Our approach to attracting legal talent

I remember joking with a former colleague that we should have “you are still here!” parties.

The discussion came about after attending yet another send off celebration for a departing employee. It seemed that we rarely celebrated our people except when they first arrived and when they decided to depart. Why don’t workplaces focus more on the middle? Why do they spend so much money on recruitment, referral bonuses and recruiters and yet balk at minor costs to keep current employees happy?

There is currently a tremendous labour shortage in the legal market. Many firms are busier than ever before and are having a hard time with recruitment. There is also continued talk about how hard it is to find “diverse” talent.

This has not been my experience. At all.

Since launching the firm mere weeks ago, I am proud to have found tremendous, diverse talent and have had to turn even more incredible prospects away.

I am not entirely sure how this happened. But I can speculate. I expect part of it is that I actively promote mental well-being and a genuine commitment to diversity and inclusion. I also think that talented and hardworking lawyers and staff want to have their value recognized with fair compensation, defined profit sharing opportunities and flexibility. It is possible to accomplish all of these things even though we are a new firm thanks to low overhead costs, a commitment to utilizing efficient technologies and realizing that there is far more to work and life than making boatloads of money.

Happy, dedicated and healthy lawyers and staff serve our clients better. I cannot wait to see what our team will accomplish together.

Erin Durant