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SeltzerFontaine

Legal Search Consultants SeltzerFontaine is a member of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants and subscribes to its Code of Ethics.

SeltzerFontaine is a legal search firm specializing in the placement of lawyers with leading law firms, corporations, and non-profits in California and nationally. We are highly experienced recruiters and former practicing lawyers with outstanding credentials and excellent reputations in the community.

02/28/2023

Are you a lawyer who wants to make a difference? We’re searching for a directing attorney to lead and manage the Economic Justice Initiative of a well-respected public interest organization that has been providing high-quality, free legal services to the Los Angeles community for nearly 50 years.

The successful candidate will supervise and manage the substantive work of a team of attorneys and staff to provide legal advocacy on matters that improve the economic stability of low-income community members, including labor and employment rights and tax matters.

A background in employment law and strong commitment to the organization’s mission of equal justice for all is a must.

Reasonable hours, hybrid schedule, great benefits, terrific colleagues—and the satisfaction of doing well by doing good.

If you are interested in hearing more, please reach out. If this is not for you, please pass the word!

02/27/2023

Did you go to law school to make the world a better place? If so, we may have the perfect job for you. The role: Directing attorney to lead and manage the homelessness prevention initiative of a well-respected public interest organization that has been providing high-quality, free legal services to the Los Angeles community for nearly 50 years.

The work: You will supervise and manage the substantive work of a team of attorneys and staff to prevent and defend residential evictions and provide legal advocacy for members of the community who are unhoused or at risk of losing housing.

Requirements: California Bar and a background in litigation plus a strong commitment to the organization’s mission of equal justice for all.

You get: Reasonable hours, hybrid schedule, great
benefits, terrific colleagues—and the satisfaction of doing well by doing good.

Please reach out if you are interested or know someone who may be!

02/24/2023

Divvying up origination credit is an important consideration for law firm succession planning, institutionalizing clients, and facilitating the smooth succession of business from one generation to the next.

The problem: Senior lawyers may try to hang on to their clients and the related origination credits to maintain their compensation level, rather than sharing them with more junior partners.

Partners who are nearing retirement and are under pressure to share clients but are not given financial incentive to do so, may jump to another firm and take their clients with them. We’ve seen several high-profile instances of that lately.

To reduce hoarding of clients and to retain both the senior lawyers and the clients, law firms must structure incentives for senior lawyers to start transitioning those relationships.

Some firms double up origination credits and the resulting compensation for a few years before a partner retires. As the senior partner winds down, the firm awards origination credit to both the retiring partner and the younger partner who starts assuming client responsibility. Some short-term expense reaps long term benefits.

Awarding credit is a tried and true method of encouraging lawyers to go out and bring in business which is essential to the law firm’s survival, but it also has its downsides.

Either firms must devise other ways to incentivize rainmaking, or they must develop policies to mitigate the negative impacts that reliance on origination credit can have on their clients’ interests and the firms’ fortunes, both now and into the future.

How does your firm handle the assignment of origination credit for work brought in by senior lawyers? Is it fair to senior lawyers? Junior lawyers?

02/23/2023

Law firm DEI efforts are hindered by heavy reliance on origination credit to set partner compensation. Women partners and partners of color and from other groups underrepresented in the profession report that racking up originations is more difficult for them.

They have less access to meaningful networking and mentoring opportunities than their non-minority male colleagues, who form more substantial relationships with their predominantly white male supervisors.

Furthermore, studies of U.S. businesses and law firms reveal that, even when holding jobs of comparable influence and status, women receive less instrumental help from their networks than do men.

Studies also show that having little or no diversity on the relevant compensation or management committees, as currently is common in Biglaw, can lead to biased results and marginalization of the women and non-majority participants.

It’s often difficult for women and attorneys from underrepresented groups to successfully appeal to firm management when there are conflicts over divvying up origination credit. Beyond that, women lawyers report being bullied or otherwise intimidated by male colleagues who aggressively and sometimes unjustifiably pursue credit allocation.

