I have never really seen myself as a salesperson.
That probably sounds strange coming from a headhunter.
When a firm or company retains me to fill a role, they are not paying me to post a job and wait. They are paying me to go into the market, find the lawyers they actually want, and get them to the table. Most of those lawyers were not looking to move. So part of the job, honestly, is convincing people. There is no way around that.
But convincing someone and understanding someone are not the same thing.
If I call a lawyer who is happy where they are and open with “I have an exciting opportunity,” I have already lost them. They have a good job. They do not need me. Before I ever mention a role, I need to understand the person on the other end of the phone — what they actually want, what they are tolerating, and whether anything I am working on is genuinely relevant to their life.
Most recruiters skip that part. I do not.
The first conversation is not a pitch. It is questions.
Partnership. Better mentorship. Different work. More money. Moving in-house to build something with one company. A bigger platform, or a smaller one. I am not looking for the answer that helps me close. I am looking for the real one.
Sometimes the real answer is that they should stay exactly where they are. And if that is the case, that is what I tell them. I am not going to talk someone into a move that does not serve them just because it would serve me. I will remember them, stay in touch, and when something genuinely fits — whether that is six months or three years from now — I will call. No manufactured urgency. No games.
That is what recruitment is to me.
It works the same way on the client side. When a firm or company brings me in, I am not going to tell them what they want to hear. If the role is not positioned correctly, if the compensation is off market, or if what they are targeting does not exist at that level, I will say so directly. A search runs better when everyone is working from the truth.
What I bring is real market intelligence — what lawyers at their level are actually being paid, who is moving and why, what is realistic and what is not — delivered clearly enough that they can take it back and use it internally.
None of this means I am passive. I am a headhunter. I go after the people my clients need, approach them directly, and create interest where there was none. That is the job and I am good at it.
The relationship just comes before the placement.
For the firms and companies I work with, that means I am not sending someone just to fill a seat and collect a fee. For the lawyers I talk to, it means I will not push a move unless it is genuinely the right one. I go hard at finding the right person. I do not go hard at convincing them.
That is the only way I know how to do this.