Texas Lawyer Recruiting & Attorney Search : Courtney Sapire : Texas Lawyer Jobs

After months of filling multiple roles in your legal department, you’ve finally received approval for a new attorney hire. The first step is creating the job description. Often, we become so familiar with our own organization that we fail to include the “sizzle factor” when advertising legal job openings and consequently, miss out on a great marketing opportunity.

Here are 6 tips to make your job description stand out:

1. Brief Summary. Provide a one-sentence opener with simple information about the company and the position. For example: “Fortune 500 energy company based in Houston seeks a senior commercial transactions counsel to support the pipeline division.”
2. Ideal Experience. List the type of experience that will lead to success in this position. Providing this information sometimes causes candidates to self-screen (depending on where you post the job), and might save you from an avalanche of unqualified résumés.
3. Position Details. What is the role? To whom does it report? If you have a range with an absolute maximum, list it. If you think you might want to consider candidates with on-point experience but who might have higher compensation expectations, leave the range open or negotiable, depending on experience.
4. Opportunity. What’s great about this job? What will this employee get to learn and accomplish? How will it advance a career?
5. Describe the company. Along with the basics, such as company size (in revenues and number of employees), industry and location, be sure to include information about the company vision for the short and long term, and what it’s like to work there.
6. Benefits. Provide detailed information about your benefits offering. Many descriptions merely tack on a line at the end that says, “… and excellent benefits.” Remember – this component is increasingly important to Generations X, Y and beyond. Most law firms don’t offer a 401(k) with a matching contribution to non-partners, and very few companies these days offer defined benefit plans.

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You’ve been through the pile of resumes for the last time and have finally selected your top five attorney candidates to interview. How will you elicit the information you need during that initial meeting?

Here’s a list of good questions to ask (of course, after the small talk):

• What interests you about this company? About this position?
• If you could design the perfect job for yourself, what would you do? Why?
• As a professional, how would others describe you? How would your boss describe you?
• What can you do for our company that no one else can?
• How do you structure your time?
• What do you like about your current job?
• What are your three biggest accomplishments in your current job? In your career?
• Describe a work situation in which you had to delegate responsibility. How did it turn out?
• Describe a time when you took initiative with respect to a particular project at work.
• What is the best constructive criticism you’ve ever received? Why?
• Tell me about a time when you made what you consider a mistake or bad decision on the job. How did you handle it?
• Tell me about a time when you set specific work goals for yourself. How did things turn out?
• How do you typically handle stress on the job? Describe an example.
• Can you describe a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty for a client?
• Imagine it’s six months after you started this job. On what criteria will you rely to determine you’ve made the right choice?

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Interviews are opportunities to sell yourself and to demonstrate what’s not on your résumé. Although you don’t know what the interviewer will ask you, you can take steps to maximize your chances of getting the job.

Here’s a list of 7 tips for making a good impression:

1. Do your homework. Prepare ahead by researching as much as you can about the company and its products or services.
2. Be prepared for chit-chat. Initiating conversation is a sign of good interpersonal skills.
3. Recall your past experience. Make a list prior to the interview of examples of your achievements and challenges you overcame in your career.
4. Dress appropriately. First impressions are critical, and as Mom says, “it’s always better to be overdressed than underdressed.”
5. Exhibit basic social skills. Look people in the eye when you’re having a conversation and give a firm handshake. 
6. Anticipate common questions and prepare for them. Most interviewers will ask you to talk about your background, discuss what expertise you bring to the table, and why this company appeals to you.
7. Avoid the worst interview answer.  Despite it being a perfectly valid reason for seeking an in-house position, “I want better work-life balance,” is never something prospective employers want to hear. 

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Large Texas energy company is looking for attorneys with experience natural gas regulations and midstream transactions. The company has several Texas offices and the location of the position is open for discussion.  The role involves regulatory work and handling transactions relating to gas gathering, processing, transportation and storage.  

This is a business growth position resulting from the company's expansion of operations. It is an entrepreneurial, fast-paced, deal-driven environment and offers a great career platform with significant upside opportunity and a chance to work closely with the executive leadership team. Ideal experience includes natural gas regulations, midstream transactions, and familiarity with the pipeline industry.   

