Law Firm Hiring 101: The Three Key Needs

One area that many lawyers struggle in is hiring the right person for the right position for your firm. Often this struggle stems from focusing solely on aptitude and not considering key characteristics you need to look at for every position you fill in your firm. Today we are going to explore these three characteristics and what you can do to hire rock stars for your firm. In this episode we discuss: The three characteristics important for every hire no matter for what position. The importance of asking for examples and an impromptu demonstration of aptitude. Being aware of what aptitudes and attitudes fit best into your company culture. The different meanings of ‘team player’ and how that can impact a hiring outcome. How a hiring decision can impact company culture or even be used to change and/or advance your current company culture. Bio: Allison C. Williams, Esq., is Founder and Owner of the Williams Law Group, LLC, with offices in Short Hills and Wall Township, New Jersey.  She is a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, is Certified by the Supreme Court of New Jersey as a Matrimonial Law Attorney, and is the first attorney in New Jersey to become Board-Certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in the field of Family Law. Ms. Williams is a member of the New Jersey Board on Attorney Certification (NJBAC) – Matrimonial Committee, a New Jersey Supreme Court committee that determines eligibility of candidates to be certified as a recognized practitioner in the field of matrimonial law. Ms. Williams has been named a Rising Star Attorney by the New Jersey Super Lawyers franchise continuously from 2008 – 2013, and has been named a Super Lawyer by that organization for 2014 – 2019. In 2016, she was featured in the Super Lawyers publication (Williams v. The Rubber Stamp), she has been named one of the Top 50 Women Super Lawyers in New Jersey from 2017-2019 and in 2019, was voted in the Top 100 Super Lawyers in the State of New Jersey. Ms. Williams is an accomplished businesswoman. In 2017, the Williams Law Group won the LawFirm500 award, ranking 14th of the fastest growing law firms in the nation, as Ms. Williams grew the firm 581% in three years. Ms. Williams won the Silver Stevie Award for Female Entrepreneur of the Year in 2017.  In 2018, Ms. Williams was voted as NJBIZ’s Top 50 Women in Business and was designated one of the Top 25 Leading Women Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. In 2019, Ms. Williams won the Seminole 100 Award for founding one of the fastest growing companies among graduates of Florida State University. In 2018, Ms. Williams created Law Firm Mentor, a business coaching service for lawyers.  She helps solo and small law firm attorneys grow their business revenues, crush chaos in business and make more money.  Through multi-day intensive business retreats, group and one-to-one coaching, and strategic planning sessions, Ms. Williams advises lawyers on all aspects of creating, sustaining and scaling a law firm business – and specifically, she teaches them the core foundational principles of marketing, sales, personnel management, communications and money management in law firms.  She received her B.S., magna cum laude, and her M.S., summa cum laude, from Florida State University. She received her J.D., cum laude, from Syracuse University College of Law. Snip-Its: 00:15:54 (35 Seconds) And what I have found since we have started implementing a practical skills component of our interview process is that people oftentimes will report that they have the ability to do something. And then when they are asked to show it, when they're asked to demonstrate it, when they're asked even just to give you a concrete example, they oftentimes cannot do that. And when they can't do that, you know that they either are not confident in their ability or if they are, that they just simply don't have the skill that they allege that they did. 00:34:45 (45 Seconds) When you hire a misfit, you are also creating an opportunity for yourself. So in every lost opportunity, in every struggle, in every strife and every discord, there is the opportunity for greatness that comes with that. And if you bring somebody into your business who does not fit the culture that's here, is that an opportunity to reform your culture? Positive and negative. Right. So sometimes you may be looking to keep exactly what you have, in which case you want to hire somebody who's exactly like the people that are already here. And other times you might want to step out of your existing culture because you want to reform your culture. You want your culture to advance.