As Baker Botts’ first partner in charge - recruiting, Dallas trial lawyer Van Beckwith (pictured) says his immediate task is to “start thinking about what we’re going to do summer classwise for 2013.” The firm will soon be conducting on-campus interviews to recruit summer associates who will become the pool of candidates the firm will consider for permanent associate jobs for 2014 and 2015, he says.
Beckwith says his long-term responsibility in the role includes supporting the efforts of the firm’s partners in charge and global department chairs to recruit lateral partners and practice groups. Beckwith has been the hiring partner for the firm’s Dallas office for the past five years and says this is the first time the Houston-based firm has had one partner looking at recruiting and hiring from a firmwide perspective.
“As we continue to see opportunities in the lateral market for partners and partner groups and see our business evolving and changing, we thought it was a good time to have someone thinking globally about the strategy behind lateral and law school recruiting opportunities,” he says.
In addition to the new responsibility, Beckwith says he plans to maintain his practice. “I just got out of trial, and I’ve got several things on my docket,” he says. “It’s [trial work] absolutely what I want to do. It’s my highest and best use.”
— Jeanne Graham
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