"Reverse Recruiting" aka How to Screw Desperate Professionals While Calling It “Strategy”

There is a new cottage industry aimed squarely at anxious professionals.

It goes by polished names. Reverse recruiting. Career advocacy. Confidential representation.

It sounds bespoke. Strategic. Almost elite.

For lawyers, especially associates and partners without portable books, it can sound like oxygen.

Here is the principle that should anchor every attorney before they write a check to anyone calling themselves a recruiter.

Real recruiters are paid by law firms. Not by lawyers.

Full stop.

In the legal industry, the economic model is simple. When a firm needs talent, it pays the recruiter. When a firm hires an partner, of counsel or associate through a search firm, the firm pays the fee. The lawyer does not.

If someone is asking you, an associate or non equity partner, to pay them thousands of dollars to “represent” you to firms, they are not functioning as a recruiter in the traditional sense. They are taking advantage of your disadvantage.

Now let us separate what is legitimate from what is larcenous. Career coaches are legitimate. Strategists are legitimate. Rainmaking and Branding consultants are legitimate.

If you want help refining your narrative, sharpening your deal sheet, clarifying your practice positioning, or preparing for partner interviews, that is advisory work. That is consulting. That is value creation.

But it should be transparent. It should be structured. And if the fee is meaningful, there should be some accountability attached to it. The moment someone blurs the line and markets themselves as a recruiter while charging the candidate, you have an incentive problem.

A recruiter paid by the firm has one objective and that is to fill a position that is actually open. A so-called recruiter paid by the candidate? They have been paid whether or not a hire is achieved. The pressure to perform is dramatically reduced and almost non-existent. If they don’t find you a job, they haven’t lost a client who will hire multiple attorneys over the coming years. They’ve collected money from one attorney who was desperate enough to pay them.

Let me speak directly to associates and of counsel attorneys without books of business.

You are often told that you are “harder to place.” That you need “extra marketing.” That firms will not look at you without aggressive advocacy.

That may be true. The lateral market is nuanced. Practice group demand fluctuates. Geography matters. Compensation expectations matter.

But if a recruiter truly has relationships with managing partners and practice leaders, the recruiter does not need your money to make a call. If there is demand for your skill set, firms will pay to secure it.

At Shelton and Steele, we routinely advise associates and non-book partners on an informal basis. We look at compensation structures. We discuss timing. We give candid feedback about marketability. We’ll even call a partner or two that might have a few surplus hours - and let them know there will be no charge if they hire that attorney. But under no circumstances do we charge an attorney a fee. Period.

Why?

Because we refuse to screw people for a buck. It’s that simple.

When someone flips that structure and asks you to fund their effort upfront, you must ask hard questions.

Are you contractually obligated to present me to specific firms?

What measurable outcomes are you committing to?

If I receive no interviews or no offers, what happens to my fee?

If the firm pays you a fee do I get my money back?

Their answers will make their ethics – or lack thereof, perfect clear.

Frederick Shelton is the CEO of Shelton & Steele, a national legal recruiting and consulting firm that advises clients on Law Firm M&A, Legal MSO's and Legal Business Consulting. He can be reached at fs@sheltonsteele.com