We spoke to Amanda Townley, Director of Attorney Recruitment and Integration at Hodgson Russ, about how her team uses Pirical's market intelligence to shape a more strategic approach to lateral hiring

Hodgson Russ is an AM Law 200 firm with over 230 attorneys across offices stretching from Toronto to Palm Beach. The firm's key practice areas include corporate and securities law, business litigation, intellectual property, and a notable state and local tax practice.

Visibility across the AM Law 200

The firm uses Pirical's Intelligence dashboard to track market trends across relevant firms, geographies, and talent pools.

Targeted attorney pipelines

The team find candidates that support growth initiatives and the expansion of service offerings to clients, as well as immediate hiring needs.

A sharper pitch to candidates

Benchmarking Hodgson Russ' attrition against competitors gives Amanda a concrete selling point to use when recruiting.

Limited Visibility Into a Shifting Market

When Amanda joined Hodgson Russ, the firm's approach to lateral hiring was largely reactive. Positions were backfilled after attorneys left, and finding candidates meant combing through individual law firm websites one by one. There was no easy way to see how the wider AM Law 200 market, or the specific firms Hodgson Russ competes with for talent, was actually moving.



Hodgson Russ is also partner-heavy, with a smaller associate bench. Amanda's mandate included identifying where the firm's service offerings had gaps and building pipelines to support the firm's longer-term growth, not just filling open roles as they came up.

"The Pirical platform provides meaningful insight into the competitive legal landscape.

The market intelligence data helps us see what other firms are doing and where we are different. Being able to articulate those differentiators is a fantastic selling point, that's what we lead with when we're trying to attract top talent!"

Amanda Townley

Director of Attorney Recruitment and Integration, Hodgson Russ

Turning Data Into Recruitment Strategy And Tracking Market Trends

This visibility feeds directly into how Hodgson Russ plans its hiring, covering both open roles that need filling now and roles focused on longer-term growth.

Targeted candidate searches help Amanda build talent pipelines that support strategic growth initiatives, while market data maps where the firm's service offerings have gaps relative to competitors. The attorney pipelines also help the firm stay on top of anticipated retirements, with potential replacements already lined up before the roles are opened.

Amanda uses Pirical's Intelligence dashboard to monitor trends across firms, geographies, and talent pools within the Am Law 200. She can see how competing firms are structured, where their headcount is growing or shrinking, and how the market is shifting more broadly.

A Recruiting Strategy Built on Market Data

Over the past year, Amanda has moved Hodgson Russ' recruiting operation from largely reactive to more data-driven and forward-looking.

Targeted candidate searches and market data now guide where the firm builds its pipeline next, and help identify emerging opportunities before they turn into open roles.

That same data has become a recruiting tool in its own right. When a competitor's attrition rate runs higher than Hodgson Russ', Amanda uses it as a concrete talking point with candidates weighing their options, and as evidence of what differentiates the firm in a crowded lateral market. "It shows that we're doing something right at Hodgson Russ!"

"It's been fantastic working with the Pirical team!

Yoanna has stepped in whenever I needed help. It's been smooth and very seamless working with her."

Amanda Townley

Director of Attorney Recruitment and Integration, Hodgson Russ

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Pirical Legal Professionals seamlessly aggregates data from a wide range of public sources: law firm websites, bar associations, legal news, deals publications, legal rankings, LinkedIn and more. Our coverage is global, in-depth and constantly refreshed.