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Atticus Recruiting

312.755.9300
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    • Michelle Kaplan McAndrew
    • Rob McAndrew
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Legal Recruiting Services for Candidates

Atticus Recruiting places highly skilled and motivated attorneys in legal careers that are personally rewarding and professionally challenging. Our business largely comes from repeat engagements by satisfied corporate and law firm clients and referrals from individual lateral attorney candidates who have used our services and are pleased with the results. Candidate confidentiality is paramount. We will not make an inquiry nor submit a your resume without first obtaining your express consent.

Let's Start A Conversation

Reliable Legal Recruiting Across Chicago and the Midwest

Countless attorneys throughout Chicago and the Midwest have found exceptional legal opportunities and advanced their legal careers with Atticus Recruiting.  Read our candidate and employer testimonials and recent client successes to see what people are saying.

Current Positions
Partner Opportunities
Representative Placements
Confidential Legal Recruiting
Relocating to Chicago
Job Search Assistance
Submit your Resume

Interview Preparation
Compensation and Benefits Negotiation
It’s all about the Relationship
What Candidates say about Atticus
Resume and Cover Letter Review
Lawyer Life and Work Culture in Chicago
Career Counseling

Atticus Recruiting, Chicago’s Legal Recruiter®, Exceptional Attorneys for Extraordinary Opportunities.

I worked with Michelle on a lateral move between law firms. I was impressed by her extensive knowledge of the Chicago legal field, and that she took the time to find the right fit for me. She made the placement process easier by advocating strongly for me and my best interests. I also highly recommend Michelle because of her extensive contacts, understanding of the market, high standard for integrity, and ability to obtain key information to help clients find the right placement. She is an excellent counselor/advisor and takes the time to know her clients in order to determine the best fit. I would not hesitate to work with Michelle again.  
Ann Chen, Associate, Goldberg Kohn (now Senior Counsel, Abbott)

 

A Tailored Approach to Placing Partners

Whether you’re a founding partner with your name on the door, an equity partner with substantial portable business or an entrepreneurial income partner looking for a different platform to grow your book of business, keen market knowledge, discretion, confidentiality and expediency are primary concerns. We work with partners and groups of partners seeking to open new offices or move laterally to established firms ranging from international Am Law 100s to regional powerhouses and prestigious boutiques.

 

Partner Services Include:

  • Comprehensive market analysis
  • Identifying compatible platforms
  • Ascertaining initial interest confidentially
  • Resume and business plan review
  • Scheduling and confirming interviews
  • Offer negotiation

Personalized Placements for Legal Associates

Associates are the backbone of the legal market and face an array of career choices. Our success has been built on presenting associates with outstanding opportunities, enabling them to secure meaningful,  fulfilling and lasting employment. We have placed associates in a broad spectrum of legal practices, and our clients have succeeded in becoming equity partners, hiring partners and general counsels at many outstanding firms and companies.

Associate Services Include:

  • Lateral and in-house placement
  • Career counseling
  • Resume review
  • Interview coaching
  • Offer negotiation and evaluation
  • Relocation consulting
Recent Placements

Common Questions from Top Talent

How does the legal recruiting process work?

It starts with a simple phone call.  Over the course of the call, we introduce ourselves and find out more about you, such as: 

  • What type of legal position you are looking for. 
  • What size law firm or corporate legal department you prefer.
  • What your particular legal skill sets, strengths and credentials are. 

Next, we set up an in-person meeting and review your resume.  Together we will determine a list of target firms or companies.  We draft a cover letter and submit your edited resume, law school transcript, and sometimes a writing sample, if requested, to our employer contacts on your behalf.  We prepare you for each round of interviews, help you negotiate an offer and advise you on how best to accept the offer and resign from your current employer.

I’m in good standing at my firm. Should I be concerned with confidentiality?

Yes.  Protecting your confidentiality throughout the legal recruiting process is of paramount importance to us.  Atticus Recruiting is a member of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants (NALSC), a 175 member national professional organization committed to upholding the highest ethical standards of the legal search profession.  Best practices and the NALSC Code of Ethics dictate that “A search firm shall treat as confidential all information supplied to it in confidence by a candidate” and that “Candidates shall be submitted to employers only with the candidates’ express prior consent.” 

Atticus only works with employers that respect the confidentiality of the recruiting process and of the candidates we submit.  We affirmatively require that employers refrain from contacting candidates current or prior employers without expressed authority from the candidate.  Furthermore, while we may retain your resume in our secure database in order to alert you of future searches, we will not send, submit or transmit your resume and other identifying materials or make any inquiries about you anywhere without your written expressed authority.

What are your legal recruiting fees and other associate costs?

Good news, our services to you are free.  All placement fees and any associated costs are paid by the law firm or corporate employer. 

I’m looking to relocate to Chicago. Is it necessary to have an Illinois Bar license?

While being a member of the Illinois Bar, in good standing, certainly increases your attractiveness to Chicago employers, especially if you practice litigation, it’s not always a necessary precondition to being hired.  Illinois Supreme Court Rules 704A and 705 provide for admission to the Illinois Bar by transferred Uniform Bar Examination (UBE) score or by motion.  Learn more about legal recruiting services for attorneys relocating to the Chicago area.

Great! How do I get started?

Check out our contact page to learn more. We look forward to hearing from you.

I have sought Michelle's advice at various stages of my career - after a clerkship as a junior attorney, as a partner, and as a hiring manager looking for top notch talent. In every situation she has provided me with invaluable counsel in the decision-making process. Michelle is not simply a resource, but an ally and a friend, and that is what makes her one of the most effective recruiters in Chicago.   
Alais Griffin, Shareholder, Greenberg Traurig LLP
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401 N. Michigan Avenue,
       Suite 1200, Chicago, IL 60611

312.755.9300

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