Introducing the U-LPQ

NALSC is committed to elevating the legal search industry.

It's been a career-long dream of mine to create a universally accepted Lateral Partner Questionnaire (LPQ) to streamline the initial communications between search firms and law firms and eliminate the repetition of putting together separate LPQ’s when presenting partner candidates to multiple law firms. This is something countless search firms and law firms have asked about – and often begged for – over the years. With this in mind, we have taken the bull by the horns and are ready to make it happen. With the contributions of many, including the NALSC Law Firm Advisory Board (made up of ten representatives from highly respected law firms), ethics attorneys, and recruiters who have seen hundreds of LPQs, we are ready to roll this out.

The purpose of the U-LPQ (Universal Lateral Partner Questionnaire) is to minimize inefficiency in the lateral partner recruiting and hiring process, conserve all parties’ time and resources, enable more choices for candidates and law firms, and provide crucial partner data in the most accurate manner.

The U-LPQ, which covers 80% of what most law firms require in their own LPQs, will debut on NALSC’s website within the next few days. The U-LPQ is the first step in helping to streamline the often burdensome and duplicative LPQ process.?

NALSC’s U-LPQ is a win-win-win for all parties involved.

* Win for the Firms.?The U-LPQ will allow law firms to consider more partner candidates to whom they might not otherwise have access. By accepting the U-LPQ, law firms no longer will miss out on partner candidates who may not have the time to complete yet another 10–15-page questionnaire.

Moreover, the NALSC U-LPQ helps fix shortcomings in many existing LPQs. Many law firm LPQ questions are vague and certain terms are subject to multiple interpretations, which can make gaining accurate information difficult. The NALSC U-LPQ questions have been thoroughly vetted, fine-tuned, and structured in a way that is most likely to elicit the key information that firms want, in an efficient and clear manner. ?

*?Win for the Recruiters.?Recruiters no longer will need to track down candidates to complete multiple, tedious LPQs across different law firms. This will be a massive time saver allowing legal search firms to spend more time helping candidates and law firms with the process - and not so much on paperwork.

*?Win for the Candidates.?For partners, who have limited time, the U-LPQ is a one-stop-shop, requiring the completion of a single questionnaire while avoiding the cumbersome process of crafting similar-but-different responses to each firm’s individualized LPQ. This may, in fact, enable candidates to consider more potential firms because the back-end labor involved in multiple questionnaires will be eliminated.

Each law firm may ultimately wish to have a supplemental portion that fills in the gaps depending on their own jurisdiction or other additional information. But the U-LPQ is a crucial tool for minimizing the bulk of that extra legwork.

Its creation has been a long and careful process, and special thanks go to Nixon Peabody partner Tina Solis, past NALSC President Dan Binstock of Garrison & Sisson, Gary Miles of Miles Partner Placement, Valerie Fontaine of Seltzer Fontaine, LLC and NALSC Executive Director Stephanie Ankus. This is just the first step and likely not the last in the development of this much needed industry tool.?

Here’s hoping that the U-LPQ leads to many successful placements in the years ahead and enhances efficiencies on all sides of our industry.?

Mitch Satalof

NALSC President and Member since 2001

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