Sharing a view from the other side, Manokamana finds out how recruiters locate the right lawyer for the job

As jobseekers, we all know that the distance between applying for jobs and landing a role can be vast and far. On the other side, posting a job advert and finding the right candidate is equally challenging. This has evolved into an industry of its own with dedicated recruiters, known as headhunters, who are experts in finding the right talent. They are active across sectors, and some specialise in specific industries.

Recruitment in the legal industry has witnessed similar growth. Mumbai-based Lee Ignatius, co-founder and partner at Vahura, a specialist recruitment and consulting firm, shares that the company “started with legal recruitment in 2007, which was an interesting time. Only a handful of firms had crossed 100 lawyers then. Today, there are firms with more than 1,000 lawyers, so imagine the growth that has happened in this period”.

During that time, the recruitment process also evolved. Over time, it has “become more competitive, [and includes] several rounds of interviews, drafting tests and all other kinds of evaluations”, notes Mumbai-based Neha Sharma, the founder and CEO of Avimukta, a headhunting firm specifically focused on the legal industry.

Specialised legal recruitment has its takers on both sides – the employer and the employee.

What’s in it for them?

Employers engage headhunters with a job requirement and pay a pre-agreed fee on successful hiring. Ignatius shares that “the typical model for regular positions is a success fee that is a percentage of the annual remuneration”.

Mumbai-based Nasrin Khalil Shaikh, a co-founder and partner at Agragami Consulting, a headhunting firm focused on legal recruitment, adds that they often also submit proposals for the hiring partners to decide on.

Gurugram-based Ashwani, a principal consultant at Pro-Consulting Solutions, notes that their “standard incentives/commissions for placement of the right candidate range from 8.33% to 10% for entry-level lawyers, and that increases with experienced lateral hiring … [with] bonuses for niche placements”.

Sabiana Anandraj, the founder of Gurugram-based Cuerate, a professional services aggregator, says: “Recruitment fees vary across the industry, some recruiters charge a monthly retainer along with a percentage of the candidate’s CTC [cost to company], with the retainer amount later adjusted against the final fee.” She prefers to keep it simple, charging a percentage of the fixed annual salary based on the seniority of the role.

Anagh Sengupta, a Kolkata-based legal recruiter at Crewt Consulting, a headhunting organisation for legal recruitment, sums it up: “Incentives and commissions are usually tracked to successful placements, much like any other intermediary working in any industry.”

Demand for lawyers

The demand at law firms has been increasing lately for specific practice areas. Ignatius says that “law firms have started to hyper-specialise. Their teams have gotten fairly large with each economic cycle”. He says that practice areas such as capital markets, specialised disputes, infrastructure, private credit, real estate, M&A and private equity are particularly booming.

Khyati Shrestha, a New Delhi-based managing consultant at Paradigm Shifters, a headhunting firm active across industries, says: “The demand is usually for lawyers who are in the creamy layer, i.e. four to seven years of relevant transactions experience, as these folks are the ones who have handled the transactions end-to-end while also dealing with clients, and can hence work independently.”