Temporary Director of Legal Recruiting

Milbank LLP•New York City, NY

18h

About The Position

The Director of Legal Recruiting provides temporary 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 hiring, partner recruiting support, recruiting operations, and the legal recruiting team. The Director is the principal Recruiting-level approval and escalation point, exercising sound judgment on matters that can be resolved within Recruiting and promptly elevating decisions requiring partner, leadership, legal, financial, or cross-functional approval. This hands-on leader maintains continuity across active recruiting processes, provides decision-ready recommendations, and supports a well-managed experience for candidates and stakeholders. The Director leads U.S. legal recruiting across campus, summer associate, lateral associate, clerkship, and partner recruiting workstreams. The position provides senior oversight of the New York summer associate program and lateral hiring, coordinates hiring-request and headcount approvals, and supports lateral partner recruiting and integration. It also directs recruiting staff, oversees work product and operational records, coordinates with relevant internal teams, reports status and decisions, 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 and maintain continuity 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 follow-through on next steps.
Identify risks, exceptions, and time-sensitive decisions; resolve matters within Recruiting authority and elevate matters requiring leadership or cross-functional approval.
Serve as the primary Recruiting-level reviewer and approver for significant candidate recommendations, recruiting communications, presentations, program materials, and process changes.
Review candidate materials and team recommendations before candidates are advanced 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 partner or leadership approval.
Review and approve executive-ready communications, presentations, committee materials, candidate-facing content, and reports before distribution.
Document material decisions, approval conditions, responsible owners, and required follow-up.
Oversee U.S. law student and graduate recruiting strategy, law school relationships, candidate outreach, interview processes, offer activity, and recruiting events.
Provide senior oversight of the New York summer associate program, including orientation, practice group rotations, assignments, evaluations, mentoring, programming, reviews, and offer-related processes.
Review and approve interviewer training, candidate-facing communications, summer associate materials, surveys, guidebooks, presentations, and event messaging.
Oversee preparation of recruiting committee materials, candidate packets, reports, and decision-ready summaries.
Represent the firm in 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, hiring recommendations, and offer-related coordination.
Review applicant pools, candidate submissions, and recruiting team recommendations; determine whether candidates should be presented to practice group stakeholders or declined at the Recruiting level.
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 are in place before recruiting processes advance.
Review negotiated or nonstandard search firm terms within delegated authority and route matters requiring additional review or signature to the appropriate internal 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 the business case, utilization or staffing information, candidate materials, and other supporting information.
Provide a clear Recruiting recommendation and elevate completed hiring requests to firm leadership for final approval.
Track approval status, communicate decisions to stakeholders, and ensure recruiting activity proceeds only after required approvals are in place.
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 processes across sponsoring partners, practice group leaders, firm leadership, Recruiting, HR, Finance, OGC, Conflicts, IT, Marketing/Business Development, and other stakeholders.
Review and approve recruiting-related process materials, search firm arrangements, communications, and candidate-facing information.
Maintain visibility into open decision points, dependencies, risks, and approvals, and ensure appropriate owners and leaders are engaged.
Direct and prioritize recruiting managers, coordinators, assistants, and specialists, with clear ownership and deadlines.
Review team work product for accuracy, consistency, judgment, and readiness before sharing it with senior stakeholders or external audiences.
Coach team members on escalation thresholds, stakeholder management, and effective communication.
Lead regular team check-ins, maintain coverage plans, and monitor deadlines, candidate movement, committee cycles, and recurring 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 recruiting matters requiring shared ownership.
Ensure sensitive issues involving compensation, visa status, conflicts, background review, hiring criteria, candidate experience, legal risk, or reputational concerns are promptly escalated.
Provide concise status updates that identify recommendations, decisions required, responsible owners, and next steps.
Protect confidential candidate, compensation, partnership, and personnel information and exercise discretion in all communications.