Texas Legal Recruiter is En Fuego

Who is Clint Johnson?

The name’s been mentioned by managing partners of Winston & Strawn and Dorsey & Whitney in the rollout of their new Dallas offices.

“We used a single headhunter and we identified the practices,” said Tom Fitzgerald of Winston & Strawn.

“Clint Johnson,” said Ken Cutler, managing partner of Dorsey & Whitney, when referring to the headhunter who brought five corporate lawyers from Schiff Hardin to launch its Dallas office. “He does a lot of work down there.”

The thing is, despite moving millions of dollars of lawyer business [Johnson coordinated Winston’s mass hire of 23 partners from eight different law firms], his Internet footprint is fairly limited and a call placed with his office wasn’t immediately returned.

[caption id="attachment_42491" align="aligncenter” width="305"][Image “This is not Clint Johnson. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)” (src=https://bol.bna.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/GettyImages-2669286.jpg)]This is not Clint Johnson. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)[/caption]

Google search the name and you may find a LinkedIn page with nothing on it but his name, company, geography and industry. However, he is featured in a glowing profile of his firm’s real estate in a Houston Chronicle from 2012.

Per the Chron story:

Hovering near the top of BG Group Place, at 811 Main, in the glass alcove that is the building’s signature architectural feature, the Rottet Studio-designed space is a luxe nest for the recruitment of top-flight legal eagles.

A place of extreme clarity and light, it welcomes visitors first to a gleaming lounge. A white marble bar replaces the typical corporate reception desk, white leather furniture invites relaxation, rich wood floors bring a touch of warmth, a few chrome accents add sparkle and floor-to-ceiling windows suggest endless possibility.

A chandelier above the bar adds a glow, and the fabric logo wall appears to float, thanks to hidden indirect lighting at its ceiling and base.

According to the story, Johnson said that his clients are usually “tightly wound 45- to 65-year-old males who have never changed jobs before.”

Sounds like Big Law — except the part where lawyers jobs never change.

Johnson’s other Big Law clients in Texas have included Latham & Watkins and King & Spalding, according to Larry Makel, one of the Schiff Hardin partners who joined Dorsey.

“He’s done a lot of the major, first tier openings,” said Makel, who is a former Patton Boggs partner.

[caption id="attachment_42496" align="aligncenter” width="489"][Image “This is also not Clint Johnson. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)” (src=https://bol.bna.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/GettyImages-450726144.jpg)]This is also not Clint Johnson. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images)[/caption]

Cutler, the Dorsey managing partner, suggested that he would prefer to hire lawyers directly, since headhunters charge a significant fee — often 25 percent of the transitioning partner’s first-year compensation, although Johnson’s fee couldn’t be determined.

Still, Cutler indicated that there should be plenty more recruiting opportunities in the future. The firm intends to expand to house between 30 and 50 lawyers in Dallas.

“That won’t be overnight, but that’s what we are moving towards.”

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