The Axiom approach: Recruiting the best attorneys to practice law a better way
July 2019
Posted by
Axiom Law
One of Axiom’s founding principles was to create an appealing alternative to traditional law firms that offers talented lawyers a more flexible approach to legal work. Nearly 20 years later, it’s clear that Axiom’s innovative approach to legal practice has been a home run for both lawyers and our clients. Today, we’re a thriving legal community with over 2,000 employees across three continents. The lawyers who work for us love Axiom because of the quality of legal work they get to take on with high-impact clients, including over half of the companies in the Fortune 100. They also love the healthy work-life balance working for Axiom provides. We are now one of the largest employers of lawyers in the world and are excited about working with lawyers who are passionate about helping us build the future of law.
Who are Axiom lawyers?
Our lawyers are among the most talented in the industry and are looking for a fresh approach to practicing law. At Axiom, we believe the traditional partner system is unsustainable and has long surpassed its usefulness. Lawyers are tired of counting billable hour after billable hour for as many clients as they can find. In addition, partnership at a law firm is no longer the dream it used to be as the payoff of making partner may not be as desirable when it comes at the expense of work/life balance and interesting work. Instead of maximum billable hours and burnout, Axiom provides flexibility for lawyers to take control of their career, choose what work they want to take on, and the ability to take a break when they feel they need it.
So, who are Axiom lawyers? Axiom lawyers are at many different stages of their career, but on average they have over 15 years of legal experience. Some are junior lawyers looking to build their careers outside of a traditional law firm and others are seasoned lawyers looking for a flexible career change after years of working for a law firm or in-house. They work with clients all over the world in-office as well as remotely. As a group, Axiomites are experienced, proactive, adaptable, have sound judgement, and are committed to bringing their expertise and our fresh approach to our clients. In addition, the group of lawyers working for Axiom are significantly more diverse than the legal industry average: 25.9% of our US-based lawyers identify as African American/Black, Asian, or Hispanic, and 53% identify as women compared to 16.1% and 35.4% of US lawyers as whole as reported by the NALP.
Joining an elite legal community
The opportunity to reshape the legal industry means that top legal talent is enthusiastic about joining us. Our founders wanted to change the legal industry by providing an alternative to the antiquated partner system, billable hour, and cutthroat competition for partnership. This fresh approach has created an appealing place to work and a collaborative community. At Axiom, 94% of our lawyers tell us that they enjoy the quality of people here.
Because we care passionately about the lawyer experience, we only bring on attorneys that we are confident will be a fit for our clients and our culture. The benefits of being an Axiom lawyer have led to an enormous amount of interest from potential candidates and we have an acceptance rate of about 5%, lower than Harvard.
Continued career growth
Career development is an important focus for Axiom lawyers. We regularly host Continuing Legal Education courses and have an active mentoring program. We also offer leadership and coaching support in our Ambassador and Subject Matter Excellence cohorts. Our talented legal community is also a great place for our attorneys to build their network and forge long-lasting relationships with like-minded legal professionals. Because our lawyers have the opportunity to work for a variety of companies throughout their time at Axiom, they often find that they are immersed in experiences that lead to impressive and accelerated career growth.
Axiom clients love our lawyers
A large part of the appeal of Axiom to lawyers is our clients. Axiom clients are the top players across almost every industry, including over half of the Fortune 100, and our lawyers love working with them. Axiom’s clients span a broad range of industries, including finance, life sciences, technology, hospitality, commercial, and retail. In a recent survey, 97% of Axiom lawyers said they enjoyed the quality of their engagements, and 91% said they found their work interesting.
What unites our clients is the fact that they are committed to new ways of thinking and developing innovative strategies for approaching their legal work. In addition, because our lawyers can choose their engagements, they’re able to focus on the areas of practice they’re most passionate about and have developed depth of knowledge.
GC’s love working with Axiom attorney headhunters because we are able to provide lawyers who integrate quickly into their teams, work effectively, and bring a fresh perspective into solving challenges and getting work done. Peter Tarsney, General Counsel at Enlivant, told us, “With Axiom's help, we have been able to execute on schedule and get everything done. I could always send work to outside firms, but it would be a lot more painful. Axiom saves the business time, and in our industry, time is money.”
For legal professionals who’ve worked hard to excel their field, working for Axiom can be an exciting opportunity to do consequential legal work with industry leaders. Our winning approach provides lawyers the flexibility and high-quality work they want without the prohibitive structure of a law firm. Find out more about working at Axiom.
Posted by Axiom Law
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