Legal Recruitment
Hiring your legal team is one of the most important business decisions you will make. Our mission, as legal recruiters and headhunters, is to help you find the right “fit”: hire the lawyers that will contribute to your competitive advantage and drive results.
We actively headhunt lawyers for a sophisticated clientele that includes top law firms, at Associate and Partner levels, as well as for in-house Legal Counsel, Vice-President or General Counsel positions, for full-time or contract needs. Our years of experience headhunting top legal talent ensure that we quickly understand your needs, and can reach out to our extensive network in the legal community to recruit as efficiently as possible.
Founded in 1994, SHORE & Associates is a Montreal-based retained and exclusive legal recruitment firm recognized for delivering results. In 2023, SHORE & Associates joined AURAY, an integrated services firm specialized in local and international recruitment and member of Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton.
Exclusive retained search
A rigorous and thorough selection process; targeted headhunting; and market-focused, strategic recruitment advice. We market you as an employer and make the pitch for why candidates of choice should pursue their careers with your organization.
Success-based search
Tell us about your business objectives and recruitment needs and let us use our network to help you find the right candidate.
Lawyers! Marketing you for a career move to a different firm
Our existing relationships with the top national and regional firms provide the opportunity to find you a new platform if you are a Partner (or group of Partners) or Associate more actively looking for a change. We can help guide you and evaluate your “fit” on a new platform, on a very personalized basis and with utmost confidentiality and discretion.
We recruit for firms and in-house opportunities including General Counsel, Vice-President, Corporate Secretary and Legal Counsel roles.
Pourquoi choisir Shore & Associés pour vos besoins en recrutement juridique?
- Access to the right resources/ specialized database of lawyers
- Ability to attract top qualified legal talent and passive candidates
- Legal recruitment services tailored to your needs and values
- Thorough market research
- Timing and cost-effectiveness
- Personalized interviews with each candidate
- Knowledge of the legal industry gives us insight to support our role as trusted advisor
- Accountability
What our clients and candidates say
“We worked with Marie Wong several times. Her ability to quickly grasp the profile we were looking for saved us from losing time on candidates who did not perfectly match our requirements. She is never afraid of thinking outside the box to find the right candidate”
– Senior Manager, Legal Affairs
“I am always very satisfied with the services provided by SHORE & Associates. Their professionalism, expertise and market knowledge helped our department reach its hiring objectives by finding excellent candidates. I highly recommend the firm to anyone seeking high-quality recruiting services.”
– Senior Counsel
“I had the pleasure of working with Marie Wong who helped me find a position in a company that met my expectations, my needs and my values. Marie acted with great professionalism. She took the time to get to know me and to understand my skill set and the career path I wanted to follow, to provide me with the right guidance. Thank you, Marie!”
– Lawyer
“I was supported throughout the recruitment process by a very professional and understanding team. As a candidate, I really valued Michel Ohayon’s availability and proactivity as well as his active listening and personalized follow-ups. Legal recruitment requires in-depth knowledge and understanding of the profession, and the team at SHORE & Associates demonstrated this at each step of the way. I will not hesitate to recommend their services to my legal network in the future”
– Assistant Vice-President and Assistant Corporate Secretary
FAQs
What is the specialty of SHORE & Associates within AURAY?
We specialize in recruiting lawyers of all levels from Montreal to Quebec City and other regions of the province. We generally work on an exclusive and retained basis, and highly personalize the process based on our clients’ needs, vision and organizational culture. We have over 30 years of experience in identifying and selecting only the most qualified and appropriate candidates for our clients.
How much time will it take to find a lawyer?
Our timelines can vary by mandate, depending on the clients’ needs and the availability on the market. However, we provide initial feedback in 2 weeks’ time at the latest, and we keep clients abreast of any developments every step of the way. Regular communication with the client and appropriate follow-ups are vital to a successful hire and will be required to meet timelines.
What services do you offer? Contingency vs retained?
We work both on exclusive retained mandates and contingency mandates. With exclusive retained mandates, we can focus more time and research on finding the ideal candidate for your role. We request for these searches that the client not work with other recruiters while we conduct our search. We also offer contingency mandates, where the mandate fees are charged only if a candidate is hired. These mandates also require promoting the position, vetting, interviews, and presentation of profiles to the client.
What is your guarantee period?
For our traditional, exclusive retained mandates, we offer a guarantee of replacement of one year for any candidate placed by us that leaves within that timeframe.
Is my candidacy confidential, and who has access to my profile?
All communication with SHORE & Associates and all candidacies are strictly confidential. No information is shared with potential employers without a candidate’s express permission. We understand the sensitivity and discretion necessary in these matters and highly value your trust and our reputation in this regard.
Once you have agreed to present your candidacy to a given employer, we will share your profile only with the relevant members of our client organization, under the explicit understanding that your candidacy is strictly confidential.
What distinguishes a good legal recruiter?
We have spent years developing our team and refining our processes to ensure that every aspect of Shore & Associates exemplifies the best practices in legal recruiting:
- Understanding each client’s specific needs, and their legal department’s challenges
- Legal market knowledge and industry insight shared with clients
- Acting as a strategic consultant
- Timely follow-ups and transparent communication/feedback
- Process efficiency and thoroughness
- Good judgment and analysis, quality of candidacies
- Reliability for delivering on expectations
- Respect for candidates and confidentiality
Our experts
Barbara Shore
Vice President Barbara Shore has worked in the area of executive search for over 30 years, first as Director of the Executive Search Practice for Peat Marwick in Ottawa and then as Director of Peat Marwick Stevenson & Kellogg’s Montreal (now KPMG) Executive Search practice. She founded SHORE & Associates in 1994 as well as a boutique practice in legal recruitment in 1998. Barbara holds a B.A., M.A.
Marie Wong
Senior Advisor, Talent Acquisition Marie Wong, B.Sc. and holder of a Certificate in Human Resources Management, has been providing executive search expertise since 1999. As a recruitment consultant specializing in legal positions, Marie focuses on customer service excellence, in-depth market knowledge, and strategic support to clients in their hiring strategy. Fortified by her background in recruiting for key management positions within corporations, particularly in the fields of finance and human resources, Marie brings a valuable background of expertise in recruiting diverse managers to the legal community, enriching her recruitment approaches with a strategic perspective and a deep understanding of diverse organizational needs. She understands the importance of creating harmonious synergies between candidates and employers, resulting in fruitful long-term collaborations.
Michel Ohayon
Senior Advisor, Talent Acquisition Michel Ohayon, B.A., M.B.A., has worked in professional services and human resources since 2003, and joined Shore & Associates in 2010. Mr. Ohayon is recognized for his customer focus and his ability to master the particularities of various industries, cultures and business issues. His in-depth knowledge and deep understanding of HR issues, acquired during his six years with a global consulting firm, help him gain a strategic insight that is highly valued by clients. Outside his day-to-day work, Michel sits on a number of boards in the private sector as well as for community organizations.
Amélie Lepage
Coordinator, Talent Acquisition Amélie Lepage, B.A., joined the executive search and legal team in 2012. Prior to this role, she was a trademark searcher for an intellectual property search firm. Amélie had also worked in administration in the non-profit sector, as well as in marketing research. She assists on all types of mandates for numerous industries and positions, at all levels. Amélie stands out for her attention to detail and meticulousness. Her daily mission is to find the right candidates for the right jobs, and combined with her keen interest in social media, she has developed a good understanding of trends in the legal recruitment landscape.Barbara Shore
Marie Wong
Michel Ohayon
Amélie Lepage
Contact us
One of our experts will contact you to provide advice and help you with your recruitment needs.