Hire a litigator who can run the case.
We recruit commercial and civil litigators, labor and employment litigators, construction litigators, and trial attorneys for firms from mid-size practices through the Am Law 100. Before you meet anyone, we've confirmed what they've done in a courtroom and how much of it. Insurance defense is a separate market with its own page.
- Commercial and civil litigation, labor and employment, construction disputes, and trial work.
- First-chair and second-chair experience confirmed, with deposition and motion volume.
- Litigators who already know the judges and the opposing bar in your market.
- A shortlist in days, and nothing owed until someone starts.
A litigation associate at a forty-lawyer firm does a different job.
At a mid-size or regional firm, a litigator is expected to run their own cases early. Third-year associates take depositions, argue discovery motions, and sit second chair. Hiring there turns on whether the person can carry a matter without a senior associate standing over them. At a large firm the same title means depth on a smaller number of bigger cases, far more written work, and a longer runway before first chair. Both produce good litigators. Moving between the two is where most litigation searches go wrong.
Be specific about which one you're running. A seventh-year from a national firm who has written excellent briefs and taken four depositions will struggle at a firm that hands them twenty active files in month one. The reverse happens as often: a regional litigator with real trial time finds a document review assignment insulting and quits by spring. We screen for the transition rather than the pedigree, and we tell candidates plainly what a day at your firm looks like before they interview.
Ask what they've carried, not what they've been staffed on.
The questions that separate litigation candidates are concrete. How many depositions have you taken, and in what kinds of cases? Have you argued a contested motion, and how often? Have you sat first chair or second chair at trial or in arbitration, and what happened? We ask these before you do, and we ask for numbers instead of adjectives. A candidate who can't quantify their own deposition practice usually hasn't had one.
Market familiarity is the screen firms underweight. A litigator who has appeared in front of your judges, knows the local rules, and has dealt with the firms on the other side of your cases starts producing months earlier than an equally capable litigator from two states away. That gap is widest in labor and employment and in construction, where the same counsel show up again and again. The seats below are the ones we fill, with the profile that usually fits each.
| Litigation seat | Who usually fills it |
|---|---|
| Junior litigation associate, one to three years | A first- or second-year from a firm that gave them real discovery work, or a judicial clerk coming off a term. Screen the writing and find out how close they've been to a deposition. |
| Mid-level litigation associate, four to six years | The band most firms want and fewest can find. Look for independent depositions, contested motions argued, and a caseload they've managed without a senior associate above them. |
| Senior litigation associate, seven to ten years | An attorney running matters end to end. Often moving because the partner track is blocked or the case sizes stopped growing three years ago. |
| Of counsel | A senior litigator who wants substantive work without origination pressure, or an attorney rebuilding a practice on a defined schedule after time away. |
| Trial attorney | First-chair verdicts on the resume. Frequently a former prosecutor or public defender, or a litigator from a firm that tries cases rather than settling them. |
| Litigation partner or practice group lead | A partner with a book, or a senior litigator hired to build the group and train the associates under it. Expect a longer search, run confidentially. |
Litigators move for pay first and for the work a close second.
Compensation ranks first when attorneys tell us why they're moving, and the work is right behind it: more trials, bigger cases, a case type they want to build a career around. After that comes management and mentorship, then billable targets and workload. Commercial litigation pay also flattens after about year five at regional firms unless the attorney moves to a larger platform, which is a large part of why senior associates in that practice start taking calls.
Timing follows the docket. Firms that wait until a trial team is underwater open a search in the same month everyone else does and pay for the crowding. If you know a case is going to trial in the fall, start looking in the summer. A shortlist reaches you within days, and most associate-level litigation searches close in about five to six weeks. Of counsel and partner searches take longer, since fewer candidates exist at that level and more of them have a client list to sort out first.
What kinds of litigators do you place?
Commercial and civil litigation, labor and employment, construction, and general trial work, from first-year associates through partners and practice group leads. We work with firms ranging from mid-size regional practices to the Am Law 100. Labor and employment is among the deepest practices in our network, with commercial and civil litigation behind it. If you need a specialty where our coverage is thin, we'll say so on the first call rather than send people who don't fit.
Do you handle insurance defense hiring too?
Yes, and it runs on a different market, so it has a page of its own. Defense firms and carrier panel firms hire in higher volume, at tighter pay bands, and they screen for carrier-guideline experience that commercial firms never ask about. If you're hiring into a defense practice, start there. If your firm does both kinds of work, tell us and we'll run them as separate searches.
How do you verify a litigator's trial experience?
We ask for specifics and we write them down: depositions taken in the past two years, contested motions argued, cases tried and in what role, arbitration and mediation work, and the courts where they appear. Candidates who round up get caught quickly, because every follow-up question is about facts. You get our notes on each person along with the resume.
How long does a litigation search take?
A shortlist usually reaches you within days, and most associate-level litigation searches close in about five to six weeks. Of counsel and partner searches take longer, since candidates at that level are fewer and there's often a book or a client list to work through. Your interview calendar sets most of the remaining pace. Two rounds inside two weeks keeps strong candidates in play.
What does it cost to hire a commercial litigator?
Base pay depends on years and market. At mid-size and regional firms, commercial litigation salaries climb through about year five and then flatten unless the attorney moves to a larger platform, where senior associates and of counsel can reach the mid-$200Ks and above. Our associate salary tables give ranges by band. We'll tell you where your number sits against what candidates in your market are being offered right now.
Why do litigators leave their firms?
Compensation comes first, with the work right behind it: more trials, bigger cases, a practice area they want to build. Then management and mentorship, then billable targets and workload. Commute and flexibility matter less than most firms assume. A role written around the work a litigator will get to do pulls better candidates than one written around a salary band alone.
Need a litigator on the docket?
Send us the practice, the level, and the market. We'll come back with a read on who's available and what your offer needs to look like to land them.