Start with the work that will be owned
A legal title alone is not a recruiting brief. For a San Francisco search, define the matters, clients, authority, reporting line and work model before outreach starts. Separate required experience from experience that would be useful but trainable.
Recruiting assignments we separate on purpose
Associate attorney, in-house counsel, paralegal and legal operations searches each carry different evidence of fit. We do not treat title variations as interchangeable.
- Law firm associate and counsel hiring
- In-house and product counsel recruiting
- Paralegal and legal-support recruitment
Local market context
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 18,470 lawyers employed in the San Francisco metropolitan area in May 2025, with a median annual wage of $212,500. This is labor-market context, not a salary recommendation for a specific role. San Francisco is a market where product counsel scope, equity expectations and remote or hybrid requirements should be screened as part of the brief.
A permanent hire needs a decision-ready brief
BEGHR helps employers scope direct-hire searches. The employer makes the employment decision and directly employs the hire. Scope, fee, candidate ownership, timing and any replacement terms are set in the agreed engagement before a search begins.