Grow on the Right Platform
We help California BigLaw transactional lawyers move to the firm and practice group where their practice grows fastest, from second-year associates to partners. By former BigLaw attorneys, across the San Francisco Bay Area.
We review your background first. Nothing reaches a firm without your approval.
Associate Practice Growth
Our focus is transactional associates and counsel who want their practice to grow, whether you are a second-year still finding your specialty or a senior associate thinking about partner. Growth is rarely about credentials alone. It is about being in a practice group with real deal flow, on matters that build a defensible specialty, working for partners who invest in you. That is also what keeps the partnership door open later. Having practiced at a Cravath-scale firm, we know where those seats sit across the Bay Area, from San Jose to San Francisco, and we help you find the one that builds your practice rather than the one that simply pays more this year.
Partner Growth and Profits Per Equity Partner
Making partner is the milestone, not the finish line. For partners already carrying a book, the questions change: whether your current platform prices your work correctly, whether the rate card and leverage model let your practice compound, and what a move would do to your economics. We work with transactional partners on exactly that, positioning a practice where the profits per equity partner, the client base, and the institutional support actually justify the move. Discreet throughout, and nothing reaches a firm without your approval.
About Scale Up Counsel
Wondering whether your current platform is the right one for your practice?
You don't have to commit to anything. Just get the information and decide from there.
I'm Ezra, founder of Scale Up Counsel. Before recruiting, I practiced at a Cravath-scale firm, so I know how hard it is to judge your own growth from the inside, and how rarely anyone tells you where you actually stand. That experience shapes how I work with every lawyer I talk to.
Right now, we're partnered with 20+ top-tier employers: BigLaw firms, elite boutiques, AI-native law firms, and legal tech companies, all actively hiring strong lawyers.
Here's how it works:
- Submit your details for a confidential career review.
- We review your background and goals against the firms we know, and tell you what we see.
- If there's a useful next step, we have a conversation about whether a move makes sense, including staying put.
Your resume goes nowhere without your explicit approval, ever. You never pay us a fee.
Who we work with:
Primarily transactional associates and counsel at AmLaw 200 firms and elite boutiques, from second-years building a specialty to senior associates aiming at partnership, plus partners weighing whether their current platform is pricing their practice correctly. We also work with lawyers considering in-house moves, though that is the smaller part of what we do.
We recommend a move only when it advances the goals you tell us about. If we are not the right people to help, we will say so.
Preparing your materials?
Ezra Clark
CEO + Founder
I owe you a big THANK YOU. Things moved so fast I didn't have a chance to do it. The founder and I found a lot in common very fast, and I'm pumped to be working with him and the team. Goes to show so much can come from a conversation, and I'm grateful for ours.
Legal job search strategy
Your Next Role May Be Off the Beaten Path
Want a better shot at the legal job you actually want? One of the smartest moves is applying where competition is still thin. That is exactly why we built Scale Up Counsel: a growing legal jobs database plus recruiting support for attorneys who want access to opportunities others miss.
We combine human research with automated discovery to surface roles across firm sites, employer pages, and niche sources. The goal is simple: help you find strong fits faster through a confidential search with our team.
Target roles with less competition
Some of the strongest legal openings never attract hundreds of applicants. When you pursue roles early or in narrower channels, your odds of moving forward improve dramatically.
Look beyond the major job boards
High-quality opportunities often live on firm career pages, employer sites, and smaller regional listings. They rarely stay visible on the largest boards long enough for most candidates to find them.
Coverage over paid placement
Many boards only show roles employers pay to promote. Our team and automated research continuously add legal openings we discover across the market, not just sponsored listings.
Ready to see what is out there? Send your resume for a confidential look at roles that match your background.
Build Your Practice
For CA BigLaw transactional lawyers, from junior associates to partners