TESTIMONIALS

I engaged JLR to conduct a search for an excellent junior barrister to join Britomart Chambers.  We have a particular niche of work and are a boutique chambers, so it was important to find the right mix of intellect, self-reliance and ability.  JLR used its search methodology and innovative technology to reveal a wide range of talent which would never have been apparent to us. 

The client portal was a very useful way of considering the candidates and noting progress at each stage.  It was a thoroughly professional and successful process, with a great result.  Even the unsuccessful candidates found it helpful and were grateful to have been involved. 

JLR proved to be superbly responsive at each stage and I would recommend them unreservedly.

– Michael Heron QC

Meredith Connell engaged Jen in early 2015 to tap into the passive market in New Zealand.  The active market had changed significantly meaning we were no longer getting the quality talent we needed.  We were also less than impressed in the value of propositions from traditional recruiting agencies – essentially receiving a fee (a percentage of the candidate’s salary) for forwarding a CV and covering email – with no particular allegiance or overt willingness to understand our broader organisational needs.  Jen developed a novel business to tap into the passive market and to significantly disrupt the traditional active market recruitment players.  MC was an early adopter of this ‘new’ model.

Not only did Jen actively and successfully tap into the passive market, but at the same time formed a true partnering arrangement with us to understand our organisational values and our evolving business objectives.  Jen connected exactly with the high quality talent we were looking for and placed lawyers into MC across many different practice groups and levels of experience – Public Law, Insolvency, Employment, Property, Project Finance, RMA, Corporate Commercial etc.  For an organisation our size, the number of lateral hires was significant – 32 over three years with 20 of these across the last two years.  Through this relationship, I have no doubt that JLR holds the position as the premier legal services search business in the New Zealand market.  In our experience, JLR is simply the leading search firm with deepest reach of talent.  Jen also partnered with Meredith Connell to reach into the Law Schools in Wellington and Auckland to establish and embed our winter internship programme, which continues to be a very successful recruitment mechanism.

In short, I would have no hesitation in fully recommending Jen and JLR to partner with an organisation wanting to reach difficult to find talent across the New Zealand legal services market.

– Steven Haszard, Meredith Connell

The purpose of this letter is to provide background to our very positive experiences in working with Jennifer Little and JLR, legal and executive search specialists.

Greenwood Roche is a specialist firm of project lawyers.

I have not worked with Jennifer previously but in the last 18 months she has been involved in four placements across our three offices in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

We have found her direct, search recruitment to be particularly effective and the four recent placements which she arranged for our firm have all been successful.

A good example was a role we were looking to fill in Christchurch.  Jennifer undertook a local and international search and managed to recruit a New Zealander working in London to return to New Zealand and our Christchurch office.
Jennifer was also successful in recruiting a lawyer for our construction team where his experience had previously been at the “back-end of construction matters” and our new role was to convert him to be a “front-end construction lawyer”.  Again, that has been a very successful placement.

I have always found Jennifer to be extremely reliable, efficient and determined.  At all times she has communicated with us most effectively and I would have no hesitation in recommending Jennifer to any party looking for a strong search agent in the legal recruitment area.

– Chris Moore, Greenwood Roche

We first used JLR a couple of years ago when we had a very specific, and as it turned out, difficult role to fill.  Jennifer was able to help us and since then has been our first point of call for all our recruitment needs.  Jennifer is professional and prompt.  She is able to connect with people – and candidates in particular – in a way that ensures you get the best chance of recruiting the best person for the role.  Throughout a period of sustained growth, and recruitment at mid to senior levels, JLR has constantly delivered us the best candidates.  I thoroughly recommend Jennifer and the team at JLR to anyone undertaking recruiting.

– Mat Francis, DAC Beachcroft

Recruitment of senior staff is a necessary part of succession planning and is a lengthy, time consuming process. At times, we have found ourselves handling multiple applications from candidates without the skillset we needed. Jen and her team bring a fresh approach to talent acquisition and we have found all dealings with JLR professional and courteous. JLR recently assisted Sharp Tudhope with the placement of a Senior Commercial Lawyer. They took the time to understand our business so that our key messages were conveyed at the first point of contact and we’re pleased with the result. 

– Kylie van Heerden, Sharp Tudhope

Over the past few years I’ve developed an excellent relationship with Jennifer Little and her team. JLR understands our business and the types of solicitors that we are seeking to recruit. At all times our dealings with the JLR team are professional, courteous and efficient. In my opinion Jennifer and her team are the leading legal recruiters in the market.

– Natalie Smith, Johnston Lawrence