Female and diverse attorneys also complain that they regularly are trotted out for client pitches but are excluded from receiving any credit for bringing in the client or doing the actual work.

To promote diversity and inclusion in the legal profession, corporate clients increasingly monitor how their outside law firms staff their matters and award origination credit, prompting law firms to take a closer look at these issues.

Are these efforts making any headway?

Have you experienced difficulty claiming origination credit? What happened?

What else needs to be done?

02/22/2023

A heavy emphasis on origination credit when setting law partner compensation undermines collaboration and collegiality, two attributes law firms like to tout when describing their cultures.

Instead, by tracking and rewarding business generation, law firms encourage internal competition and hoarding, while discouraging teamwork.

Assigning origination credit isn’t purely objective and can result in a tug-of-war between partners. It can be difficult to agree on which attorney(s) actually are responsible for either bringing a new client into the firm or generating new matters from existing clients.

Very rarely is the same lawyer responsible for all aspects of a client’s business.

Some firms leave the division of credit up to negotiation (or skirmishes) between individual partners while other firms establish guidelines for sharing and resolving disputes.

The question of sharing the credit can be detrimental to client interests. It may determine a partner's choice of which of their colleagues to take to client pitch meetings and which colleagues they ask to work on their clients’ projects. In the worst cases, rather than assembling the team that best can serve the client’s needs, partners choose those with whom they would have to share the least amount of credit.

On the other hand, the lawyers best able to service the client’s needs may resist providing their services in an effort to drive a hard bargain over who gets what percentage of shared credit.

To promote teamwork and collaboration as well as boosting client service within a system that utilizes origination credit, firms can award additional credits to partners who work with others to generate business.

Furthermore, it's better to allocate origination by individual matter rather than by client where the “originator” receives credit in perpetuity for all work s/he or others bill to the client that s/he opened.

Credit by matter encourages other partners, perhaps with other areas of expertise, to expand the relationship beyond the partner who originally brought the client to the firm and, therefore, results in more revenue for the firm as a whole. Studies show that clients and matters that have touchpoints with more partners within a firm are more likely to stay with that firm if a partner leaves.

Teamwork makes the dream work--what a concept.

In what ways does the manner in which your firm allocates origination credit either positively or negatively affect the firm culture?

02/21/2023

A law firm’s reliance on origination credit when calculating partner compensation can negatively impact junior partner and associate retention.

At most firms, partners are not expected to share origination credit with associates. Any associate can be assigned work from a valued client while the partner who originated the work retains all the credit.

Once that associate is elected to partner, however, that new partner now is a potential competitor for origination credit and the resulting bump in compensation.

Consequently, a partner who doesn’t want to share credit with the newly-minted partner might reassign the work to another associate, even though there is no client-service reason to do so.

In addition to this being highly inefficient for clients, it’s devastating for the newly-elected partner who loses workflow before having the chance to generate an independent client base of his/her own. In some cases, this negatively impacts the junior partner’s future at the firm and may lead him or her to move to another the firm, resulting in a brain drain.

Also, when an associate brings in clients, the origination credit typically is awarded to a supervising partner, not the associate who actually brought in the work. Often the associate receives little more than a pat on the back with no guarantee of an extra bonus at the end of the year.

This short-sighted behavior is counterproductive because those early business-developers are attractive candidates for competitors. They're exactly the kind of lawyer the firm wants to retain, but may leave and take the clients with them, which is disruptive to both the client and the firm.

To counteract this, some law firms—but not many—reward associates who bring in business with a bonus equal to a small percentage of the collections on matters they originate.

The object is to retain rising stars by incentivizing rainmaking behaviors early in their careers with an eye towards them developing over time into happy partners with large books of business for the long term benefit of the firm.

Does your firm give any origination credit or recognition to associates for their business development? If not, have you lost good lawyers as a result?

