MLA Names Five Female Recruiters to its Partnership

Hanover, MD (October 21, 2020) — Major, Lindsey & Africa (MLA), the world’s leading legal search firm, today announced the addition of five new partners: Tanja Albers, Amsterdam; Stephanie Biderman, New York; Meredith Frank, Philadelphia; and Nancy Reiner and Elizabeth Smith, Boston. The invitation to the partnership for these five talented recruiters has increased the gender diversity of our partnership to 52 percent women. These partners reflect the breadth of our business offerings and demonstrate the truly global nature of our platform.

“The word partner has a unique meaning at MLA – a recognition of outstanding performance over several years, the sustained living of our culture and values, and the ability to demonstrate influence on the core values of improving diversity and inclusion and cross-selling and collaboration,” said John Cashman, president of Major, Lindsey & Africa. “Tanja, Stephanie, Meredith, Nancy and Elizabeth are outstanding examples of all of these attributes and truly reflective of what it means to be a Global Navigator as each have changed many lives along this journey.”

Tanja Albers opened MLA’s Amsterdam office in 2016 and has been instrumental in its continued growth and development. She works closely with our market-leading teams across offices in EMEA, the U.S., Asia and Australia to ensure we provide best-in-class service and our clients are being matched with the best candidates to fill critical and strategic positions within their organizations. Tanja is a qualified Dutch lawyer, a former litigator, who practiced law for seven years at one of the top-tier firms in The Netherlands.

Stephanie Biderman specializes in placing attorneys of all levels in top-tier national, international, regional and boutique law firms as well as in prominent in-house positions. She uses her background as a practicing attorney to offer valuable insights to her candidates as they consider potential career moves and has developed an expertise in the New York legal market by working hand-in-hand with law firm and corporate clients to understand their needs.

Meredith Frank specializes in representing and placing partners and groups into top global, national, regional and local law firms, as well as representing clients in connection with office openings and law firm mergers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Florida. She is a professional career advisor and a trusted business partner to her clients, developing a deep understanding of their cultures, structures, dynamics and strategic needs. Meredith is a former business litigator who practiced at two major Philadelphia-based law firms before transitioning into legal recruiting.

Nancy Reiner focuses on placement of general counsel and other in-house counsel for public companies and private businesses, major global corporations and disruptive start-ups, hospital and other healthcare systems, and colleges and universities. Since joining MLA in 2011, Nancy has placed over 100 senior-level leaders in corporate legal departments throughout New England and across the country. After graduating from Northeastern University School of Law, Nancy spent 20+ years practicing law; she was a partner (and associate) at Brown Rudnick and an associate at Goodwin Procter and the former DiCara, Selig, Sawyer & Holt.

Elizabeth Smith serves as the Boston Office Leader for Interim Legal Talent.  She handles business development, client relationships and recruiter leadership for the Boston Interim Legal Talent team.  She specializes in the recruitment and placement of experienced attorneys, paralegals, contracts managers and compliance professionals for substantive assignments in both law firms and in-house legal departments. After receiving her J.D. from Catholic University Columbus School of Law, Elizabeth worked as an attorney with Halloran & Sage and as a commercial litigation associate in the Hartford offices of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae (which became known as Dewey & LeBoeuf).