Interviewing Laterals: A Novel Approach 

Law firms seeking to onboard lateral candidates should know the best practices for effectively interviewing them. An understanding of the candidate’s experience and goals is essential to the success of any lateral hire, and the interview process should reflect that. A successful lateral hire has the potential to add value to the firm as well as be a great fit culturally, so it is important to get it right.

Starting with the obvious. Lawyers are busy and non-billable time needs to be spent wisely. However, making the right hiring decisions is critical to the firm’s success and therefore shouldn’t be done hastily. It’s at least a $250k decision. Poor hiring practices are disruptive to clients, the firm, and certainly to the individual. Nonetheless, hiring teams need to be reminded of this. While the hiring process should not be rushed, it should be modernized and made more efficient.

When finding the right candidate, Talent Engines uses a process that applies equal weighting to skills, experience, and behavioral fit. We design a hiring scorecard with structured interview questions that help align the hiring team around the specific features of a particular position. A thorough understanding of the candidate’s background and aspirations is pivotal for a successful lateral hire, and the interview process ought to align. Note: it’s best when a firm has a clear set of standards that we can take into consideration during the hiring process. 

Our go-slow-to-go-fast approach uses behavioral profiles. It’s one reason why we ask for Benchmark candidates and the leadership styles within the practice group. We provide a hiring scorecard and custom interview guide as tools to help reduce cognitive bias and focus on the candidate’s attributes for the specific position. Of course, none of these items are a silver bullet per se but we have found that a smart hiring process certainly improves the hiring batting average for the law firm.

Visit Talent Engines to learn more!