Executive Recruiter

Newport Associates; San Diego (CA); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Newport Associates in Newport Beach, CA, is seeking an Executive Recruiter, Legal Search, to build relationships with Am Law 100/200 firms and top boutiques. You will source and manage attorneys, develop a personal pipeline, and negotiate engagements with client firms.

You will be trained and supported, but this is a high-autonomy, entrepreneurial role with uncapped earning potential. The position offers full-time, part-time, in-office, hybrid, or remote options nationwide.

Qualifications

• You are relentless on the phone.
• You are genuinely curious about people and firms.
• You can hold sophisticated conversations with senior attorneys.

Responsibilities

• Identify, target, and open new law firm clients across Am Law 100 and 200, elite boutiques, and regional firms.
• Conduct high-volume outreach to Practice Group Chairs, Partners, and in-house teams.
• Build a pipeline of firm relationships that generate repeat, exclusive, and retained searches.
• Take intake calls with firm leadership to understand job specs, economics, and criteria.

Job description

Newport Associates Newport Beach, California | Full-Time or Part-Time | In-Office, Hybrid, or Fully Remote

About Newport Associates

Newport Associates is an executive legal search firm specializing exclusively in the placement of attorneys, from associates through equity partners and full practice groups, at the nation's most prestigious law firms. We work with hundreds of Am Law 100 and Am Law 200 firms in every major legal market in the country, from New York and Los Angeles to Chicago, Dallas, Austin, San Francisco, Boston, Miami, and beyond.

We are not a volume shop. We do not push resumes. Every search we take on is a high-touch, strategic engagement where we advocate for both the attorney and the firm to ensure the fit is right, the economics work, and the move actually advances a career rather than simply changing a letterhead.

What separates us is access. While most recruiters get stuck in HR portals and junior recruiting queues, we maintain direct, peer-level relationships with Practice Group Chairs, Lateral Hiring Partners, and Managing Partners. When we bring a candidate forward, it lands as a vetted, high-priority recommendation from a trusted source, not a blind application.

We have placed 65+ attorneys since our founding, including 30+ in the last 24 months alone, and we are growing quickly. We are looking for the next person to join that story.

The Opportunity

This is a role for someone who wants uncapped earning potential, genuine autonomy, and the chance to build a book of business in one of the most lucrative corners of the recruiting industry. Legal search fees are typically 25 to 30 percent of a placed attorney's first-year compensation. When you are placing partners with seven-figure books and associates earning $300,000 to $450,000, the math on a single placement is significant, and the math on a good year is life-changing.

You will be trained, supported, and set up with the infrastructure to succeed, but this is fundamentally an entrepreneurial seat. The people who do best here treat their desk like their own business.

We are open on structure. This role can be full-time or part-time, based in our Newport Beach office, hybrid, or fully remote from anywhere in the United States. We care about results, relationships, and effort, not where you sit.

Executive Recruiter, Legal Search

What You Will Actually Do: Business Development and Client Acquisition

• Identify, target, and open new law firm clients across the Am Law 100 and 200, as well as elite boutiques and regional powerhouse firms
• Conduct high-volume, high-quality outreach to Practice Group Chairs, Lateral Hiring Partners, Managing Partners, and in-house legal recruiting teams
• Build and maintain a personal pipeline of firm relationships that generate repeat, exclusive, and retained search assignments
• Take detailed intake calls with firm leadership to understand not just the job spec, but the politics, the economics, the succession dynamics, and the unspoken criteria that actually drive hiring decisions
• Negotiate fee agreements, exclusivity terms, and guarantee periods with client firms
• Track competitive intelligence: which firms are expanding, which are opening offices, which groups are stretched thin, which partners are unhappy, and where conflicts will and will not clear
• Re-engage dormant client relationships and turn one-off placements into ongoing partnerships

