• Season Two, Episode Two of Steve's Rules: Making Bank
    Mar 25 2024

    The decision to pursue other opportunities is multilayered with no one consideration being more important than the other. Yet compensation often is a driver. But most professionals including lateral partners at law firms don't do a deep enough dive on a target firm's compensation structure. Each firm approaches compensation differently. Which means it is incumbent on the candidate to know what is important to them and to ask the right questions. So to, firms need to be as forthcoming as possible about the compensation structure. Steve knows the ins and outs of compensation systems based on his decades of experience. Have a listen and if you have more questions, please contact Steve at snelson@tmg-dc.com. Mention Steve's Rules when you call and get a prize. We mean it.

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    31 mins
  • Listen to Top Executive Recruiters Share How to Turn Government Service Into a Career As a Government Relations Professional
    Feb 12 2024

    Leveraging government service into a lucrative career in government relations can be done. But, it can be tricky to turn your knowledge and connections into a career path. This podcast will be especially informative for those folks currently in Capitol Hill contemplating your next move. We start out the second season of the acclaimed Steve's Rules podcast series with a fast paced discussion featuring McCormick group principals David Ris and Tim Horgan. Join Steve and his colleagues as they share lessons learned in this high stakes area of executive recruiting with a special deep dive for those coming out of government service from Capitol Hill and beyond. We take an insider look at what candidates can expect whether they are pursuing a position in-house, with an association or a multi client practice.
     
    Episode Notes:
    Email Steve and his guests:
    Steve Nelson snelson@tmg-dc.com
    David Ris dris@tmg-dc.com
    Tim Horgan thorgan@tmg-dc.com

    Article Referenced in Podcast:
    Building a Better Mousetrap: A Model for a Lawyer’s Business Plan

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    32 mins
  • Episode 7 Season Finale: 2023 Wrap up with Steve and his Colleagues Saadia Sultan and Rob Verga
    Dec 23 2023

    Well, here it is the 2023 season finale of Steve's Rules. In this very special episode we are joined by Steve's colleagues Saadia Sultan and  Rob Verga who share insights from the 2023 lateral recruiting in market and their predictions for 2024.  We end our podcast with some truly hard won observations about how firms and candidate's can impede their own efforts and some best practices as well.  As always we welcome your thoughts and ideas about how we can improve our podcast. Please contact Steve or me Murray Coffey at any time.   Thank you for listening and tune in next year for season II of Steve's Rules. 

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    42 mins
  • Episode 6 of Steve's Rules- The difference between retained and contingency search and why it matters
    Nov 16 2023

    In this episode Steve provides some intel on the hottest lateral partner market (hint they call this city the Third Coast, and its the place Murray first drew breath.) Then we discuss contingency and retained search and relative merits of each approach based on your firm's profile and needs. Finally we hear a hunk from Steve's standup show. We packed a lot into 30 minutes. If you have any thoughts or ideas for future programs please feel free to contact Steve or Murray. Thank you as always for listening. 

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    31 mins
  • Steve Addresses Some of the Landmines in Hiring Business Professionals
    Oct 17 2023

    Law firms need to hire business professionals as skilled and capable as the lawyers in their respective areas of focus. And yet, many firms still try to hire professional staff by relying on self-sourcing, agencies, or contingency recruiters. Steve explains why these results are often mixed at best. And what firms need to do to make sure they are recruiting the very best talent. Steve also shares his thoughts on some recent survey results regarding lateral partner financial performance. (Hint, multiples are not what they used to be if they ever really were.)

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    30 mins
  • Steve throws out the book
    Sep 7 2023
    “What does the book look like?” is generally one of the first questions asked by a firm when evaluating a potential lateral partner candidate. But is this really the best way to evaluate a candidate? Firms and candidates spend considerable time completing and evaluating detailed lateral partner questioners. Yet, the portable business the lateral can (hopefully) deliver is often the overriding factor in considering whether a lateral candidate is the right person to bring into the firm. In this episode Steve challenges this idea and provides his thoughts on additional context and criteria firms should look to when evaluating a lateral candidate. And he schools Murray on some of the finer ethical points around the recruiting process. Steve also provides a quick update on the lateral recruiting market in Washington DC. (Hint, it has been active.)
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    35 mins
  • The LPQ and you
    Aug 11 2023

    This episode is a must listen for anyone involved in thelateral recruiting process, especially those in decision making roles. Steve’s Rules dives into the Lateral Partner Questionnaire (LPQ) which has become a cornerstone element of the recruiting process. As lateral recruiting has continued to gain prominence as an essential element of many firm’s growth objectives the need to accurately evaluate a potential partner’s likelihood of success becomes critical. And increasingly the LPQ is a cornerstone of the overall pre-hire diligence for most firms. Every firm has some form of LPQ it has evolved over the years. With such a bespoke approach there is no uniformityto fact gathering and candidates can often find themselves answering multiple LPQs if several firms are courting them. The process is repetitive and often fails to provide firms with the information needed to make the right decision on hiring a candidate. Recently the National Association of Legal Search Consultants has developed a uniform LPQ it believes will help firms better leverage best practices for the diligence element of lateral partner recruiting. Super recruiter Steve Nelson from McCormick Group has closely reviewed this new form and he has notes. We also discuss some of the intangibles that need to be considered that are simply not covered in any LPQ. Finally, Steve offers to email his own short form LPQ he has developed to any of our listeners who send him a request. As always, we welcome your input and are interested inhearing from you what topics you would like covered in further episodes of Steve’s Rules.

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    27 mins
  • Who are you...Episode two of Steve's Rules for presenting the most authentic view of your firm to potential lateral partner candidates
    Jun 26 2023

    For the second episode of Steve’s Rules, we dig into how a firm can make sure it is doing everything it can to attract the best and most appropriate lateral candidates. Hint: talk to your marketing department. This is a key episode for anyone involved in the day-to-day lateral recruiting efforts including Managing Partners, Directors of Legal Recruiting, and practice group heads. Steve also tells you what not to put in your lateral recruiting materials. And we open with a brief overview of the current lateral recruiting landscape. The big news on this front is more lateral activity is happening around groups and practices moving to new firms. Find out why Steve calls this the “gold standard.” To keep up with the latest news on the recruiting front please ask Steve to join his mailing list snelson@tmg-dc.com.


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    25 mins