FW Legal Recruiting Manager

About Kirkland & Ellis

At Kirkland & Ellis, we are united in our ambition and drive to move forward. We share core values that help us achieve excellence: collaboration, talent empowerment, dedication to improving our communities, inclusion, respect and gratitude. We believe our people are our greatest asset. By investing in the brightest talent and encouraging each individual’s distinct strengths, we create dynamic teams that operate at the pinnacle of their field. We value unique perspectives, and we want our talented professionals to show up every day knowing they will engage in meaningful work, continuous learning and professional development.

As one of the world’s leading law firms, we serve a broad range of clients with market-leading practices in private equity, M&A and other complex corporate transactions and restructurings; investment fund formation and management; high-stakes litigation and trials; and government, regulatory and internal investigations. We handle the most complex and sophisticated legal matters because we don’t just meet industry standards, we create them. We bring innovation and entrepreneurialism to every engagement and, as a result, we have long-standing client relationships with leading global corporations and financial sponsors. With 6,500 employees (including 3,500+ lawyers) operating from 19 offices across the United States, Europe and Asia, we are both one of the largest law firms in the world and a top financial performer.

Position Overview

We are looking to add a FW Legal Recruiting Manager to provide strategic direction and oversight of the Firmwide Non-Lateral (Campus) recruiting efforts. This individual will join a dynamic Firmwide Legal Recruiting and Development (LRD) department.

The ideal candidate will be an adept and proactive team player with strong organizational and problem-solving skills. We are looking for someone with the ability to establish credibility and confidence among key stakeholders by exercising impeccable judgment and discretion. The ideal candidate will also develop and/or lead change environment efforts across all phases of projects and initiatives to drive the Firm’s culture of continuous improvement.

Specific Job Duties (This list is not exhaustive and may be supplemented and changed as necessary.)

Collaborate with FW Recruiting team to develop, implement and manage recruiting strategies and programs in order to achieve non-lateral attorney hiring goals, including but not limited to candidate sourcing and pipeline management with respect to meeting expected practice group hiring targets.

Manage the Non-Lateral (Campus) hiring process and initiatives, including annual campus outreach, campus engagement, sourcing candidates, including managing offer letter correspondence, reviewing offers for consistency and uniformity, and conducting due diligence.

Oversee FW OCI schedules from registration through callback decisions.
Lead assigned FW law school teams, partnering with the FW recruiting team leads to brainstorm creative ways to engage schools and further engage our talent pipeline.

Build strategic relationships with career services professionals, law student groups and professional networks to increase Kirkland’s visibility and advance the Firm’s recruiting strategies.

• Manage Non-Lateral recruiting budgets, ensuring timely approval of Chrome River expenses and invoices while monitoring GL accuracy.
• Train and develop direct reports, ensuring seasonal contractors and non-lateral recruiting team members receive and utilize relevant toolkits, how-to guides, and resources needed for role success while providing leadership and guidance in a supportive environment.
• Ensure the Kirkland applicant tracking database (viRecruit) including candidate entry and status updates as needed; partnering with our FW recruiting team as necessary.

Develop, prepare and analyze relevant reports, projections, and statistical data as needed – leveraging Tableau to produce and interpret data-driven visualizations used support recruitment and hiring recommendations.

Provide support and guidance to Legal Recruiting Business Partners.
Collaborate effectively with Kirkland offices/departments to identify efficiencies and best practices.

Other duties as may be assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

Education, Work Experience, Skills

The ideal candidate will have:

• 8+ years of experience, preferably in a law firm or other professional services environment, with at least 4 years of people management experience.
• Bachelor’s degree, required.
• Ability to design short-term and long-term goals, with clear criteria to measure success and return on investment.
• Superior verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrate exemplary judgment, strong leadership and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities and deadlines, while staying organized and multitask in a fast-paced, pressured environment.
• Ability to foster a culture of inclusivity and belonging by modeling good Firm citizenship.
• Display initiative and a “can do” attitude.
• Build stakeholder trust through the ability to synthesize/distill information into actionable recommendations.
• Interact with attorneys and business services professionals across varying levels of seniority and personality types with ease.
• Proven change management skills.
• Proficiency in the use of office software, including Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint. Experience with viRecruit preferred.

Kirkland Ellis is a highly collaborative and collegiate environment where each contributing member is expected to excel in communication, initiative, building relationships, client focus, agility, business insight, and influencing outcomes.