Director of Legal Recruiting

Fenwick & West; Seattle (WA); Hybrid; USD 151,000 - 185,000; Full time

Job summary

Fenwick & West seeks a Director of Legal Recruiting to lead firmwide attorney recruitment, including lateral partners, associates, and summer programs. You will partner with Hiring Partners, Legal Personnel, Training, and Practice Management to align hiring with practice needs and market trends, and champion AI-enabled recruiting tools.

Ideal candidates bring 10+ years in attorney recruiting, a bachelor's degree (JD or advanced degree preferred), and a track record of building high-performing

Qualifications

• Experience leading attorney/legal recruiting programs.
• Strong collaboration with practice groups and leadership.
• Familiarity with AI-enabled recruiting tools.
• Bachelor's degree; advanced degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Develop and execute firmwide attorney recruitment strategy.
• Manage relationships with search firms and recruiters.
• Oversee lateral partner recruitment and law student programs.
• Collaborate with Hiring Partners and Practice Management.
• Lead and develop the Legal Talent team.
• Report recruiting data and manage budget.

Skills

Leadership

Talent development

People management

Executive presence

Interpersonal skills

Written and oral communication

AI recruiting tools

Education

Bachelor's degree

Master's or J.D. preferred

Job description

Job Description Summary

The Director of Legal Recruiting is responsible for overseeing attorney recruiting firmwide, including lateral associates and counsel, entry level attorneys, clerks, and summer associates. The Director of Legal Recruiting will develop strong internal relationships across all practice groups and business departments and become a strategic advisor on all matters relating to legal recruiting. This position will also require investment in relationships with search firms and other recruiters, employing successful tactics for sourcing and contacting potential candidates.

The Director of Legal Recruiting is responsible for overseeing attorney recruiting firmwide, including lateral associates and counsel, entry level attorneys, clerks, and summer associates. The Director of Legal Recruiting will develop strong internal relationships across all practice groups and business departments and become a strategic advisor on all matters relating to legal recruiting. This position will also require investment in relationships with search firms and other recruiters, employing successful tactics for sourcing and contacting potential candidates.

As a senior member of the Legal Talent team, the Director of Legal Recruiting works in close partnership with Hiring Partners, Legal Personnel, Legal Training, and Practice Management; collaboration across these functions is imperative, as the team works together to support the full lifecycle of an attorney at the Firm. The role also champions the adoption of AI‑enabled recruiting tools and practices to strengthen sourcing, candidate evaluation, and market intelligence across the recruiting function. This position can be based in any of our U.S. offices, and will require 2–3 days of in‑office presence per week, with additional onsite days as needed to support business and client requirements. This is a full‑time exempt role.

Job Description

• In close collaboration with Practice Group Leaders and the Practice Management leads, understand and identify lateral associate and counsel needs, and define and execute recruitment strategy for meeting those needs. Work with them to develop understanding of the Firm’s practice areas to ensure that there is alignment on hiring criteria, particularly when specialized expertise is targeted.
• Implement best practices in lateral associate recruiting, interviewing, hiring, and offer processes.
• Establish strong, effective relationships with third‑party search firms. Regularly communicate hiring priorities and strategy, articulating the value proposition for various key hires. Through relationship building, create brand ambassadors for the Firm in the marketplace. Manage search firm agreements.
• Leverage AI‑enabled recruiting tools to surface market and compensation intelligence, and streamline pipeline tracking and reporting — freeing the team to focus on high‑value relationship building and strategic decision‑making.
• Facilitate strategic decision‑making throughout the hiring process and implement scalable structures and processes for lateral recruiting.
• Work with the talent team on attorney integration, including partner integration, to keep the new hire experience cohesive and seamless.
• Oversee efforts to improve candidate experiences, from initial application submission through onboarding.
• In collaboration with Legal Personnel, deep understanding of associate market compensation, bonuses, and competitive lateral associate offer packages.
• Work collaboratively with the Legal Personnel and Practice Management to ensure each hire makes a smooth transition into the firm.

