Lucas Group Names Managing Director of Legal Practice
November 15, 2017 – Executive search firm Lucas Group has strengthened its Chicago-based legal practice with the addition of Carolyn Aberman as its new managing partner for legal recruitment.
“With two decades of combined experience as a practicing lawyer and successful legal recruiter, Carolyn Aberman has a deep understanding of Chicago’s legal marketplace,” said Steven Lynch, GM legal at Lucas Group. “Aberman’s track record proves she will play an integral role in continuing to establish Lucas Group as the premier recruiting firm for attorneys in the greater Chicago region.”
Ms. Aberman practiced law for more than a decade in the greater Chicago area before transitioning to legal recruitment in 2011. Before joining Lucas Group, she served as legal recruiting director at the Partners Group (formerly known as Plante Moran Staffing), where she counseled and advised mid- to senior-level attorneys about conducting productive job searches, including assistance with resume drafting, business plan development and social media networking.
Ms. Aberman is also the former managing director of McCormack Schreiber Legal Search. Before entering executive search, she served as assistant general counsel at the Brunswick Corp. She also practiced for seven years in the corporate restructuring department of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP.
“Changing firms or moving in-house is not a career decision to be taken lightly,” said Ms. Aberman. “It is a careful, intentional process built on trust. I take pride in conducting searches with the utmost discretion and careful adherence to the current legal marketplace and internal firm dynamics.”
Lucas Group works with mid-tier to Fortune 500 clients in consumer products, energy (oil, gas, chemicals, and alternatives), aerospace & defense, call center and customer services, global supply chain management, industrial products, food & beverage, and biotech, pharmaceutical, and medical device services. The firm’s practice groups includes accounting & finance, human resources, IT, manufacturing, legal, sales & marketing and military transition. It has more than 300 affiliate recruiters in offices throughout the U.S.
Legal Recruiting On the Rise
Legal recruiting generally has been booming this year. According to Hunt Scanlon Media, lawyers employed by government agencies in particular have been on the move as a result of changes in government administrations. Employment for lawyers is projected to grow 10 percent through 2022. Demand for legal work is expected to be robust as individuals, businesses and all levels of government require legal services in the U.S. and internationally as global economies expand.
To meet this demand, a number of search firms that specialize in the legal sector have grown their staffs since the start of the year. Here’s a sampling from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:
Special Counsel, a full-service provider of legal staffing and eDiscovery solutions, announced that its executive search division, Parker + Lynch Legal, has named Lisa Goldstein as managing director of retained search. She focuses on helping corporate legal departments improve business processes, functionality and diversity by filling key positions.
Executive search firm Mlegal Group expanded with the additions of Natasha Innocenti, Carter W. Brown, Suzanne Kane and Karina Robles in the San Francisco Bay Area. Ms. Innocenti has over 20 years of experience in placing law firm partners across most practice areas and has helped open California offices for nine AmLaw 100 and 200 law firms.
Debbie Tang has joined New York-based Bridge Partners, LLC as a partner in its Washington, D.C. office. She recruits diverse senior executives across all functions, including general counsels, chief legal officers and regulatory leaders, in a wide variety of industries. Ms. Tang previously worked for Major, Lindsey & Africa, where she spent 6-plus years as managing director, in-house practice group.
Major, Lindsey & Africa (MLA) recently expanded with the addition of George J. Hittner in its Houston office as a managing director in the firm’s partner practice group. Mr. Hittner previously spent seven years as general counsel, corporate secretary and SVP for government relations at American Traffic Solutions.
MLA also just opened a new office in Singapore and added Ashish Raivadera to the partner practice group as head of private practice for South Asia. He also leads operations in Singapore. In recent years, while working at ATR Associates Pte. Ltd., Mr. Raivadera focused on partner and counsel placements with international law firms in Singapore and Southeast Asia.
Young Mayden has opened a new office in Dallas which is led by attorney and legal recruiter Amber Shockey. Ms. Shockey has a strong background in that area, particularly in the Texas energy sector. Since early 2015, she has served as co-leader of Crosby Shockey Consult + Search, LLC. She is also founding principal of Momentum Legal Search LLC.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Will Schatz, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