Candidate Sourcing and Development

• Source attorney candidates through LinkedIn, firm websites, Chambers and Legal 500 rankings, deal announcements, court filings, bar directories, law school alumni networks, CLE panels, and proprietary databases
• Run high-volume outbound campaigns by phone, email, LinkedIn, and text, typically 40 to 60 touches per day, to identify attorneys open to a confidential conversation
• Conduct deep-dive candidate calls to assess practice area, seniority, portable business, client relationships, rate sensitivity, compensation history, geographic flexibility, cultural fit, and true motivation for moving
• Build long-term relationships with attorneys who are not ready to move today but will be in twelve or twenty-four months
• Maintain a personal network of "market sources," attorneys who may never move themselves but who feed you intelligence and referrals
• Understand and articulate the difference between practice areas: private equity versus M&A, fund formation versus emerging companies and venture capital, private credit versus leveraged finance, private wealth versus corporate tax, and dozens of others
• Coach candidates on portable business analysis, helping them realistically assess what will and will not follow them

Matching, Positioning, and Advocacy

• Build the strategic case for why a specific attorney belongs on a specific platform, going far beyond a resume submission
• Draft compelling, confidential candidate write-ups and positioning memos that get firm leadership to say yes to an interview before they ever see a resume
• Anticipate and preempt objections around portables, conflicts, class year, practice fit, and prior moves
• Manage conflicts checks and understand how client conflicts can kill an otherwise perfect placement
• Advise candidates on how to present their practice, their book, and their trajectory in interviews

Process Management and Closing

• Manage the full search lifecycle from initial outreach through offer acceptance and start date
• Schedule and coordinate interviews across multiple time zones, offices, and partner calendars
• Prep candidates before every interview and debrief them immediately after
• Debrief firms after each round and translate vague feedback into actionable next steps
• Guide candidates and firms through the Lateral Partner Questionnaire (LPQ) process, business plans, and financial disclosures
• Negotiate offers including base compensation, bonus structure, origination credit, equity versus income partner status, guarantee periods, and start dates
• Manage counteroffers, cold feet, family considerations, and the emotional realities of a career change
• Stay engaged through resignation, notice period, and onboarding to protect the placement and the relationship
• Follow up post-placement to ensure integration is going well and to generate referrals

Pipeline, Data, and Operations

• Maintain meticulous CRM records on every candidate, client, conversation, and search
• Track your own metrics: outreach volume, connect rate, calls scheduled, submissions, interviews, offers, and placements
• Forecast your pipeline and revenue accurately
• Contribute market intelligence to the broader team so the whole firm gets smarter
• Help refine outreach templates, search strategies, and internal processes

Brand and Market Presence

• Build a personal brand as a credible, knowledgeable voice in the legal recruiting market
• Post thoughtfully on LinkedIn, engage with legal industry news, and become a person attorneys want to hear from
• Attend or monitor legal industry events, bar association functions, and practice group conferences
• Read The American Lawyer, Above the Law, Law.com, Bloomberg Law, and Chambers rankings the way other people read the sports page

Who Thrives Here

You are relentless on the phone. This business rewards people who can make forty-five calls a day and treat call forty-five like it is call one. Rejection is constant and impersonal, and you cannot take it home.

You are genuinely curious about people. The best recruiters are not slick closers. They are the ones who ask a partner one more question and discover the real reason they are unhappy.

You can hold a sophisticated conversation with a sophisticated person. You will be talking to attorneys who bill $1,500 an hour, graduated from top law schools, and can smell a script from a mile away. You need to be credible, direct, and worth their fifteen minutes.

You are organized enough to run twenty searches at once. Details kill deals in this business. A missed follow-up, a scheduling error, or a forgotten conflicts issue can cost a six-figure fee.

You are comfortable with delayed gratification. A search can take three to nine months from first call to start date. You need to be able to work hard for a long time before the payoff arrives.

You have thick skin and real integrity. You will hear no far more than yes. You will also occasionally be in a position where the easy thing and the right thing are not the same. We only want people who will always pick the right thing, because in this industry your reputation is the entire business.

Preferred but Not Required

• Prior experience in recruiting, executive search, staffing, sales, business development, or account management
• Experience in legal services, professional services, financial services, or another relationship-driven industry
• Familiarity with the legal industry, law firm structures, or the Am Law rankings
• JD, paralegal experience, or law firm experience of any kind
• CRM or applicant tracking system experience
• A track record of building something from scratch, whether a business, a book, a territory, or a team

We have hired successfully from a wide range of backgrounds, including former attorneys, legal assistants, financial services sales professionals, real estate agents, and college athletes. What matters most is drive, coachability, and the ability to connect with people.