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

May 27, 2025 16 mins

Send us a text

The Trump Administration’s executive orders aimed at various law firms has resulted in the most significant issue that the country’s leading law firms have faced in recent memory.  Some pundits in the mainstream media have even predicted the demise of the firms that settled with the Administration. In this episode of Steve’s Rules, Steve and his McCormick Group colleague Dave Ris provide some insights on the impact of...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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...

Mark as Played
October 17, 2024 35 mins

Send us a text

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.

...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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...

Mark as Played
May 10, 2024 27 mins

Send us a text

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 ...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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 ...

Mark as Played
September 7, 2023 34 mins

Send us a text

“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...

Mark as Played
August 11, 2023 26 mins

Send us a text

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...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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...

Mark as Played

Send us a text

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...

Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.

    Stuff You Should Know

    If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.

    Crime Junkie

    Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.