Laurence Simons Search

Laurence Simons Search is a specialist legal, compliance and legal operations search business with offices in London, Frankfurt, Geneva, Amsterdam, Dubai and Sao Paulo. A management buy-out in 2018 from EMK allowed the company to become a more agile and search-led business. This means it can partner more effectively with its  clients to acquire the best talent at the senior end of the in-house and private practice market.

  • Like any other outstanding, specialist search business, the firm deals with a sector that requires it to understand not only what it means to be ‘an exceptional lawyer’ but also how that translates into a client’s requirements.
  • Their customer-facing team – both client and candidate – are mostly former lawyers, and many of the support team have law degrees. This creates credibility with hiring managers and helps to inspire confidence.
  • The business has client intelligence reports done by their support team ahead of any pitch or proposal meeting, to allow them to lead with business conversations, with the clients looking at what their KPIs or measures of success will be and how any hire would add to that.
  • Most of LSS’s specialised consultants and researchers are also qualified Lumina Spark practitioners; this next generation of psychometric testing aids the selection process by providing additional, in-depth screening of candidates.
  • Diversity and inclusion are an integral value of Laurence Simons Search. CEO Clare Beresford is a member of the 30% club, and a board member of Thomson Reuter’s Transforming Women’s Leadership in Law (TWLIL). LSS  has internal training and discussions regularly on D&I topics, and carries out due diligence checks on candidates and clients and where relevant provide support on gender equality in the workplace.

Judges’ comments: “An example of good practice, with a few ‘needle in a haystack briefs’ that the business did well to fill. Particularly effective in their international search, pushing through difficult conditions to engage people to relocate.”

Also: It was difficult category to judge as the entries were demonstrating good practice. Reassured to see continued best practice in challenging conditions.