Steve's Rules with legendary executive recruiter Steve Nelson from the McCormick Group

Steve's Rules with legendary executive recruiter Steve Nelson from the McCormick Group

Steve has been an executive recruiter for nearly three decades and without naming names, he is ready to spill the tea on best practices (and maybe a few not so best practices) by firms and candidates he has seen during his career placing some of law's most driven and successful professionals into highly profitable and growing enterprises across the legal sector. Steve is a former lawyer and journalist and is a Fellow of the College of Law Practice Management and a proud son of Wilkes-Barre PA. Master of Ceremonies for Steve's Rules is Murray Coffey Principal of M Coffey mcoffey.net

Episodes

February 6, 2025 24 mins

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While the current environment is chaotic, savvy government attorneys, particularly those with administrative law experience, may find this the perfect time to make a lateral move into law firm practice. In this episode of Steve’s Rules, we take a deep dive into the legal market implications of the new Trump administration—particularly the regulatory shifts, enforcement priorities, and job market changes that will impa...

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Get ready to uncover the dynamic shifts in the legal landscape with our esteemed guest, Patrick Fuller, Chief Strategist for American Lawyer Media. First, we discussed the ripple effects of recent elections on antitrust, international trade, and white-collar investigations, and even in mergers and acquisitions.  Then Patrick provides a deep dive into the data that is being produced by ALM regarding law firm profitabil...

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October 17, 2024 35 mins

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In this episode of Steve's Rules, podcast partners Murray Coffey founder and principal of M Coffey and executive recruiter Steve Nelson from The McCormick Group discuss some of Steve's market updates and then go deep on best practices in legal recruiting agreements..  This episode should be of special interest to those on the law firm side responsible for engaging executive recruiters for lateral placements.

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Join us on this episode of Steve’s Rules, where Steve Nelson, Executive Principal at McCormick Group, dives into the evolving roles within law firms, particularly focusing on the rise of professional staff in key leadership positions. We explore the recent trend of hiring COOs from non-traditional backgrounds, such as legal operations, and what this means for the future of law firm management. Whether you're a la...

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In this episode, Murray Coffey and Steve Nelson delve into the intricacies of legal recruiting, offering a blend of practical advice and personal anecdotes. They discuss the best ways to manage recruiter inquiries, key considerations for those contemplating a career move, and the importance of building solid relationships with reputable recruiters. Additionally, they cover current market trends and emphasize the signi...

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May 10, 2024 27 mins

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Overview:

This episode provides a deep dive into the essentials of business planning for attorneys considering lateral moves. Steve Nelson leverages his extensive experience in legal recruitment to guide listeners on crafting high impact business plans that align with market trends and firm expectations. This episode may be our most practical and actionable let. We even have Steve’s business plan templates in our show ...

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The decision to pursue other opportunities is multilayered with no one consideration being more important than the other.  Yet compensation often is a driver. But most professionals including lateral partners at law firms don't do a deep enough dive on a target firm's compensation structure.  Each firm approaches compensation differently. Which means it is incumbent on the candidate to know what is important...

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Leveraging government service into a lucrative career in government relations can be done. But, it can be tricky to turn your knowledge and connections into a career path. This podcast will be especially informative for those folks currently in Capitol Hill contemplating your next move. We start out the second season of the acclaimed Steve's Rules podcast series with a fast paced discussion featuring McCormick gr...

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Well, here it is the 2023 season finale of Steve's Rules. In this very special episode we are joined by Steve's colleagues Saadia Sultan and  Rob Verga who share insights from the 2023 lateral recruiting in market and their predictions for 2024.  We end our podcast with some truly hard won observations about how firms and candidate's can impede their own efforts and some best practices as well.  As alwa...

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In this episode Steve provides some intel on the hottest lateral partner market (hint they call this city the Third Coast, and its the place Murray first drew breath.) Then we discuss contingency and retained search and relative merits of each approach based on your firm's profile and needs. Finally we hear a hunk from Steve's standup show. We packed a lot into 30 minutes. If you have any thoughts or ideas f...

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Law firms need to hire business professionals as skilled and capable as the lawyers in their respective areas of focus. And yet, many firms still try to hire professional staff by relying on self-sourcing, agencies, or contingency recruiters. Steve explains why these results are often mixed at best. And what firms need to do to make sure they are recruiting the very best talent. Steve also shares his thoughts on some ...

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September 7, 2023 34 mins

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“What does the book look like?” is generally one of the first questions asked by a firm when evaluating a potential lateral partner candidate. But is this really the best way to evaluate a candidate? Firms and candidates spend considerable time completing and evaluating detailed lateral partner questioners. Yet, the portable business the lateral can (hopefully) deliver is often the overriding factor in considering whe...

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August 11, 2023 26 mins

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This episode is a must listen for anyone involved in thelateral recruiting process, especially those in decision making roles. Steve’s Rules dives into the Lateral Partner Questionnaire (LPQ) which has become a cornerstone element of the recruiting process. As lateral recruiting has continued to gain prominence as an essential element of many firm’s growth objectives the need to accurately evaluate a potential partner...

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For the second episode of Steve’s Rules, we dig into how a firm can make sure it is doing everything it can to attract the best and most appropriate lateral candidates. Hint: talk to your marketing department. This is a key episode for anyone involved in the day-to-day lateral recruiting efforts including Managing Partners, Directors of Legal Recruiting, and practice group heads. Steve also tells you what not to put i...

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In this episode Steve Nelson walks the listener through the key considerations for both firms and candidates as they consider the intricacies of recruiting high level government officials from this or any presidential administration. For reasons Steve lays out in detail, now is the right time for firms looking to hire federal officials to jump into the mix. So to, for candidates, now is time to make the move if Andare...

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