As Dan Clark reported for Corporate Counsel, legal recruiters are engaged to fill a broad range of in-house roles. I'm going to expand on that here, and offer my thoughts on the best practices your law department should consider this hiring season.

March through June is the most active window for recruiting at the professional level generally across disciplines. Bonuses for 2018 have been paid, budget for 2019 and headcount numbers are mostly in place, and candidates with children can reasonably target end of the school year for moves that involve relocation.

If you are a general counsel with a position to fill in your department, now is the best time to get a search underway. At larger companies with internal recruiters, the first and most important battle to fight is over ownership of the opening. If a strong HR department insists on self-sourcing to avoid external recruiting cost, then you must play an active role. Review resumes early, help your internal recruiter with recommendations and network actively among your contacts for potential winners as well.

Timing matters. Whether you are partnering with an internal recruiter or a legal search firm, calendar a weekly update call or email. Frankly, a good recruiter knows within two weeks if you will have a quality selection, or if there is a challenge that needs to be addressed. Make sure your recruiter is discussing critical issues like compensation very early with candidates, as you want to avoid the nightmare scenario of a complete disconnect on money when you get to the offer stage. Understand what is motivating the candidate's interest in order to avoid tire kickers and to increase the likelihood of a successful match post-hire.

A healthy search gets off to a fast start.  Intangibles like momentum and enthusiasm matter, because interviewing is taxing, especially on the person to whom the new hire will report. The hiring manager is ultimately the most important recruiter, and he or she projects the most energy during the first handful of interviews. On searches that drag on, or need to re-start from scratch, interviewers tend to project their frustration onto candidates, and the best candidates are more inclined to question why your department has struggled to fill the position.

It's hiring season. Seize the best time of the year to fill whatever talent needs your law department may have.

Mike Evers recruits attorneys for corporate legal departments throughout the United States. Visit www.everslegal.com. His firm also offers experienced in-house counsel to companies on an adjunct basis.