MLA Elects Seven Recruiters to its Partnership
Increasing gender diversity of the firm’s partnership to 56% women

Hanover, MD (December 6, 2021) — Major, Lindsey & Africa (MLA), the world's leading legal search firm, is excited to announce the election of seven new partners: Summer Eberhard, Anthony Graham, Bodie McNaught, Carol Morganstern, Kate Reder Sheikh, Carol Warren Simon and Deborah Thompson. The elevation of these seven talented recruiters reflects the breadth of our business offerings and demonstrates the truly global nature of our platform. The addition of these partners has increased the gender diversity of the firm’s partnership to 56 percent women.

“At Major, Lindsey & Africa, being invited to the partnership is a recognition of outstanding performance over several years as well as meaningful contribution to the firm beyond revenue,” said John Cashman, president of Major, Lindsey & Africa. “Summer, Tony, Bodie, Carol, Kate, Carol and Deb set an outstanding example for what it means to live our culture and values, and they consistently strive to find ways to make the people around them better.”

From the Associate Practice Group, MLA welcomes Summer Eberhard and Kate Reder Sheikh to the partnership ranks. Both Summer and Kate specialize in counseling and representing associates in the Bay Area with Summer also covering Seattle. Summer and Kate have strong relationships with both the local powerhouse firms and also the top boutiques. They are routinely looked to for insights into the legal market by the legal press. Summer started her career as a litigator at a boutique bankruptcy firm representing large financial institutions and left practice in 2013 to become a legal recruiter. Kate was a litigator (including arguing cases of first impression) for almost a decade before becoming a recruiter in 2015. Before joining MLA, Kate ran an associate recruiting business in London. 

Carol Warren Simon and Deborah Thompson, both from our In-House Counsel Recruiting group, specialize in general counsel and other in-house attorney placements for organizations of various size and within a wide range of industries. After law school, Carol clerked for two federal district court judges in the Western District of New York and practiced law at McDermott, Will & Emery and Nixon Peabody. Deborah practiced law for more than 10 years in Philadelphia at firms Blank Rome and Duane Morris in the areas of estate planning and general corporate law.

Both Tony Graham and Bodie McNaught are leaders within Interim Legal Talent. Tony, based in London, handles business development initiatives, client delivery, and recruiter leadership and management, while Bodie, based in Los Angeles, serves as a coach, mentor and leader to other consultants throughout Southern California, Arizona, Nevada and the Midwest and oversees their development in addition to high level interim recruiting. Tony and Bodie began their recruiting careers at TEKsystems, a leading provider of information technology staffing and services in the United States and Canada and a member of the Allegis Group, the parent company of MLA.

Carol Morganstern of the Partner Practice Group focuses on working with law firm partners, groups, counsels, and high level government attorneys, in their transitions to different law firms. Carol has placed partners at over 20 different firms ranging from some of the largest firms in the world to small San Francisco based boutiques and helped open multiple new offices. She is a former employment attorney who practiced with several different firms in the Bay Area.