CenterPeak’s View From the Summit: How the Newly Merged Recruiting Firm is Helping Elite Law Firms Attract Elite Talent

Mark Jungers, Sabina Lippman and Clint Johnson

Johnson Downie and Lippman Jungers are doing something that’s never been done before: bringing some of the country’s most elite legal recruiters together under one brand as they work to create the greatest law firm partner recruiting firm in history. It’s a tall task, but the new firm’s three founding partners – Sabina Lippman, Clint Johnson and Mark Jungers – share an ethos grounded in building strong professional relationships and delivering best-in-class service. Their newly combined firm, CenterPeak, was formed in March of this year, and together they have cemented their dominance as the go-to talent shop for the Am Law top 20.

How It Started

Lippman and Jungers had heard great things about Clint Johnson and the rest of his team at Johnson Downie over the years, but the parties had never met. In turn, Johnson had heard about Lippman Jungers, but really started paying attention after speaking with the Chairs of many of the top 10 Am Law firms about who their top New York and California search firm was – the answer, more often than not, was Lippman Jungers. So, when Johnson reached out to Lippman and Jungers with a big idea, they followed the same advice they give to their superstar clients: Take the meeting. According to Lippman, Johnson’s pitch was compelling: His vision was to combine the country’s top legal search firms into a one-stop shop for the world’s leading law firms, with the ability to handle those firms’ most critical needs anywhere in the nation.

“We knew that Johnson Downie pretty much owned Texas and were interested in growing outside of Texas,” Lippman says. “And we both shared deep, personal relationships with the leaders of the elite law firms growing there and elsewhere, particularly in New York and California. Joining forces was a no-brainer.”

Johnson Downie opened in 2008 and is widely known as the premier legal search firm in Texas. Since its founding, Johnson Downie has opened over 30 offices for Am Law 50 firms in Houston, Dallas and Austin, capturing an unheard-of 50+ percent market share of all office openings in the region.

Our mutual clients had been encouraging us to consider a combination for several years.

Sabina Lippman and Mark Jungers established Lippman Jungers in 2011, but they had both been making names for themselves in the industry long before they became partners. Together, they quickly became renowned for their Chair-level access and game-changing placements for the global elite. With a strong presence in New York and California, Lippman Jungers was bringing an impressive record of brokering the industry’s most significant law firm partner moves to the table.

“We knew our two companies would be a perfect fit,” says Johnson. “The overlap among our respective client bases was incredibly strong – so much so that our mutual clients had been encouraging us to consider a combination for several years.”

The Rules of the Game Determine the Outcome

The newly merged powerhouse has a booming track record: Combined, they have opened more than 40 offices and placed more than 2,000 law firm partners for Am Law 50 firms. They are proud of longstanding relationships they’ve built with trusted clients – firms like Sidley Austin, Latham & Watkins, Davis Polk, Paul Weiss, Willkie Farr, Paul Hastings and more. These top-echelon firms are the company they like to keep – it’s where they shine. And based on the numbers, they’re off to an incredibly strong start. According to Lippman, they expect their 2024 revenue to significantly exceed $50M.

But for CenterPeak, it’s not just about the numbers. “Our goal is not to be the largest legal recruiting firm in the world. Our goal is to be the single most impactful legal recruiting firm in the world," says Jungers.

Johnson takes pains to note that the firm is dedicated to a cohesive and collaborative internal culture and has put its money where its mouth is by implementing a compensation structure that rewards teamwork. “Unlike many other recruiting firms, we don’t want our people competing internally," says Johnson. “In fact, that’s the exact opposite of how we do business. We’ve created and fostered a model where we all win.”

The firm’s compensation structure was inspired by its key clients – the world’s most successful law firms – and is built around shared compensation and collaboration. By removing internal competition, CenterPeak aims to ensure that its focus remains where it belongs: serving their clients.

Our goal is to be the single most impactful legal recruiting firm in the world.

“It’s the hallmark of all top consulting firms. Our clients know that when they hire us, they get the full force of the firm rather than just an individual,” says Johnson. “That's how we’ve been able to capture such a significant percentage of market share.”

“We believe that the rules of the game determine the outcome,” says Jungers. “Reward collaboration and you get collaboration.”

A View From the Top

It’s one thing for a law firm to make it into the Am Law Top 20, but it’s quite another thing to stay there. With the top 50 firms battling it out for those top 20 spots, the competition is stiff and the goalposts are ever moving.

CenterPeak thrives on this heightened energy and excels in this space. Their track record of success has earned them admission to these firms’ inner circle and involvement in the firms’ internal strategy sessions. Having the ear of those at the top affords them a deeper understanding of firms’ long-term goals and a greater ability to see the full picture.

“Firms have to be aspirational, even if they’re already at or near the top,” says Jungers. “Because of the level of competition right now for talent and for clients, you have to be aspirational just to stay where you are. There are so many hungry firms out there.”

