About ESP

With a combined 50 plus years in the legal industry, both working with firms and search/recruitment firms , our partners understand law firms and lawyers. Our partners have worked at both large and boutique law firms and recruitment companies, managing both law firm offices and recruitment practice group teams.

Having been both clients and candidates working with recruitment companies themselves, our partners understand some of the frustrations that can sometimes be part of the experience. 

Law firm clients

We are different to many search firms, we don’t take retainer money upfront when undertaking a search assignment. We believe in partnering with our clients and don’t expect to be paid until we achieve a result.

Having worked with the CEO’s, managing partners, practice group leaders and HR managers of law firms in both Australia and the United States, we understand law firms and the dynamic and disruptive times in which they operate. In reaching out to Australian law firm leaders on behalf of international firms looking for merger partners, we understand the difficulties faced when plotting a firms strategic direction. As one client said, “You can’t keep the firms business plan in the top draw for too long these days”.

Whether you are a global firm or a small specialist practice, operate a lock-step, financially integrated or Swiss verein partnership model, we understand your business and its drivers. We tailor our service offering to your needs and situation, from practice group search down to that elusive but essential junior specialist. 

While we enjoy working on retained strategic searches, we gain equal satisfaction from bringing (with their approval) candidates to our clients for consideration based upon our firm intelligence. In many cases, we have stayed in regular contact with prospective partners for many years until they are ready to make a move.

Candidates

Without taking away from our commitment to our law firm clients in any way, our business is in many ways driven by prospective candidate relationships. Whether we are approaching you for the first time about an opportunity or have provided you with a market overview, remuneration or other advice over the years, confidentiality and discretion are always our first priority. 

As our name indicates, “equity” is always a career pinnacle we aim to assist with for those of our candidates aiming for elevation. Whether you are a salaried partner looking for a firm that isn’t a “closed shop”, a special counsel in search of a group that is not “top-heavy” or a senior associate in need of a partner-mentor, we know the market and can assist in identifying the right platform for you. 

We are not a volume junior recruitment firm, refreshing generic job advertisements on websites on a daily basis. While we spend the majority of our time working with senior lawyers, we do enjoy counseling and working with exceptional junior lawyers looking to make a strategic move. 

We know how busy law firm life is. Our aim is always to save you time in getting the right advice first time and to guide you through the career change process as seemlessly as possible and with utmost discretion at all times.