Marlborough Fund Managers Limited is a leading investment management firm and continued growth had led the business to engage in its first legal counsel recruitment appointment in the UK – a role based in Lancashire and reporting into the Finance Director (as is common to most first in-house legal counsel opportunities).
Prior to our involvement, the business had been looking to recruit a suitable legal counsel candidate for 9 months via another recruiter, but without success. We were therefore recommended to Marlborough, as an alternative source of in-house legal recruitment, by one of our mutual contacts at a leading UK law firm.
Owing to the company’s poor experience with the other legal recruitment supplier prior to our involvement, the directors’ confidence that a different legal recruiter would successfully fill their role was understandably low. There had been very few CVs submitted and Florit Legal appeared to be smaller. However, we had the benefit of a recommendation from another senior lawyer, at a reputable commercial law firm, on our side, and were eager to deliver a solution – so they let us take the project on.
Additionally, given the location of the role was only ever going to appeal to candidates from ‘the northern half’ of the Greater Manchester legal community, the role would really only appeal to roughly half of candidates seeking a first legal counsel opportunity.
A meeting with key stakeholders at board level not only allowed us to take a comprehensive legal counsel recruitment brief, but also allowed us to restore the director’s confidence in the market for legal candidates in the North West.
Since the outlying areas of Greater Manchester are sometimes a little more challenging to recruit into when compared with in-house legal functions in Manchester city centre, we relied on our strong historic network of lawyers in the North West, for recommendations and referrals.
The full brief we took, on key technical and personality requirements, enabled us to table a manageable number of carefully chosen CVs and an appointment was made after just one interview. The appointee came with a top 20 UK law firm background.
Database search: we placed a candidate from our existing network of legal counsel contacts.
Speed: the role was filled within 4 weeks, following a previous failed attempt by the client.
Appointee: experienced commercial lawyer with a Top 50 UK commercial law firm training including previous in-house legal counsel experience.
Location: Bolton, Lancashire.
Florit Legal Recruitment is one of the top specialists in the search and recruitment of in-house legal counsel in the UK. We are among the best legal recruitment agencies for in-house legal jobs, general counsel, company secretary and head of legal appointments, and a reliable source of UK lawyer salary information and executive coaching for lawyers.