Summer Program and Law School Recruiting

• Work with Hiring Chair and Hiring Partners to ensure that entry level hiring needs are met, based on Practice Group projected needs.
• Advise and lead efforts to hire summer / entry‑level associates that are exceptionally qualified for Fenwick’s legal practices and locations.
• Facilitate strategic decision‑making throughout the hiring process and implement scalable structures and processes for law student and entry‑level associate recruiting.
• Build and deepen law school relations. Oversee communications and engagement. Help ensure development of Firm ambassadors within law schools.
• Direct the Firm’s summer associate program, including onboarding, work assignment system, feedback, summer associate reviews, social events, and offer process. Work closely with Hiring Partners and Recruiting Committee on active engagement.
• Manage and support an environment of open feedback throughout summer program.
• Be a firm champion of the summer associate program, encouraging involvement across the firm at all levels to create the best summer associate experience possible.

General Responsibilities

• Establish trust‑based advisor relationships with firm leadership. Become the face of the department and go‑to resource to share expertise, judgment and guidance on firm recruiting strategies.
• Manage and analyze firm‑wide recruiting data; prepare and deliver presentations to firm leadership on recruiting goals, successes, challenges, strategies and market trends. Propose hiring projections and analysis and general recommendations as to hiring goals and strategies. Track market trends and propose policy modifications.
• Serve as a senior member of the Legal Talent team. Collaboration with Legal Personnel, Legal Training, and Practice Management is imperative, as these functions work together across the full lifecycle of an attorney, from recruiting through onboarding, development, and ongoing practice support.
• Develop attorney interviewer trainings for all levels of attorney recruiting and implement recruiting and hiring best practices. Stay abreast of market trends.
• Prepare, manage and track spend to a detailed annual budget. Be accountable to Hiring Committee and Firm management on managing department costs, programing and event expenditures, search firm costs, on campus interview programs, etc. with an emphasis on strategic judgment and decisions on recruitment expenditures.
• Work collaborative across all groups and departments within the firm to ensure the candidate experience is well coordinated.
• Strategically recruit diverse talent and lead efforts to comply with the Mansfield Rule.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Desired Skills & Qualifications

• Demonstrated leadership qualities, including excellent interpersonal and collaborative skills, strategic and innovative thinking, an ability to persuade and influence, and strong professional presence.
• Proven experience with the ability to retain, develop and motivate exceptional talent development professionals.
• Strong managerial skills, including the ability to exercise discretion and independent judgment with respect to matters of significance.
• Executive presence, tenacity, integrity, and professionalism that will engender confidence with attorneys, administrative leadership, and prospective candidates.
• Strong interpersonal skills, including the ability to work effectively in a consensus‑driven organization and to create consensus‑based support.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Comfort and fluency with AI‑enabled recruiting tools and technology, and a demonstrated ability to champion their adoption to improve sourcing, screening, and decision‐making.

Reporting to the Chief of Practice Management, the ideal candidate will possess a bachelor's degree and at least 10 years of attorney/legal recruiting experience within a law firm or law school environment; a master's degree or J.D. is preferred. The successful candidate will have significant experience managing attorney recruiting programs, including lateral partner recruitment, as well as a demonstrated track record of effectively leading and developing high‑performing teams.

Benefits And Compensation Details

At Fenwick, we believe that our partners and employees are our most important asset. Helping you and your families achieve and maintain good health ‑ physical, emotional, and financial ‑ is the reason we offer a comprehensive benefit program. We provide benefits to eligible employees under plans such as Healthcare, Life Insurance, Health Savings Accounts, Flexible Spending Accounts, and Wellbeing. Except as otherwise required by law, temporary employees are generally not entitled to these benefits.

The Anticipated Range For This Position Is

$168,000 - $251,250

Depending on the role, the actual base salary offered may depend upon a variety of factors, including without limitation, the qualifications of the individual applicant for the position, years of relevant experience, level of education attained, certifications or other professional licenses held, and if applicable, the location in which the applicant lives and/or from which they will be performing the job.

A discretionary bonus for eligible employees may also be available based on performance. Additional information about employee eligibility for benefits and discretionary bonus will be made available upon request.