Temporary Director of Legal Recruiting

Milbank LLP•New York, NY

About The Position

The temporary Director of Legal Recruiting provides leadership for the firm’s legal recruiting function during a maternity leave. The role oversees campus and law student recruiting, the summer associate program, lateral associate and clerkship hiring, partner recruiting support, recruiting operations, and the legal recruiting team. The Director serves as the principal Recruiting-level approval and escalation point, using sound judgment to resolve matters within Recruiting and promptly elevating decisions that require partner, leadership, legal, financial, or cross-functional approval. This hands-on leader maintains continuity across active recruiting processes, provides decision-ready recommendations, and ensures a well-managed experience for candidates and stakeholders. The Director leads U.S. recruiting strategy and operations, advises partners and firm leadership, reviews candidate recommendations and recruiting materials, and coordinates hiring and headcount approvals. The role provides senior oversight of the New York summer associate program and lateral associate, clerkship, and partner recruiting across relevant U.S. offices and practice groups. It also directs recruiting staff, maintains reliable records and processes, coordinates with internal functions, reports on recruiting matters, and protects confidential information.

Requirements

Significant legal recruiting or law firm talent management experience, including senior responsibility for campus and/or lateral recruiting.
Demonstrated ability to advise partners and senior leaders and manage sensitive, confidential, and time-critical matters.
Strong judgment, executive presence, stakeholder management, and written and verbal communication skills.
Experience supervising recruiting professionals and coordinating work across multiple offices or practice groups.
Excellent project management and organizational skills, with the ability to manage concurrent priorities and deadlines.
Working knowledge of law firm recruiting processes, applicant tracking systems, candidate evaluation, and recruiting market practices.
Team-oriented and adaptable to a fast-paced and changing environment.
Bachelor’s degree required.

Nice To Haves

Advanced degree.
Prior legal practice experience.

Responsibilities

Provide day-to-day leadership for U.S. legal recruiting across campus, summer associate, lateral associate, clerkship, and partner recruiting workstreams.
Advise hiring partners, recruiting committees, practice group leaders, and firm leadership on candidate pipelines, recruiting priorities, market developments, and process issues.
Monitor recruiting activity, deadlines, candidate movement, committee cycles, and recurring deliverables, and ensure timely follow-through.
Identify risks, exceptions, and time-sensitive decisions; resolve matters within Recruiting where appropriate and elevate matters requiring further approval.
Review and approve significant candidate recommendations, recruiting communications, presentations, program materials, and process changes at the Recruiting level.
Review candidate materials and team recommendations before candidates are presented to hiring partners, practice groups, or recruiting committees.
Make or coordinate Recruiting-level decisions on candidate progression, interviews, callbacks, decline recommendations, and exceptions, subject to applicable approvals.
Document material decisions, approval conditions, responsible owners, and follow-up requirements.
Oversee U.S. law student and graduate recruiting strategy, law school relationships, candidate outreach, interviews, offers, and recruiting events.
Provide senior oversight of the New York summer associate program, including orientation, rotations, assignments, evaluations, mentoring, programming, reviews, and offer-related processes.
Review and approve interviewer training, candidate communications, summer associate materials, surveys, guidebooks, presentations, event messaging, committee materials, candidate packets, reports, and decision-ready summaries.
Represent the firm at selected law school programs, candidate webinars, recruiting presentations, and other external-facing activities.
Oversee lateral associate and post-clerkship recruiting across relevant U.S. offices and practice groups, including candidate review, interview strategy, recommendations, and offer coordination.
Partner with practice group leaders and hiring partners on staffing needs, candidate evaluation, interview strategy, and hiring recommendations.
Oversee search firm relationships and confirm required placement terms and approvals before processes advance; review terms within delegated authority and route other matters to the appropriate approver.
Monitor offer-related, background, conflicts, visa, onboarding, and candidate-experience issues and coordinate with relevant internal teams.
Coordinate hiring-request and headcount approval processes by consolidating business cases, utilization or staffing information, candidate materials, and supporting information.
Provide Recruiting recommendations, elevate completed requests for final firm leadership approval, track approval status, communicate decisions, and ensure recruiting proceeds only after required approvals.
Provide senior Recruiting oversight for lateral partner matters from initial consideration through offer, partnership approval, pre-arrival planning, and integration support.
Coordinate confidential partner recruiting with sponsoring partners, practice group leaders, firm leadership, Recruiting, HR, Finance, OGC, Conflicts, IT, Marketing/Business Development, and other stakeholders.
Review and approve partner recruiting process materials, search firm arrangements, communications, and candidate-facing information; track decision points, dependencies, risks, approvals, and owners.
Direct and prioritize recruiting managers, coordinators, assistants, and specialists, setting clear ownership and deadlines.
Review team work for accuracy, consistency, judgment, and readiness before it is shared with senior stakeholders or external audiences.
Coach team members on escalation thresholds, stakeholder management, and effective communication; lead regular check-ins, maintain coverage plans, and monitor recruiting deliverables.
Ensure recruiting records, applicant tracking systems, trackers, and shared materials are current and support a reliable audit trail.
Coordinate with HR, Professional Development, Finance, Conflicts, OGC, IT, Marketing/Business Development, and office leadership on shared recruiting matters.
Escalate sensitive issues involving compensation, visa status, conflicts, background review, hiring criteria, candidate experience, legal risk, or reputational concerns to appropriate stakeholders.
Provide concise status updates identifying recommendations, decisions required, responsible owners, and next steps.
Protect confidential candidate, compensation, partnership, and personnel information and exercise discretion in communications.