Search Consultant, Practice Leader
In-House Practice Group

Active in Europe for more then a decade, MLA established its European headquarters in London in 2004. Since that time we have grown to 7 consultants who are supported by dedicated research and administrative teams.

In-House Practice
Our European In-House Practice is a 95% retained and 5% contingent search. Most of our work involves searches for EMEA Counsels for US multinationals. We also represent European companies, UK plcs and financial institutions. We have particular expertise in the technology and funds sectors. Most of our In-House searches to date have been Europe-wide, mostly in the UK, Germany, Switzerland, France and Belgium. We have recently become active in the Middle East.

Our EMEA in-house team has recently completed assignments for the following clients:

• Ashmore Investment Management
  
• Bain & Company
  
• Barclays Capital
  
• Baxter International
  
• Bechtel Holdings, Inc.
  
• Cheyne Capital
  
• Freescale Semiconductor
  
• Honeywell International
  
• Jefferies International
  
• Juniper Networks
• McAfee, Inc.
  
• Macromedia Europe (now Adobe)
  
• PWC Global Logistics
  
• Salesforce.com
  
• Superior Essex
  
• United Technologies
  
• Varian Medical Systems
  
  

The Position

The ideal candidate is a former in-house lawyer with several years’ search experience; someone who has grown a European legal search business, managed a team, and who now wishes to join a firm that provides a stronger platform to take such business to the next level, particularly by gaining access to US multinational clients. Given that there are very few such candidates, we would consider candidates who possess most of the following qualities. Of key importance is attitude. We hire entrepreneurial, team-spirited individuals who are committed to client service. It is our goal not just to close assignments but to deliver the right individual to our clients on every assignment. We are relationship, not transaction-driven, adopting a long-term, global approach to business development.

Desired Skills

• 5+ years of recruitment experience in the UK and Europe - legal search, executive search
• Qualified lawyer, ideally with experience working in-house
• Knowledge and network of in-house legal community in the United Kingdom and/or Europe
• Proven ability to develop UK/Europe business and to gain repeat instructions from clients
• Experience successfully negotiating search contracts
• Proven ability to close assignments
• Outgoing personality – not afraid to cold call
• Experience managing, growing and training a team - at the moment there are two mid-level recruiters in this team who the practice leader will manage
• A team player who willingly works with others and shares knowledge
• Ability to write – marketing materials, position descriptions, candidate reports and articles
• Public speaking ability – we encourage our consultants to speak at conferences and in-house seminars
• Presence
• Keen networker – this role requires the practice leader to network actively with general counsels in the UK, European and US in-house community
• Commitment to ethics, equal opportunity and diversity

Duties

The In-House Practice Leader will be responsible for the future development and implementation of the growth strategy for MLA’s European In-House Practice Group. S/he will collaborate with International Partner Practice Leader Melinda Wallman, EMEA Associate Practice Leader Lynnsey McCall as well as the US and Asian In-House Practice Leaders (Caroline Lim – Asia, Bob Graff – East US, Miriam Frank – Central US, Gigi Birchfield – West US). 
This will involve:

• Budgeting and business planning
• Identifying and winning clients, then developing and implementing account management plans for each client. Much of this will involve internal marketing to our business development and in-house search teams in the US and Asia
• Working with our international marketing team to develop marketing plans, including refining marketing materials, attending conferences and organising seminars
• Negotiating search agreements
• Writing and editing position descriptions and short list reports
• Executing and closing search assignments
• Client management
• Candidate management
• Gathering, recording and sharing market intelligence – training others on best practices
• Training and supervising others to improve their execution and business development skills
• Streamlining systems specific to in-house recruitment in Europe
• Resolving any conflicts within the team
• Identifying and acting upon synergies with other practice groups in London and internationally

Opportunity

Some of the reasons why this position is so attractive:

• MLA is the world leader for in-house search – we have placed more general counsels and other in-house lawyers than any other search firm worldwide. In the last 18 months we have placed 70 general counsels. 
• Opportunity to work with our strong US client base.  Our client relationships start with the placement of US general counsels and continue after that as we partner with our clients to build out their legal teams in the US and internationally. For example, we have placed dozens of lawyers in multiple jurisdictions for companies like GE, Fortress and Yahoo!
• Professional corporate environment, including the opportunity to work with and learn from high quality, experienced search consultants in our London office, all of whom are former practising lawyers.
• Excellent research function which constantly adds to our database of 220,000 candidates, some of whose careers we have followed across borders for 20 years.
• Ongoing training including training manual specific to the in-house practice, regular practice group conference calls and annual training retreat for all 110 MLA recruiters in the US. The retreat also serves as a source of global collaboration.
• Sophisticated marketing function, which includes publication of e-newsletter which is aimed specifically at in-house. Participation in conferences, including ACC, CLT SuperConference, and local events attended by lawyers.
• Rapidly growing European business within truly global organization, providing excellent career path, including partnership track and opportunities to work overseas
• Cross-selling, cross-placement and cross-project opportunities between our three practice groups.

Renumeration

MLA aims to pay at the top of the market in all of its offices.  The package for this position will be competitive and commensurate with skills and experience. It includes an attractive base salary, commissions and team-based bonus.

How to Respond
CVs and Enquiries to:

Ijeoma Dabengwa, Operations Manager

Email: idabengwa@mlaglobal.com

London Tel: +44 20 7448 9962