Holland & Hart on a Hiring Spree

11/18/13

Holland & Hart on a Hiring Spree


To anyone following law firm recruitment, it would be immediately apparent that Holland & Hart has been making lateral hires at an accelerated pace after Elizabeth Sharrer got elected as Chair of the firm's management committee on October 21. Since then, Holland & Hart's releases have started looking like a recruitment bulletin with high-profile attorneys being recruited at a pace faster than ever.

Even while accepting that lateral recruitment is an ongoing activity at large law firms - patterns do indicate strategy. Recent hiring at Holland & Hart suggests that the firm is pushing for some major consolidation and expansion with Sharrer taking the Chair.

For instance, within one day of Sharrer being elected, on October 22, well-known Litigator John Anderson joined the firm's Government Investigations and White Collar Defense Practice. Anderson is a former Assistant US Attorney.

On October 24, Jamie Iguchi, former Senior Law Clerk to Honorable Blair Jones of the Montana 22nd Judicial District joined the firm.

On October 30, Quincy Stott joined the firm's Environment, Energy and Natural Resource Practice.

On November 5, Melissa Starry joined the firm's Business, Corporate and Finance and Healthcare practices. Prior to joining Holland & Hart she proved her mettle at Pillsbury.

On November 8, Tyson Wilde joined the firm's Intellectual Property practice.

On November 13, Gian Brown joined the Business, Corporate and Finance practices of the firm. Brown has nearly 20 years of experience in counseling clients on business and transactional matters.

On November 15, Holland & Hart recruited Commercial Litigator Kevin McAdam. Before joining the law firm, McAdam was a Law Clerk for the Honorable Christine M. Arguello on the US District Court for the District of Colorado. He had also served as a Clerk for the Honorable John R. Webb on the Colorado Court of Appeals.

This might seem quite ordinary for law firms, but it's not. When you consider the state of the legal industry, highest numbers of unemployed law graduates, big law firms collapsing or laying off attorneys, the employment situation at law firms is bleaker than ever.

Even under such circumstances, some law firms like Holland & Hart keep thriving and growing. And what is important in the recruitment pattern of Holland & Hart is that it is immediately evident the firm is not hiring rainmakers, but solid working attorneys. And that means, despite all the talk of industry-wide decline in demand for legal services from law firms, some firms continue to have more work than they can handle, and are continuously looking for the right work support.

Such success can hardly be achieved without a consistent firm culture. A glimpse of that culture can be seen from the fact that Sharrer is the second woman Chair of the law firm, in an industry where women find it difficult to make partners.