Introductions are a great beginning but successful lateral partner recruitment takes much more.

Lateral partner success should not depend on luck. In the end, we need to make our own luck.

The keys to lateral success are having a strategy and sticking to it. Opportunistic hires should be the exception and not the rule.

We Offer Lateral Recruiting and Integration

We partner with law firms to recruit and integrate successful lateral partners.

We also work with law firm partners who are in search of a new home

Flack&Partners LLC focuses on lateral partner recruitment, group acquisitions and mergers. Howard Flack, the founder of Flack&Partners, is well-known within the legal industry and has been recognized by The American Lawyer and other legal press for his work in the context of lateral recruiting and integration. Howard practiced as a corporate partner at a leading global law firm, where he also served on the firm’s executive committee and led the firm's lateral partner recruiting and integration team for 15 years. In his capacity as the partner responsible for global recruitment initiatives, Howard worked closely with all offices, practices and industry sectors to identify candidates aligned with the firm’s strategic business needs. He also played a key role in guiding candidates though the recruiting process and helping them transition into successful careers. During the period that he served as the firm's lateral recruitment and integration partner, the firm successfully recruited over 400 lateral partners.

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Recruitment Strategy & Needs

Through Flack&Partners, Howard brings his extensive recruitment and management experience to every client. He understands the importance of having strategic recruitment goals that align with overall firm strategy. Howard works together with each client to develop the right messaging to potential candidates that clearly speaks to the firm’s strategic needs, and the opportunities presented.

Candidate Identification & Selection

Lateral success goes beyond a thoughtful and strategic recruitment plan. The process is centered around a disciplined effort to identify a pool of candidates that involves more than a review of legal directories. Howard works with his clients to develop additional recruitment tools that rely on both internally and externally generated information to ensure that the firm’s selection of candidates is on target.

Execution is Everything

Candidates often judge a recruitment opportunity by how they feel in the process. Are the interviews informative and interesting? How does the culture of the firm feel after several visits? Does the process itself appear purposeful and efficient? Who is the point person a candidate should go to as the recruitment proceeds? Howard views his role as a substantive extension of the firm to ensure that the firm puts its best foot forward in the execution stage of a recruitment.

Integration Support

Lateral partner success often depends on how seriously a firm takes its integration commitments. Integration plans and periodic meetings to discuss how things are going are essential, but the real hard work falls upon those inside the firm who are tasked with making integration a reality and not just a promise. Every Flack&Partners engagement that results in a lateral partner hire offers an Integration Assistance Package. This consists of personal integration coaching that is designed to help the lateral and the firm carry through on their mutual integration commitments.

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Coaching & Additional Know-How

Howard has also served as a consultant and executive coach for a leading legal talent management firm, where he focused on lateral partner hiring and integration, as well as the importance of due diligence to both law firms and prospective candidates. He is regularly invited to speak on various recruiting panels to share his views on how best to achieve lateral partner success and has written various articles on that topic from both the law firm and candidate perspective.

Through Flack&Partners, Howard collaborates with law firm clients to identify, recruit, and integrate talented partners. He brings his global recruitment experience and trusted network of international consultants to each client. He also works closely with individual partners and group candidates to identify firms in which their practices can thrive.

Howard has been actively involved in recruitments across the US and internationally. Howard has established a strong network of like-minded recruitment consultants to ensure that Flack&Partners’ clients receive not only information regarding potential candidate/law firm opportunities, but also advice and counsel regarding strategy and process to ensure that they are in the best position to achieve lateral partner success. For more information, please get in touch with Howard at hiflack@flackandpartners.com.

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