Lateral Attorney Hire Application

Streamline Your Lateral Attorney Hiring Process

Bringing on experienced lateral attorneys is a critical growth strategy for law firms, but the hiring process involves unique complexities—from verifying bar admissions across multiple jurisdictions to conducting thorough conflicts checks and assessing client portability. This Lateral Attorney Hire Application template provides law firms with a comprehensive, professional form that captures all essential information in one organized workflow.

Built for Law Firm Recruiting Teams

This template is designed specifically for legal recruitment professionals, managing partners, and HR teams at law firms of all sizes—from boutique practices to mid-sized firms expanding their capabilities. The form addresses the specialized requirements of lateral attorney hiring, including:

• Complete bar admission verification across all jurisdictions where the candidate is licensed
• Detailed conflicts questionnaire to identify potential client, matter, and representation conflicts before extending an offer
• Client portability assessment to evaluate the realistic business development potential the candidate brings
• Practice area specialization matrix that captures experience depth, matter types, and industry focus

Why Paperform for Legal Recruiting?

Traditional hiring forms fall short when dealing with the complexity of lateral attorney recruitment. Paperform's flexible form builder lets you create a professional, on-brand application that reflects your firm's standards while capturing all the detailed information you need for due diligence.

The form includes conditional logic that adapts based on candidate responses—showing additional conflicts questions based on practice areas, or requesting more details about significant client relationships. With calculation fields and matrix questions, you can quickly assess candidate fit across multiple practice areas and experience levels.

Streamline Post-Submission Workflows with Stepper

Once a candidate submits their application, Stepper (stepper.io) can automate your entire lateral hiring workflow. Set up multi-step processes that route applications to the appropriate practice group leaders, trigger conflicts database checks, schedule interview rounds, and keep hiring committees updated—all without manual email chains or spreadsheet tracking.

You can also connect submissions to your ATS, send data to your CRM for relationship management, or automatically generate offer letters and onboarding checklists when a candidate is approved.

Professional, Compliant, and Secure

With SOC 2 Type II compliance and robust data security, Paperform ensures that sensitive candidate information—including bar numbers, client lists, and personal details—remains protected throughout the hiring process. Role-based permissions mean you can control who sees what information as applications move through your review stages.

Whether you're a solo practitioner looking to bring on your first associate, a growing regional firm building out practice areas, or an established firm competing for top talent, this template gives you a professional foundation to evaluate lateral candidates thoroughly and efficiently.