Attorney Recruiting and Professional Development Director

Attorney Recruiting and Professional Development Director

Location: Raleigh, NC (Hybrid)
Reports to: Chief Strategy Officer
FLSA Status: Exempt
Department: Talent
Employment Status: Full Time
Supervisory Responsibilities: No

ABOUT CRANFILL SUMNER LLP

Cranfill Sumner LLP is a North Carolina-based law firm committed to operational excellence, growth, and a cohesive, collaborative culture. At Cranfill Sumner, our values—teamwork, reputation, and client services—guide how we recruit, develop, and support legal talent.

This individual plays a central role in advancing these values by ensuring the firm attracts, integrates, and grows high-performing attorneys aligned with strategic priorities.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Director is a strategic, hands-on talent leader responsible for designing and executing the firm’s attorney recruiting, onboarding, and development programs. This role operates independently in a lean environment, balancing long-term planning with day-to-day execution to support practice growth, attorney engagement, and organizational consistency.

This individual partners closely with firm leadership, attorney section leaders, and functional staff directors to anticipate talent needs, build structured processes, and deliver a meaningful attorney experience from first touch through ongoing development. The Senior Manager plays a critical role in aligning talent initiatives with firm strategy, partnering with leadership to understand evolving priorities, and translating those priorities into actionable recruiting and development programs that strengthen attorney performance, engagement, and long-term growth.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Strategic Talent Alignment

• Ensure all recruiting and development efforts support the firm’s strategy, culture, and long-term priorities.
• Partner with the Chief Strategy Officer, attorney section leaders, and staff directors to anticipate attorney staffing needs across offices and practices.
• Develop scalable tools, workflows, and reporting that strengthen consistency as the firm grows.
• Identify trends in the legal talent market and recommend proactive adjustments to strategy, recruiting channels, or development programming.

Attorney Recruiting (Lateral & Entry Level)

• Lead full-cycle attorney recruiting, including intake, sourcing, screening, scheduling, interviews, debriefs, offer development, and closing.
• Build and maintain equitable hiring processes—including rubrics, evaluation frameworks, interview training, and communication standards.
• Strengthen the recruiting pipeline through relationships with agencies, law schools, career services offices, and alumni and professional networks.
• Oversee all aspects of On-Campus Interviewing (OCI), including logistics, attorney engagement, interview planning, and follow-up.
• Oversee all aspects of the Summer Associate Program, including orientation, work allocation, feedback processes, events, and conversion strategy.
• Develop employer-brand aligned materials and messaging that reflect the firm’s values and attorney experience.
• Maintain recruiting metrics related to time-to-fill, sourcing effectiveness, and candidate experience.

Onboarding & Integration

• Design and deliver structured onboarding and integration processes for all newly hired attorneys.
• Partner with practice and section leaders on work allocation visibility, integration milestones, and first-year development experiences.
• Track early attorney engagement and performance trends; surface opportunities for coaching, support, or early intervention.
• Lead standardization of onboarding resources, checklists, and integration touchpoints for attorneys.

Professional Development (Excluding CLE)

• Build and maintain an annual attorney development curriculum focused on core legal skills, business development, professional growth including communications, leadership, and business etiquette, and client-service excellence.
• Ensure professional development aligns with practice group needs, attorney competencies, and firm strategy.
• Strengthen the firm’s Business Development (BD) program by:
  • Identifying complementary BD skill-building opportunities.
  • Coordinating with BD program leaders to integrate training modules, speakers, or practice-specific content.
  • Reinforcing BD expectations during onboarding and development touchpoints.
• Support feedback and evaluation processes by organizing cycles, communicating expectations, and helping convert insights into development plans.
• Maintain a firmwide library of professional development materials, guides, templates, and resources.

Talent Operations, Systems & Reporting

• Implement and manage ATS and PD systems; develop dashboards and reports to drive informed decision-making.
• Build and maintain SOPs, workflows, and templates that bring clarity and scalability to all attorney talent processes.
• Collaborate cross-functionally with internal operations departments (e.g., HR, Finance, Operations, IT) and attorney section and practice groups to support operational alignment and shared initiatives.
• Serve as a subject matter expert on attorney hiring, professional development, and market standards.

Vendor & Budget Management

• Manage external vendors, subscriptions, and service providers supporting recruiting and professional development.
• Oversee the talent budget, ensuring responsible, strategic use of firm resources.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 7-10 years of attorney recruiting, legal talent management, or professional services recruiting experience.
• Demonstrated success leading lateral hiring, entry-level hiring, OCI, and Summer Associate Programs.
• Strong understanding of attorney development needs across career stages.
• Proven ability to build structured processes and operate independently.
• Excellent communication, relationship-building, and project-management skills.
• Bachelor’s degree required; JD or advanced degree preferred.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365, ATS platforms, and talent-related technologies.

SUCCESS METRICS

• Reduced time-to-fill and increased offer acceptance rates.
• Reduced attrition for new associates across a five-year trend.
• Strong Summer Associate Program engagement and conversion.
• Improved first-year integration, engagement, and retention.
• Positive satisfaction indicators from candidates, hiring partners, and new attorneys.
• Clear, accessible PD programming with visible development outcomes across cohorts.
• Reliable reporting, documentation, and process consistency.
• Strong alignment between talent operations and firm strategy.

WORKING STYLE & VALUES

• Operates with integrity, curiosity, and a proactive builder’s mindset.
• Balances strategic thinking with calm, precise execution.
• Works independently with confidence and clarity, navigating competing priorities with sound judgment and reliable follow-through.
• Demonstrates operational excellence by creating structure, improving processes, and elevating the consistency and quality of talent operations across the firm.
• Builds strong, trust-based relationships across levels and offices.
• Contributes positively to firm culture through clear communication, thoughtful collaboration, and grounded, consistent execution.
• Demonstrates commitment to continuous improvement and firmwide alignment.