About Juristech

Juristech holds six LinkedIn licenses and has access to a national database that includes every major and midsized U.S. law firm. The total annual cost for these resources is approximately $35,000. LinkedIn, which we pay for, and Martindale, which we access for free, cover nearly all smaller firms. While no database is completely comprehensive, the tools we use allow us to remain highly productive.

Yes, Nicholas Kokoris passed the Illinois Bar on his first attempt in February 1986.

As of November 2016, Juristech has 29 years of experience.

Approximately 90% of Juristech’s placements involve law-firm hires, while 10% are in-house corporate hires.

Yes, the firm’s President, Nicholas Kokoris, has attended 14 national NALSAC conferences since 1996. It’s a valuable organization that provides us with new ideas each year.

The Schultz Study, conducted by Boalt Hall Law School in 2008, involved original research through thousands of interviews with top-rated attorneys and judges across the United States. Led by the Human Resources Department at the University of California, Boalt Hall, the study identified 26 personality factors present in approximately 4,000 candidates, including national partner-level attorneys and judges.

The study concluded that there is a negative correlation between academic performance in law school, as measured by the LSAT, and the presence of these 26 winning personality traits. Notably, many highly successful AMLAW 200 partners exhibit a neurological complexity that includes most, if not all, of these factors, despite their exceptional academic abilities. In other words, AMLAW 200 equity partners and federal judges are neurological outliers who blend traits commonly found in less academically successful individuals with extraordinary academic achievements—what can be described as a combination of “street smart” and “book smart.”

These top attorneys and judges possess remarkable temperamental capacity, alongside an additional twenty psychological factors. In many cases, it may be beneficial for college graduates to work for a few years before starting law school; older candidates often demonstrate stronger temperamental capacity in their mid to late twenties or early thirties compared to those straight out of college.

Another key finding of the Schultz Study is that many academically gifted individuals do not necessarily make the best lawyers. Instead, it is often the more pedantic lawyers—those who are detail-oriented but limited in leveraging psychological strengths—who struggle in the field. While this may seem counterintuitive, the data, along with some of my own anecdotal observations, supports this conclusion. We strive to identify well-rounded, academically sound legal professionals by recognizing the significance of personality in the legal profession.

We look for candidates with a stable employment history and an authentic, candid personality—someone who communicates effectively without overdoing it. Each recruiter may prioritize different qualities, but we believe that longevity reflects character and intellect, revealing a lot about an individual.

Juristech was established in 1988, initially focusing on placing patent and IP attorneys. At that time, the primary players in the IP market were remote recruiters who conducted searches over the phone. This is how the IP attorney search market developed—through remote placements. With the rise of the internet in the mid to late 90s, we expanded our national approach to include general attorneys.

Large and small search firms each offer distinct advantages. Small firms typically face fewer conflicts of interest, allowing them to explore more opportunities for placing attorneys. With the rise of databases and LinkedIn, small firms can effectively utilize the internet for placements, driven by lower overhead and less equity dispersion among their recruiting staff. In contrast, larger firms often contend with higher pay rates per recruiter and more significant search limitations due to conflicts.

Ironically, this dynamic allows small firms to thrive. Our size helps maintain low overhead, high incentives, and fewer conflicts. We believe that if Artificial Intelligence (AI) impacts the industry, a firm like Juristech will be among the last to feel its effects—though we could be mistaken. Additionally, remaining small enables us to network effectively with other recruiters.

In a 1995 interview with the Chair of Computer Science at MIT, he addressed the impact of disintermediation on brokers. He suggested that rather than harming brokers, disintermediation could actually increase their revenues if they leverage Internet tools effectively. This perspective has largely proven true for us.

We encourage other recruiters to use the Juristech fee statement because it effectively safeguards the intrinsic value of the information we provide to hiring entities and reinforces our important role as information providers. If widely adopted, it would make it more challenging for hiring entities to dispute its terms. Popularity lends credibility; the more universal the application of a fee statement, the harder it becomes to contest.

We particularly value the clause stating, “The hiring entity’s affiliation with an attorney, patent agent, or any other independent contractor referred by Juristech, or the establishment of such an affiliation following the receipt of this fee statement, shall be considered valid approval and acceptance of its terms by the hiring entity.”