conditions

Qualifications

• Strong understanding of the UK legal recruitment market, including lateral Solicitor/Associate/Partner-level appointments.
• Experience managing recruitment processes and influencing senior legal stakeholders.
• Commercial awareness to link recruitment to practice growth and client relationships.
• Established understanding of legal recruitment agencies, talent networks and market mapping.
• Confidence to challenge, advise and influence Partners while building trusted relationships.
• Ability to introduce structure and take ownership of a newly created function.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of lateral fee-earner recruitment across the firm's national office network, from brief to appointment.
• Partner with senior stakeholders to understand practice priorities and growth objectives.
• Develop and implement a proactive, consistent lateral recruitment approach.
• Build and maintain relationships with legal recruitment agencies and external partners.
• Develop market intelligence on competitors, talent availability, and opportunities in the legal sector.
• Support recruitment needs arising from business expansion, acquisitions and integration of new teams.
• Advise stakeholders on recruitment strategy, candidate attraction, remuneration and market conditions.
• Establish recruitment processes, reporting and candidate engagement with high confidentiality.

Skills

Market knowledge

Stakeholder management

Influence senior partners

Agency relationships

Process improvement

Ownership of function

Job description

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Lateral Recruitment Manager to join an ambitious and evolving law firm at an important stage of its growth.

This newly created position will take responsibility for managing fee-earner recruitment nationally, developing a more strategic, consistent and commercially focused approach to attracting legal talent.

Working closely with Partners and senior leadership, you will play a pivotal role in supporting the firm's expansion, identifying talent opportunities and ensuring recruitment activity aligns with both immediate business needs and longer-term growth plans.

This role will entail:

• Taking ownership of lateral fee-earner recruitment across the firm's national office network, from initial brief through to successful appointment.
• Partnering closely with senior stakeholders and Partners to understand practice group priorities, commercial objectives and future talent requirements.
• Developing and implement a consistent, proactive approach to lateral recruitment across the business.
• Build and maintain relationships with legal recruitment agencies, managing external partnerships and ensuring quality, value and delivery.
• Developing market intelligence around competitor activity, talent availability and emerging opportunities within the legal sector.
• Supporting recruitment requirements arising from business expansion, acquisitions and the integration of new teams.
• Advising stakeholders on recruitment strategies, candidate attraction, remuneration and market conditions.
• Establishing effective recruitment processes, reporting and candidate engagement practices while maintaining a high level of confidentiality.

This role is ideal for individuals who have substantial experience recruiting qualified legal fee earners, ideally gained within a law firm or specialist legal recruitment environment. Applicants must have:

• A strong understanding of the UK legal recruitment market, including lateral Solicitor, Associate, Senior Associate and Partner-level appointments.
• Experience managing recruitment processes and influencing senior legal stakeholders.
• The commercial awareness to understand how lateral recruitment supports practice growth, client relationships and wider business objectives.
• An established understanding of legal recruitment agencies, talent networks and market mapping.
• The confidence to challenge, advise and influence Partners while building trusted working relationships.
• The ability to introduce structure, improve processes and take ownership of a newly created function.

This opportunity will particularly appeal to someone who enjoys combining hands-on recruitment delivery with the opportunity to shape and develop a function.