Client portability – are they hiring me or my book?

Our law firm clients look to us as trusted advisors to give them honest advice regarding their need to ascertain the client portability of lateral partner and teams that we introduce.

Sometimes it does feel a bit like we are piggy in the middle. Client asks candidates to fill out a 50 page magnum opus that goes through everything from the colour of their socks to the meaning of life, and everything in between. It asks for all manner of confidential information that puts them on a tightrope between honouring their obligations to their current firm on the one hand, and showcasing their practice building prowess to their prospective partners-to-be.

But the candidate can’t really have their cake and eat it (perhaps unlike their recruiter of choice who usually eats too much of it). If they want to be wanted for more than simply the portable turnover they can bring, then simultaneously holding out for a seven figure guarantee whilst insisting on assurances they will be fed lots of work by the firm’s US offices will understandably raise eyebrows.

Managing expectations and smoothing out potential bumps in the road is what we do of course. Here are some of the key lessons I have learned over the last sixteen years of assisting my lateral partner candidates to navigate the lateral partner questionnaire labyrinth, and from the perspective of my client the law firms that retain me:

• If the cultural and practice fit is right, the information exchange process is a positive, collaborative and empowering one for both sides;
• The actual content of the plan is less important than the discussion that ensues from it, from which synergies can be properly explored and taken to the next level;
• Often in the process of successful partner and team integration, the long shot prospects come home and the dead certs don’t work out- the main thing is to just keep doing the right things.