Trade Secrets

For CenterPeak, operating at such a sophisticated level demands a lot of its recruiters – attention to detail, hustle, intelligence, and above all, an encyclopedic knowledge of the firms, the practices, and the players. Relationships must be nurtured over years and, much like the law firms they serve, they need to be available to their clients whenever and wherever.

Working on high-stakes, industry-shaking deals also requires a level of cool headedness and the ability to perform under pressure. “It’s not for the faint of heart,” says Johnson. "We’re leaning in – we wake up thinking about helping the world's strongest firms get stronger in the same way our clients are constantly thinking about how to help their clients. They expect nothing less from us.”

These kinds of relationships also require a level of trust that can only be earned. CenterPeak is all about time spent with clients and with candidates. It’s a long game after all, and the firm’s success is dependent upon their investments of time yielding long-term results. “You can’t play at our level and expect to do everything over the phone or Zoom,” says Lippman. "Our clients want us on the ground, in their offices meeting with their office managing partners and practice group chairs, in person. Our candidates want to sit down at the same table and map out the landscape of firms that could help them take their practices to the next level. The moves both parties are trying to make are incredibly important to them, and, if successful, can mean tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars in additional revenue for the firm. You have to be present, both mentally and physically.”

“Some of those meetings are hard, it’s not all hugs and cookies,” says Johnson. “These are busy people, they require excellence. But once trust is established, we get their most important work. They want us to be their exclusive representative in the market.”

Our candidates want to sit down at the same table and map out the landscape of firms that could help them take their practices to the next level.

CenterPeak has another hard and fast rule: There are always at least two people on every deal. Ideally, the firm will pair a senior partner with a more junior colleague. It’s part of the system they’ve built to develop their people. “You can’t learn this business from reading a book or watching a YouTube video,” says Jungers. “You learn by doing, by being in the room where it happens, and this approach helps our more junior recruiters get better, faster.”

Equally important to maintaining strong relationships with top law firms is the firm's connection to the top talent. Staying on top of the premier performers is in and of itself its own ballgame. “It’s a 24/7 job,” says Lippman. “Our candidates expect nothing less. They’re entrusting us with their lives, and we need to be there for them when they need us. We’re more than recruiters – we become friends, confidants and sometimes psychologists. Confidentiality is critical and they typically have so few people they can talk to about the potential move they’re contemplating.”

Winning The Battle

With the Am Law top 50 vying for the top 20 spots, the battle for talent is unrelenting. “There is no doubt that acquiring elite-level lateral talent is the most strategically important objective for the world’s leading law firms,” says Johnson. “It can mean the difference between being one of many or one of the very best.”

“There will be winners and there will be losers,” says Jungers. “Our job is to help our key law firm clients become the winners.”

“We derive enormous satisfaction from our work,” says Lippman. “It’s incredibly rewarding to see how our close partnerships with our most important clients have helped propel them into the top 20, and in some cases the top 10.”

Where it’s Growing

Recently, one of the firm’s top clients told Lippman that their body of work in this space had been responsible for about $800M annually in the firm's private equity work.

“That took a moment to sink in,” says Lippman. “When they hired us, I don't think either of us could have foreseen that. Working with some of the best minds in the industry is incredibly exciting and helping it all come together is even more satisfying.”

As satisfying as these results are, CenterPeak is anything but content. They, like their clients, have big plans to grow and they’ve been using their remarkable skills to go after other top recruiters in the industry.

Earlier this year, they picked off Meredith Frank and Joshua Dull from Major, Lindsey & Africa, and, in their biggest move yet, they brought on one of the industry’s legends, Jeffrey Lowe, to spearhead the growth of their new Washington, D.C. office. Prior to forming his own firm last year, Lowe was the founder and Managing Partner of MLA’s Washington, D.C. office for over 20 years, and the Global Practice Leader of the firm’s Law Firm Practice for over a decade. He is also one of the industry’s most-recognized thought leaders on issues such as partner compensation and satisfaction.

“Jeff is the perfect addition to the team and shares our vision for the future,” Johnson says. “He’s a renowned talent and we’re looking forward to what he’ll make happen in D.C. and beyond.”

With offices in New York, LA, Texas and now Washington, D.C., they now have their sights set on other major markets, like Northern California, Chicago and Boston. “We’re looking for the best of the best,” says Johnson. “There has never been such a concentration of leading talent at any legal recruiting firm. And the response from our clients has been tremendous. They pride themselves on being able to deliver exceptional work across all their offices and all their partners. We do, too. And they know that wherever they have a strategic need, we have the best person for the assignment ready to help them.”

Johnson predicts that CenterPeak will be twice its current size in two years’ time. Lippman’s view is a bit more conservative, but regardless of who’s estimate you follow, they’re both heading in the same direction – up.

Jungers looks to some of his key clients as a benchmark for the firm's growth – firms like Paul, Weiss, Sidley, and Davis Polk, among others. “It’s not about being the biggest; it’s about being the best.”

“Like our clients, we are ambitious,” says Jungers. “Our goal has always been to get to a point where clients come to us because they know we have the greatest chance of ensuring their success.”

Considering all that they’ve accomplished, both before the merger and after, it seems like they may already be there.