For more information, please contact Courtney Sapire.

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New England company has an opening in its legal department for a 2-5 year FERC Regulatory Counsel. The company offers significant internal opportunities and a collegial environment in which to practice. The company offers a competitive compensation package and will relocate.

Responsibilities include:

• Managing cases and representing the company before administrative bodies.
• Maintaining organizational compliance with relevant laws and regulations.
• Interfacing with senior management, Board of Directors and external stakeholders.
• Tracking the development and enactment of relevant legislation and • Participating in company strategy and policy development.

Desirable experience includes:

• Minimum 2 years experience with a major portion of that experience in a law firm.
• Strong federal and state energy regulatory / administrative litigation experience.
• Excellent writing and oral communication skills.
• Familiarity with the structure and operation of the utility industry.
• Experience with state siting matters, environmental permitting and regulatory law is a plus.

For more information, contact Courtney Sapire.

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Leading financial institution is looking for a Compliance Officer for its Salt Lake City division. This is a career-building opportunity to work with top financial talent in a role that is rapidly becoming one of the most critical and valued corporate positions, and is one that involves working closely with executive management and the Board of Directors. The company offers a lucrative compensation and benefits package, and will relocate for the right candidate.

Responsibilities include:

- Working with business and product areas to ensure that regulatory requirements are met for existing and proposed bank products, and determining the impact of proposed products on the compliance function.

- Working with bank operations to identify ways in which regulatory requirements can be monitored.

- Developing and implementing compliance testing procedures.

- Preparing and presenting reports of results of compliance testing to executive management, the Audit Committee and the Board of Directors.

- Creating training modules and working with business units to ensure appropriate regulatory training is conducted.

- Serving as the escalation point for customer complaints or inquiries received by the bank.

- Coordinating annual regulatory exams and MCD audits, and serving as a liaison between regulators, auditors and business units during reviews.

For more information, contact Courtney Sapire.

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Federal and state laws prohibit asking certain questions during an interview. The basic rule of thumb for playing it safe when conducting an interview is to keep it job-related. 

Here’s a list of topics to avoid:

• Age or date of birth
• Sex, race, creed, color, religion or national origin
• Disabilities of any kind
• Date and type of military discharge; military service
• Marital status
• Maiden name (for females)
• Citizenship (however, “do you have the legal right to work in the U.S.” is acceptable)
• Whether a person has children and what childcare arrangements have been made
• Psychological treatment history
• Arrest record
• Number of sick days last year
• Worker’s compensation filings or injuries on the job
• Retirement plans
• Residence ownership
• Pregnancy status
• Credit history
• Birthplace of parents or spouse

For more information, you can consult the EEOC: http://www.eeoc.gov/abouteeo/overview_practices.html .

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Letting an employee go is one of the most difficult tasks to navigate as a manager. And yet, talent management, cutting costs, and redundancy elimination following a merger may all be eventual business necessities.

Here are 8 tips to make it as painless as possible:

1. CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY. Make sure you understand the law and get coaching on traps to avoid.

2. Read the employee handbook. It contains all your company’s policies and procedures.

3. No surprises: make sure you’ve documented performance issues in the file.

4. If this is a performance issue, this is your opportunity to put the employee on notice and give her time to correct the problem.

5. If you plan to offer a severance package, a fair trade is a release of liability.

6. Keep it short and resist the urge to “sugar coat” the news.

7. Being “layoff-friendly” and helping the employee find a new job is a good idea, if possible.

8. Respect the privacy of the departing employee, but don’t underestimate the importance of communicating news to existing employees when appropriate.

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1. In what capacity did you work with Jane Doe?
2. How would you describe her overall performance?
3. What would you say are her strengths?
4. What do you feel would be areas for development?
5. How did she get along with co-workers?
6. How capable is she of working independently?
7. Tell me about written (or verbal) communications – did her work require much revision?
8. If you could, would you re-hire her? Why or why not?
9. [Describe the job]. Do you believe she would be effective in this role? Why?

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