Lateral Recruiting Assistant

Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati offers a collaborative, hybrid work schedule in New York, NY with support-focused recruiting operations and a role centered on precision. This full-time position in the Attorney Recruiting team helps drive a smooth lateral attorney process, from applicant tracking through onboarding logistics. Compensation includes a competitive hourly rate, with overtime eligibility and a discretionary year-end merit bonus based on performance.

The Lateral Recruiting Assistant supports lateral attorney recruiting and onboarding through high-volume coordination and tracking. You will help ensure candidates move through conflicts checks, background verification, documentation collection, and Lateral Link assignments, while also maintaining clean, up-to-date records across internal systems.

Responsibilities

• Review resumes, calculate GPAs with strong accuracy, and complete high-volume, detail-oriented applicant tracking data entry.
• Maintain the candidate database as decisions are made, ensuring records are accurate, complete, and current.
• Coordinate pre-hire conflicts checks by gathering conflicts information from candidates, submitting to the conflicts team for review, and tracking status for every candidate in the pipeline.
• Send ethical wall lists to hiring partners and help confirm candidate eligibility; conduct a supplemental conflicts check approximately two weeks before each candidate’s start date.
• Coordinate background checks by distributing the background form, entering details into HireRight, following up directly with candidates if employment or education cannot be verified, and summarizing results for recruiter and GCO review to support clearance before start date.
• Manage Lateral Link assignments by emailing hiring partners for suggestions, confirming availability, and sending program and new hire information.
• Assist with onboarding documentation collection and communications, including new phone orders, orientation schedules, and general joining information.
• Track onboarding progress against key checkpoints and flag any items at risk of falling behind schedule.
• Answer new hire questions related to Workday onboarding and general firm processes, and send timely reminders to hiring partners and lateral links ahead of start dates.
• Support recruiting events for Patent Agent hiring, including logistics, invitations, and materials.
• Maintain candidate tracking systems and support recruiting team reporting.
• Document commonly occurring new hire questions and issues so the team can address them proactively for future hires.
• Ensure compliance with recruiting and onboarding processes and maintain a high level of confidentiality with sensitive candidate and new hire information.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree preferred.
• Prior administrative, coordination, or recruiting experience in a law firm or professional services environment is a plus.
• Exceptional attention to detail with demonstrated ability to manage high-volume data entry and documentation accurately.
• Strong organizational skills to track multiple candidates and deadlines across different hiring stages.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to set priorities, work independently, and handle a variety of duties under time constraints.
• Understanding of unconscious bias and its effect on recruiting and hiring.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work with different levels of firm personnel and external candidates.
• Ability to handle confidential and sensitive information with appropriate discretion.
• Proactive, detail-first mindset, including double-checking work, catching discrepancies, and following through without prompting.
• Proficiency with MS Office and applicant tracking systems, preferably Workday, viRecruit, and HireRight.

Technology

• MS Office
• Workday
• viRecruit
• HireRight

Location and Pay Range

Location: New York, NY (hybrid). Also supports offices listed for this role: Palo Alto, New York, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.

• Palo Alto, New York, San Francisco: $24.52 – $33.17 per hour.
• Washington, D.C.: $22.07 – $29.86 per hour.