The challenges facing the General Counsel

Yes. We recruit the General Counsel and their inner circle. Heads of legal, M&A lawyers, international contracts lawyers, tax specialists, board secretaries. The level of demand stays the same, because these roles carry the same risks at their own scale. An M&A lawyer commits the company in its transactions, a tax specialist in its positions before the authorities. Every candidate presented goes through the same work. In-depth interviews led by former practitioners of the function, personality assessments debriefed in full, cross-checked references taken from executives who have worked with them. Faced with a firm that comes from their own world, lawyers speak plainly. Their experience, their outlook, their aspirations. The evaluation gains what a standard interview never reaches, and your legal department is built with the same rigour at every level.

Along the lines of specialist executive search. A fixed fee or a percentage of the annual remuneration for the role, invoiced in three instalments (at launch, on presentation of the shortlist, on signature). Fees are set out in writing before the mandate, with no hidden extras. The in-depth assessment, the personality tests, the cross-checked references and the integration follow-up are all included. Transparency applies to the rules, confidentiality to the amounts. A failed hire on a sensitive function costs a great deal more. The vacant post, the uncovered risk, the fresh start. Our fees are measured against what they prevent. The detail of our rules, guarantee and off-limits included, is set down in black and white on our method page.

Six months of replacement guarantee, written into every mandate. If the candidate recruited leaves the role during that period, we take the assignment back on with no new fees. The conditions, including termination at the employer's initiative, appear in black and white in the mandate. In sixteen years, that clause has been invoked only twice, in both cases for personal reasons on the candidate's side, never for an error of judgement. That solidity owes nothing to chance. It rests on the initial scoping, the in-depth assessment and the cross-checked references that precede every presentation, then on the integration follow-up that continues for a year after signature. The guarantee protects your decision. Our method makes sure it almost never has to.