In this installment of the NALSC Member Profile, we’re spotlighting longtime member (and recent addition to our Board of Directors) Ross Weil. If you haven’t had the pleasure of engaging with Ross at our conferences and symposia over the years, then you may nonetheless have gotten acquainted with him as an entertaining guest on the inaugural episode of the NALSC podcast Recruiter Stories. Based in the New York City area, Ross is a Partner at Walker Associates where he focuses his practice on partner and group searches.
The son of a recruiter and a child psychologist, Ross’ journey to legal recruiting was a circuitous one as he initially began his career in 2002 with an accounting degree from American University. After spending his first four years after college with American Express and Deloitte working in Senior Accountant roles, Ross quickly grew tired of the deadlines and Excel spreadsheets and generally found the work boring and tedious. Not unlike some of the “recovering attorneys” in NALSC who found their legal careers boring and tedious (the author of this article included), Ross’ entree into the recruiting world was through the industry he knew best as he joined Walker Associates to help build out their accounting niche. It was here that Ross would meet Keith Fall, another young recruiter who would play a very consequential role throughout the course of Ross’ recruiting career.
“After all these years in the business, Ross still enjoys helping his candidates embark upon the interview process as well as the good feelings and resulting momentum that comes from initial positive feedback on both sides.”
While Ross quickly found success recruiting accounting partners, the nature of the annual accounting calendar resulted in a lack of search assignments during the first four months of every calendar year. Three years into his recruiting career, Ross took an assignment during this period for an in-house trusts and estates attorney – this opened his eyes to the legal profession, with its frequent lateral movement and lack of non-compete agreements. Moreover, his local market of New York City was the world-wide hub for legal talent. Within a year and after careful consideration, both Ross and Keith committed their recruiting practices solely to the placement of attorneys. Ross and Keith would later assume the helm at Walker Associates, having transformed it into the respected legal recruiting brand that it remains to this day.