Today we're pleased to announce our new ATL Career Partner: Lateral Link.

If you're a well-credentialed lawyer looking for a new career opportunity, they can provide you with the information and assistance that you need. Check out their website by clicking here.

A few brief highlights:

1. If you obtain a position through Lateral Link, they will pay you a placement bonus of $10,000. We're not aware of other legal search firms that employ this model.

2. The firm was founded by three Harvard Law School alums who previously worked at leading Biglaw shops. As recipients of daily, unsolicited "cold calls" -- yeah, you know how annoying those can be -- they started Lateral Link to create a more efficient, less irritating job search and placement process.

3. Lateral Link's web-based model does away with cold calls from headhunters and recruiters. Instead, Lateral Link provides attorneys with up-to-date information through emails or their website, designed to match each attorney’s online profile.

4. Did we mention the $10,000 bonus?

More about Lateral Link, after the jump.

Lateral Link [official website]

(Disclosure: In case it isn't amply clear from the rest of this post, a commercial relationship exists between Above the Law and Lateral Link. So don't say that we didn't adequately disclose -- like, say, these people. Thanks.)

Two prefatory comments:

1. The information appearing below has been furnished to us by Lateral Link.

2. As noted above, a commercial relationship exists between Above the Law and Lateral Link.

INFORMATION ABOUT LATERAL LINK

A) General Description:
1) Lateral Link is a premier legal search firm and “exclusive” (i.e., only available to small subset of attorneys) online network of top credentialed attorneys, which is managed by former practicing attorneys.
2) “Through its easy-to-use, innovative Web site, the firm delivers sophisticated Internet tools and a unique methodology designed to connect today’s top legal talent with leading legal employers across the nation.”
3) The founders consist of three Harvard Law School alumni who formerly practiced at some of the most prominent law firms in the country.
a) As recipients of daily, unsolicited “cold calls”, they founded Lateral Link to address their frustrations with the legal search industry by creating a more efficient, seamless job search and placement process.
b) Through Lateral Link’s web-based model, they've done away with cold-calls and, instead, provide attorneys with up-to-date information through emails or their website specifically matching each attorney’s online profile.
4) Because of the efficiencies built into Lateral Link's online system, the firm is able to pass along cost savings to its attorney candidates in the form of a $10,000 placement bonus for law firm placements.
5) Lateral Link combines the best features of legal job boards and recruiting firms, by providing a database of top legal jobs at all major law firms and many large companies, hedge funds and financial institutions as well as the personal services of experienced consultants who assist with management of the process and securing employment.

B) Unique features of Our Web-Based Model:
1) First Web 2.0 Legal Search Firm on the market
2) A $10,000 placement bonus for law firm associate placements.
3) Free up-to-date job postings, including in-house and law firm opportunities.
4) Customized, tailored searches to find positions that best suit your particular interests.
5) A personalized online account from which to find and apply for jobs.
6) Complete privacy and complete confidentiality throughout the entire process.

C) The Lateral Link Process:
1) First, an attorney candidate applies to the Lateral Link network.
a) Attorneys with top credentials (Top-20 law school, top firm experience) are admitted, other attorneys who do not initially qualify may be admitted based on professional experience.
2) Second, attorney candidates may search job database for up-to-date law firm and in-house opportunities, with initial employer information redacted for confidentiality purposes
3) If interested in finding out more about certain positions, an attorney candidate may request more information, and at that point, either a Lateral Link team member contacts the attorney to discuss specific opportunities or opportunities in general or our admin releases the employer information via our website and email alert tools.
4) Attorneys also create profiles, establishing which types of positions they would be interested in pursuing and then can opt-in for automatic email alerts about positions that match their preferences.
a) When new positions are added to the network, the positions automatically filter through every attorney in the network and if the position matches the attorney’s preferences and the attorney is qualified for the positions (years of experience, practice area, etc.) the attorney will receive an automatic alert about the positions.

Testimonial:

“I have been involved in two job changes since I took my first position at a top New York corporate firm out of law school. For my first move, which was to another top corporate firm in New York, I used a traditional headhunting company that contacted me through a cold call. When I discussed career options, I was presented only with a list of openings that the recruiting company had at the time, and there was little to nothing that could be done to actively find a position that fit what I really wanted. In short, I ended up settling somewhat by making a lateral transition."

"However, for my second move, I decided to investigate Lateral Link, from whom I received a letter in the mail containing an invitation to investigate the Lateral Link website. I filled in an online profile, specifying the type of position and locations that would be of most interest to me. I subsequently received many e-mails containing great job postings that fit the contours of my search. When I discovered one that seemed a perfect fit for me, I replied to Lateral Link. Only then did someone from Lateral Link contact me."

"The contact happened to be T.J. Duane. T.J. was very energetic and knowledgeable, being a former private practitioner here in New York himself. He helped usher me into interviews with an employer very efficiently and proactively, speaking strongly on my behalf after we had a very positive initial phone conversation to discuss my interests and background. In fact, T.J. also served as an advisor to me, suggesting different methods to approach my search and sharing his considerable knowledge of the industry in general to help inform my decision making process. At one point, the process with the employer seemed to come to a halt, but T.J. intervened actively on my behalf and suggested several options for continuing the process, advocating for me in a way that I would never have expected from any of the more traditional headhunters that call me all the time at my office. The efforts resulted in a successful continutation of the interviewing process and my obtaining an offer to go in-house at very large public company here in New York City."

"In short, I landed exactly the type of position I was seeking from day one, and I could not have done it without T.J.'s help. Lateral Link provided me with the perfect platform with which to conduct a search that was tailored perfectly to my needs, and in the end, I went 1-for-1 and made a new friend along the way. I highly recommend Lateral Link to any lawyer who wants to make the best move for him or herself and at the same time wants to cut out all of the standard hassle and even deceptions that sometimes go hand-in-hand with the process conducted through a more traditional search firm.”

– Anonymous, Cornell Law School ‘01