Director of Attorney Recruiting

Description

About the Position Warner Norcross + Judd is seeking a Director of Attorney Recruiting  to join our talent development team based out of Detroit or Grand Rapids. The Director of Attorney Recruiting creates, implements, and executes the firm’s recruitment strategy for paralegals and lateral associates, senior counsel, and partners. They manage the full life cycle of attorney recruiting, ensuring that the firm attracts, selects, and hires exceptional legal talent aligned with the firm’s culture, practice needs, and long-term growth objectives. This is a highly engaged, hands-on leadership role. In addition to setting strategy and leading the attorney recruiting function, the Director of Attorney Recruiting personally manages and executes searches, builds candidate pipelines, and is deeply involved in day-to-day recruiting activities. About the Opportunity  Responsibilities

• Develop and implement a comprehensive attorney recruiting strategy aligned with the firm’s client service needs and business goals.
• Personally manage and execute the end-to-end recruitment process for paralegals and lateral associates, senior counsel, and partners, including intake, sourcing, interviewing, and offer development and delivery.
• Serve as the primary recruiting liaison to practice group leaders, office executive partners, and firm leadership.
• Lead and execute candidate sourcing strategies, including direct outreach, networking, and market intelligence, to build strong, proactive pipelines of associate, senior counsel, and partner talent.
• Build and maintain relationships with search firms and professional networks.
• Establish creative avenues to efficiently fill open positions with top talent.
• Ensure a high-touch, client-service-oriented experience for hiring leads and candidates throughout the recruiting process.
• Oversee the Talent Development Assistant’s performance of lateral recruiting responsibilities, including interview scheduling and candidate hosting.
• Manage all correspondence and recordkeeping of active and inactive lateral attorney applicants through the firm’s applicant tracking and candidate relationship management software. This includes maintaining the status of the candidate pool, creating job requisitions, posting job requisitions, posting job ads, and generating applicant correspondence.
• Ensure compliance with firm policies, employment laws, and ethical recruiting practices.
• Integrate inclusive recruiting practices into all stages of attorney hiring.
• Establish and maintain consistent, efficient recruiting processes and standards across offices and practice groups.
• Analyze timekeeper recruiting metrics and market data and trends to inform strategic decisions and continuous improvement.
• Evaluate and implement recruiting tools, technologies, and vendor partnerships.
• Advise firm leadership, practice group chairs, office executive partners, and other hiring leads on market trends, talent availability, and competitive positioning.
• Collaborate with Chair of the Summer Associate Committee and the Summer Associate and Integration Manager on a strategy for summer associate recruiting.
• Foster collaboration with other Talent Development functions, including integration, training, and professional development.

The above list is not intended to be all inclusive but provides a general framework for the position. Other related responsibilities will arise from time-to-time. Competencies

• Strategic thinker with strong business and financial acumen.
• Exceptional interpersonal and influencing skills
• Able to partner effectively with attorneys and staff.
• Excellent judgment, discretion, and confidentiality.
• Strong project management and organizational skills.
• Data-driven mindset with experience using recruiting metrics and analytics.
• Commitment to inclusive recruiting and equitable hiring practices.

About You Experience, Education and Training

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources or related field; J.D. preferred
• 8–12+ years of law firm recruiting experience, with at least 3 years in a leadership role.
• Proven success leading complex, high-stakes lateral attorney searches.
• Comfortable operating in a fast-paced, high-accountability environment with direct ownership of outcomes.
• Strong understanding of law firm culture, practice group dynamics, and the legal talent market.

About Warner
Warner is a full-service corporate law firm with 230+ attorneys practicing in nine offices throughout Michigan: Bloomfield Hills, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Holland, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Macomb, Midland and Muskegon. To learn more, visit follow us on X @WNJLLP or connect on LinkedIn or Facebook.


About Our Benefits
• Comprehensive medical, dental, and vision insurance plans
• Firm-provided life insurance and disability coverage
• 401k with employer contribution or match depending on plan design
• Generous PTO and leave policies
• Firm holidays
• Remote work flexibility
• Wellness program
• Employee assistance program
• Professional development opportunities


About Our Culture
Warner’s cultural motto is “Fun, Pride + Profit...in that Order”. We build A Better Partnership through:

• Lockstep Compensation – Our compensation model encourages teamwork and distinguishes us from our competitors. Partner and associate salaries are set based upon seniority, not total hours worked, encouraging client legal projects to be routed to the most knowledgeable person in the firm. Our team approach to compensation yields better legal representation for our clients and lays the foundation for a fun culture without internal financial competition. We have a team atmosphere where people like working together and supporting each other.
• Diversity – At Warner, we take an “all in” approach to DEI – engaging people at all levels of the firm to lead and participate on DEI committees and initiatives. This ensures a broad base of support from team members truly invested in leading the charge. It’s because of their time and efforts we are as successful as we are – and that success radiates throughout the whole firm. Our DEI work has become not only the right thing to do, but more importantly, what our people want to do.
• Careers – Our culture of balanced personal and professional lifestyle allows us to maintain a 94% attorney retention rate. Attorneys throughout Michigan, the region and beyond are choosing Warner as their forever home – and because of our dedicated focus on living balanced lives, our attorneys’ families are fully supporting these important decisions.
• Community – Warner’s time-honored community engagement initiatives include financial contributions to 150+ nonprofits, scholarships and paid time off for all firm members to engage in community initiatives that are meaningful to them.

Closing Statement
Warner hires top talent at every point in our organization. We are seeking dedicated professionals with diverse backgrounds who strive to support the firm and its goals. Our collegial culture attracts people with diverse skills and backgrounds who are dedicated to teamwork and client service.