My personal lawyer hiring record currently stands at: 25 – 43 (.367)
That translates to 68 attorneys hired, with 25 staying and 43 departing.
The good news? Those 25 attorneys who stayed are high-performers. They bring in around $600,000 collections each year and get fantastic reviews from clients.
Hiring great attorneys is one of the most critical aspects of law firm leadership.
We actually don’t call it “hiring” at our firm. We call it “selection.” And there’s a reason for that.
Over the past ten years, we’ve honed a formula that really works when selecting top legal talent.
Let me break down our process and share what we’ve learned.
Be Leery of “Name Brand” Attorneys
We’ve hired attorneys with marquee reputations — well-known and well-respected names in the family law bar.
But here’s the truth: almost none of them worked out long-term. Why? They usually didn’t fit our roll-up-your-sleeves culture. A few felt and acted very entitled, which is 🤮 for me.
On the flip side, we’ve had great success hiring attorneys who weren’t well-known but had plenty of life experience.
They typically have strong people skills and are hungry to succeed. (An old boss of mine used to call them “PHDs” – “poor, hungry and desperate!”)
That’s why we now prioritize life experience over big names in family law.
Copy a Proven Selection Process
We follow a method based on the book “Who: The A Method for Hiring” by Geoff Smart and Randy Street.
It’s a structured process that starts with a culture screen and ends with deep reference checks. During interviews, we look at how candidates have actually behaved in the past, how they think, and if they match our values.
This system works – I credit it with a lot of our success.
If you want to see our hiring guide with the process broken down, go to www.jsterlinghughes.com and check out the downloads page.
Screen for Your Core Values at the First Meeting
For attorneys to succeed with us, they must share our core values:
- Finish with Integrity: We look for candidates who see every task through to completion, big or small, with honesty and integrity.
- Lead by Serving: Attorneys in our firm need to have a natural drive to serve others. The most effective leaders serve others first.
- Compete with a Warrior Spirit: We want lawyers who prepare thoroughly, fight for our clients, and put in the necessary effort for the best possible outcomes.
- Embrace and Drive Change: As an innovative and forward-thinking team, we seek candidates who are adaptable and enthusiastic about improving how law is practiced.
Candidates who don’t align with these values, especially those resistant to change or uncomfortable with proactive case management, are unlikely to thrive with us.
That’s why we have specific questions to uncover a candidate’s real values. These aren’t negotiable – they’re our “table stakes.”
Look for Attorneys Who Embrace Being Measured
We measure attorney performance across three main metrics: client satisfaction, financial collections, and how well attorneys do in consultations.
Some attorneys love this transparency — they can see how everyone in the firm is doing. Others hate it. They feel too much pressure when their performance is tracked.
Performance tracking is a constant at Sterling. It helps attorneys know exactly where they stand. If a candidate doesn’t like being measured, they won’t be happy here.
This ongoing feedback is an integral part of our culture.
Prioritize Attorneys with Demonstrated Ambition
You can’t teach ambition.
It’s like height – you either have it or you don’t.
After screening for values alignment, ambition is the one personality attribute I will take above all others.
Call it “drive” or “grit” or “mental toughness” — it’s the great equalizer attribute.
I’ll take someone with average smarts and high drive over a genius any day.
I did a whole podcast on this topic. You can find it here.
What We Don’t Consider Critical
Surprising things that don’t guarantee success here: law school grades, writing skills, fancy degrees, family connections, or years of experience.
Actually, these “success markers” can be drawbacks if they come with entitlement.
The Ideal Candidate Profile
Our best attorneys have:
- Strong ambition and drive
- Personal maturity
- Real empathy
- A client-first mindset
And here’s what’s interesting: many of our top performers came in with zero family law experience.
Red Flags We Watch For
Here are warning signs we look out for:
- Extensive experience in family law (especially hourly billing) that may hinder a proactive approach required in fixed fees.
- A snooty mindset that may prevent them from adapting to our firm’s hands-on culture.
- A lack of willingness to adapt, get “hands dirty,” or work collaboratively within our structure.
- Anything that resembles a condescending attitude to the support team.
It’s Always the People
Bottom line: great people make a great family law firm. Nothing else comes close.
Get the people right, and somehow, everything else falls into place. It really is that simple.
