Specialist Legal Recruitment at Harvey John

You’ve practiced law for years, gained valuable experience learning from seasoned professionals, and consider yourself a specialist in what you do. You please clients, bosses, co-workers, and yourself through your work, yet you’re still unsatisfied with your role. Something’s not adding up, so you bite the bullet and respond to that recruiter who messaged you. Let’s look at it from their perspective.

Recruitment is a tricky minefield to navigate. It seems simple: find a role, send a CV, proceed to interviews, and hopefully secure the job. But what about finding a candidate in the first place? It gets even trickier when you consider the nature of job searching, as they typically have several options to choose from.

This is where specialist recruitment comes in. But why Harvey John?

Particularly in the legal sphere, there is a presupposed career path that lawyers tend to follow. However, the introduction of the SQE in recent years has shaken up the order of events leading up to qualification, thus potentially altering the career trajectories of many solicitors.

There are no necessary qualifications for recruitment, but our Head of Legal, Hayley Rose, does happen to possess a very important one: she practised law, specifically Commercial Dispute Resolution, for a number of years. Along with the legal experience of supporting staff, this provides us with a unique understanding of market trends and the intricacies of legal work, reflected in our regular market insights.

Essentially, everything’s changing! But it’s our job to anticipate these changes and keep you in the loop.

Our Legal Team

The aforementioned Hayley heads up our legal desk duo. As a non-practising solicitor and recruiter, her knowledge of boutique, regional, and national firms is extensive, having worked alongside many of them in her previous role. Her expertise is especially pertinent when considering the intricacies of specialist recruitment; she can truly understand the requirements of a legal role and explain these to a prospective candidate without oversimplifying the matter.

Legal jargon is a-okay with us!

In fact, knowing the ins and outs of the legal profession lends a sense of legitimacy that generalist recruitment arguably lacks due to its reputation as a ‘sales’ industry. This legitimacy, coupled with our commitment to keeping up with candidates even years after they are placed, sets us apart from other agencies.

But persuasion isn’t the half of it.

No, this spending time isn’t exhaustive. It’s based on the empathy built with clients and candidates throughout the recruitment process. There is more to a placement than simply persuading someone of a shiny new job opportunity. Hayley considers relationship building to be crucial; this is achieved by working ‘on a collaborative consultancy basis, where there is mutual trust and respect.’ The fact that 73% of our clients in the past fiscal year were on a repeat basis is a testament to Hayley’s attitude toward fostering business relationships.

Understanding the needs of clients as well as their desires when it comes to work culture makes for placement longevity and job satisfaction like no other.

Objection: speculation!

Don’t just take our word for it. Take those of our candidates…

‘I recently started a new legal role at a biotechnology company and I must thank Hayley for her exceptional service and support throughout the whole process. Hayley was comprehensive in her approach to explaining the role and the company and why I might be a good fit and provided excellent guidance to ensure I was well-prepared for the interviews. During the process, she was very helpful in answering all my queries and always gave me regular updates. It has certainly been one of the best experiences I have had in my career working with a recruiter. Hayley was thorough and very friendly throughout and I would strongly recommend her and the Harvey John team to companies and senior lawyers when considering preferred professional recruitment firms.’

Candidate placed as an International Legal Director
at a Global Biotech Company

‘She made the whole experience seamless from start to finish and was so helpful with preparing me for the interviews. I very much appreciated that she stayed in contact even after starting the new job to check that everything was going ok.’

Candidate placed at a leading regional firm,
within a Tier 1 Corporate team

‘She was always available if I had any questions, she responded to my emails extremely quickly and found me my dream job.’

Candidate placed at a leading national firm,
within a Tier 1 Medical Negligence team

Building trust

All of the above makes for a lovely testimonial for Legal Recruitment at Harvey John, but there’s another party to the process whose opinions are crucial: our clients. We work largely on a repeat basis with our clients, who trust us with various new roles as and when they determine the need for them. With a roster of law firms who regularly use our services, we are able to match candidate to client based on far more than a simple job description.

‘Her clear, concise and honest communication makes the whole recruitment process much easier, compared to other agents who tell you what they think you want to hear. I have also experienced Harvey John as a candidate myself, it is nice to know their professionalism extends to their candidates as well as clients.’

A repeat client from a leading regional firm

The devil’s in the data

In the past financial year, our success has been split fairly evenly amongst in-house and private practice, which is reflective of the aforementioned changing currents in the legal job market.

47% of our placement revenue came from in-house roles, with private practice making up a slightly larger portion of 53%.

No matter the type of company or firm, success matters most when it is sustainable. This is why we are most proud of the below figure, which highlights the accuracy of our candidate-qualifying process.

Of the candidates we placed during the timeframe referenced above,  93.4% of them remain in their roles today.

Furthermore, we are committed to inclusivity in terms of diversity practices, both our own and those of our clients. Our latest DE&I survey exemplifies the need for recruiters to become involved in the championing of diversity, as 76.9% of the respondents felt that progression at their law firm was impacted by prejudice. By playing an integral role in the hiring process of several prominent law firms, we are instrumental in the effort to change this.

Now, the Defence rests.

In a world where legal expertise is becoming increasingly specialised, finding a role that aligns with your skills and preferences can be a daunting challenge. Why compromise yourself by settling for a generic position that confines you to mundane tasks? Embrace the opportunity to shape your legal career according to your terms with Harvey John. 

Reach out to Hayley Rose for expert legal career advice. Or explore Harvey John’s Media Hub, where we share our insights, research, and market reports.