Our Values
Knowledge
Unlike many of our competitors Hughes-Castell is a purely specialist legal recruiter. You might even call us a ‘one trick pony’.
Far from being defensive about this we feel that because for over 20 years we’ve ONLY ever placed lawyers wherever we are in the world, we’ve built up a truly unrivalled base of specific detailed knowledge of the market.
Both in law firms and in-house our specialist knowledge means that our consultants don’t just know the market, they help make it.
Personal
When you approach us, you can be assured that you will have one point of contact to guide you through the whole process. This will be an experienced consultant and often a former lawyer.
This is in contrast to number of our competitors who frequently have a plethora of different individuals from the same company calling you about their varying roles on the same day! Depending on your point of view this ‘multiple consultant approach’ can be flattering or annoying. However, we strongly feel that it encourages a short-term approach towards you as a candidate as the consultant calling you will generally only be interested in filling their particular role.
Our consultants have a long-term interest in forming a strong personal relationship with you. They can afford to help you to take a far more objective view to ensure that you make the best move, not simply the first move.
We don’t promise that you’ll only ever speak to one consultant (particularly if your interest lies in a number of different fields) but we do promise to keep our relationship as personal as possible.
Ethics
Hughes-Castell is a contingency recruiter which means we don’t headhunt from law firms. Not that there is anything wrong with headhunting when done under a specific mandate. The trouble is, in recent times many of our competitors have blurred the distinction between contingency and headhunting, often pretending to be given a mandate when they have none.
Besides leading to a murky situation where a law firm is unwittingly being ‘represented’ and simultaneously being poached from by the same ‘head-hunter’, this can have a serious impact on you as a candidate: law firms that become aware of this practice will generally not accept applications sent by the ‘headhunting’ firm.
This means that you as a candidate are denied the opportunity to make an educated choice based on the whole market rather than just a small section.
At Hughes-Castell our ethics are not confused and we act for the whole market.