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LEGAL LAUNCH LLC featured in the Deerfield Review --

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Deerfield recruiter for legal industry is “connector”

By Jackie Pilossoph | Contributor June 6, 2013

DEERFIELD — Nancy Glazer began helping other attorneys find jobs long before she started her legal recruiting and consulting business, Legal Launch.

In fact, Glazer estimates that she placed 70 attorneys in firms all over Chicago before she was ever paid a dime.

“I’m a connector. That’s what I do. I put people together, and I love that,” said Glazer, a former practicing attorney who started her Deerfield-based company three years ago. “I helped so many people that there came a point when I realized I should be charging for my services.”

Glazer spent five years as a commercial litigator, and has also held positions as a lead in-house attorney for a non-profit organization and as an arbitrator for the State of Illinois and the American Arbitrator Association. Glazer said her favorite part of practicing law has always been the people.

“I just loved the people I worked with and I always kept in touch and maintained relationships, so when I would call and tell them about attorneys who were looking for work, they would listen,” she said.

Legal Launch assists unemployed or underemployed attorneys find new jobs or first-time jobs. The company also provides counseling to both new law school graduates and seasoned attorneys who are in the job market. Glazer helps with resume writing, interviewing techniques and networking.

“I think it’s frustrating that these kids today have such a challenge finding jobs,” said Glazer, who has lived in Deerfield with her husband and three children for 20 years. “The economy in 2008 really hurt the industry and the new grads really suffered.”

Glazer said her passion for her business comes from feeling like she owes it to her profession to help other attorneys.

Heeral Patel is a graduate from Boston College Law School who passed the Illinois bar exam in 2012. She said when she began looking for a job, it was difficult because she wasn’t from here, and she had no connections. Patel found Legal Launch online.

“I felt like I didn’t have anyone who was a mentor, and that’s what Nancy was to me,” said Patel, who was recently hired at a prominent education law firm in Chicago. “She helped me tighten up my resume, she told me of openings she knew of, and she kept my spirits up.”

Glazer works with attorneys in all areas of law, and said it’s important for her to stay current regarding the job market and the specific needs of every area of law.

One of her biggest achievements so far has been her relationship with the Chicago Housing Authority where she was hired to place 31 attorneys over a two-year period.

Audrey Wade is the Chief Hearing Officer for the CHA, and worked closely with Glazer on the project.

“We needed attorneys who could write very well, and they needed to have life experience in addition to legal experience,” she said. “They had to be above integrity and they had to have an impartial mindset in making decisions.”

Wade said Glazer organized a book with all of the potential candidates’ resumes, writing samples and backgrounds.

“It was a well put together process for us,” she said. “We had a very difficult time picking and choosing among all the candidates because they were such good matches.”

Since 2010, Glazer estimates she has placed more than 100 attorneys.

“I’m a matchmaker. I know how to match skills with employer needs,” she said. “An employer who wants to leave at four o’clock with total peace of mind should be able to do that, knowing he or she has hired someone who can totally do the job.”

Legal Launch

(847) 650-1535

www.legallaunch.net

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