NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SJL Holdings LLC, the New York City-based owner of leading legal search firm SJL Attorney Search, announces today that it has acquired The Shannon Group, a Washington, D.C.-based career transition, coaching and talent development firm. The strategic acquisition creates an interdisciplinary career management firm completely unique in the legal sector.
The Shannon Group has been rebranded SJL Shannon, and will remain a separate division of SJL Holdings. SJL Shannon will be led by Sang J. Lee, the owner of SJL Holdings and founder of SJL Attorney Search. The Shannon Group’s CEO, Diane Costigan, will serve as senior managing director of SJL Shannon. SJL Holdings now has more than 30 professionals in New York, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston who are dedicated to recruiting, coaching, training and consulting for law firms and other sophisticated legal employers.
“Today’s legal landscape is in upheaval,” Lee says. “Law firms, and the lawyers who work in them, are under constant pressure from clients, peers and management alike to perform more effectively and efficiently. That’s had a dramatic effect on how and why people change jobs. We saw a clear, growing need for a multidisciplinary company that not only assists law firms with their lateral hiring, but supports law firms in the cultivation and nurture of lawyers throughout their careers.”
A former attorney, Lee has been in the legal search space for more than 15 years and founded SJL Attorney Search nearly ten years ago. The firm initially built a peerless lateral associate practice, growing organically into the increasingly active lateral partner market and is now one of the leading lateral partner recruitment firms in New York. Known for its sophistication, keen focus on relationships and sharp assessment of the legal marketplace, SJL’s approach is always mindful of the client’s bottom line.
The Shannon Group was founded in 1985, and has been at the vanguard of legal career management ever since. Law firm partnership once presented a clear path to retirement, but not anymore. Attorneys today are more autonomous than ever and must take ownership of their career paths from law school to exit planning. The Shannon Group provides the career coaching and transition counseling lawyers need to make the most of a rapidly evolving marketplace.
“This union of forces takes our business to the next level,” says Costigan. “We now address a range of needs in the legal sector that no other single firm can match. Increased financial pressure means firms have fewer resources to dedicate to cultivating and mentoring young lawyers, or to help partners who would like to bring in more business. A comprehensive legal career management firm presents a unique resource at a time when the need for coaching and training is growing, and perceptions about these services are changing.”
“Beyond the strategic nature of this move,” Costigan adds, “SJL Attorney Search and The Shannon Group share the same commitment to relationships, integrity and client service. It couldn’t be a more perfect cultural fit.”
Working side by side, SJL Attorney Search and SJL Shannon, each certified as a Minority and Women-Owned business, offers a suite of services for law firms and individual attorneys, as well. SJL Shannon already has new projects in the works, including a confidential ALM survey of AmLaw 200 firms on partner outplacement that will be released this summer.