02/20/2023

Law firm partner compensation surveys show that business origination tends to dominate the compensation calculations at most, if not all, law firms. But origination credit is a mixed bag.

Historically, the most profitable U.S. law firms didn’t track originations. They favored lockstep compensation over “eat what you kill” schemes. While other major law firms also insist that they don’t monitor origination credit, when you examine their partner compensation systems, originations definitely are an important factor in the calculations.

With increased competition among law firms, business development obviously is a top priority.

To maximize revenues, many—if not most—law firms incentivize rainmakers tracking originations as a way to reward and retain the biggest rainmakers.

But there are negative consequences to emphasizing origination credit. It often pits a partner’s own economic interests against the long-term interests of the firm with a detrimental effect on client service, associate retention, firm culture, diversity efforts, and succession planning.

This week’s posts will explore the ramifications of an outsized emphasis on origination credit.

How much does business origination factor into your compensation? Do you think it’s positive or negative for your firm and the profession as a whole?

02/17/2023

Are you sure you want to go in-house? Some lawyers have an incomplete understanding of the realities of in-house practice and how to land that coveted role. The practice of law within a corporate legal department differs from that in a law firm in key ways, resulting in a different “ideal candidate” profile; therefore, the in-house interviewing process also varies from that of most law firms.

A legal search consultant can help you understand:

1. The myths and realities of in-house vis-a-vis law firm practice.

2. How the “ideal candidate” profile for an in-house counsel differs from that for a law firm lawyer and why.

3. How to present law firm practice experience to best appeal to in-house hiring authorities.

4. Where to source in-house counsel job leads.

5. What to expect and how to succeed in in-house counsel job interviews.

6. How to navigate roadblocks in the in-house counsel career path.

We at SeltzerFontaine LLC can help you clarify your vision and make it a reality.

02/16/2023

A good headhunter, or career matchmaker, not only sets you up on “blind dates” (interviews) but also coaches you through them. We hold your hand all the way from the initial meeting to the wedding.

How do we help you make the right moves?

Before you meet your potential suitor, we brief you about the employer and prepare you for the various types of interviews and questions you might encounter. A candidate who shows up for an interview armed with specific knowledge of the prospective employer makes a favorable impression.

Just like when dating, in addition to telling your own story, you want to show sincere interest in the other party. A good headhunter can suggest some carefully designed questions for you to ask to demonstrate your interest in and knowledge of the organizaton and role.

We coach you so that you can woo the potential employer by communicating what they really want to know, which is how you can make sweet music together---how you can help them accomplish their business goals.

A professional matchmaker helps you find the right partner for marital bliss; likewise, an experienced recruiter smooths the way towards a rewarding business relationship for both parties.

We handle the follow-up after your interviews to make sure the process stays on track and, more importantly, we help you negotiate and evaluate offers, choose wisely, and settle into your new relationship for long term career success.

Has a recruiter helped you or someone you know find the job of your/their dreams?

02/15/2023

Just like dating partners have a preferred “type,” so do potential employers. Like any good matchmaker, a top recruiter maintains an extensive database of material about potential “marriage partners”--their employer-clients--and can and help you make the perfect match.

Because we know our clients well, we can assist you, the jobseeker, in identifying which employers favor professionals with backgrounds similar to your own in terms of background and credentials.

Each organization also has its own style or culture, and a candidate, as well as a future employer, needs to assess the likelihood of a good fit. It’s tempting to play down this aspect of the job search but, like “chemistry” in dating, it’s an important factor in your future success.

An effective recruiter matches both credentials and chemistry so, before you swipe right or left, check with a knowledgeable recruiter!

Have you ever taken a job that was right on paper but just didn’t feel right? How did that work out?

Address

2355 Westwood Bl. , #755
Los Angeles, CA
90064

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 6pm
Tuesday	9am - 6pm
Wednesday	9am - 6pm
Thursday	9am - 6pm
Friday	9am - 6pm

Telephone

+13108396000

Website

http://www.seltzerfontaine.com/

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