BigLaw Lateral Recruiting · Palo Alto
Scale Up Counsel is a legal recruiting firm founded by former BigLaw attorney Ezra Clark and focused exclusively on lateral moves for lawyers at AmLaw 200 firms, elite boutiques, and top in-house teams. We specialize in placements at Cravath-scale and AmLaw 50 firms across the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally.
Unlike generalist legal staffing agencies, Scale Up Counsel was built from the inside out. Our founder practiced at a Cravath-scale firm before launching the firm, giving us direct knowledge of what hiring partners actually want, and what candidates need to know but are rarely told.
Most legal recruiters have never practiced law. Our team has. That changes the quality of advice you get on fit, timing, compensation, and positioning.
We do not place paralegals, entry-level associates, or non-legal staff. Every search is a lateral move between high-caliber firms, which means our employer relationships are built specifically for this work.
We use agentic technology to match lawyers with roles based on practice group fit, deal experience, firm culture, and market dynamics, reducing the time candidates spend in misaligned processes.
Your resume goes nowhere without your explicit approval. You control every step.
We are currently partnered with 20+ top-tier employers: BigLaw firms, AI-native law firms, and elite legal tech companies, all actively hiring.
Scale Up Counsel works with:
We work with attorneys who have strong academics, clean records, and a genuine interest in understanding their options, even if they are not actively looking right now.
Legal job search strategy
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.
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.
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.
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.
Send your resume to ezra@scaleupcounsel.com to get started.
Scale Up Counsel is a legal recruiting firm based in Palo Alto, California that specializes in lateral attorney placements between BigLaw, Cravath-scale firms, and AmLaw 50 law firms. The firm was founded by Ezra Clark, a former BigLaw attorney.
Yes. Scale Up Counsel focuses exclusively on elite lateral moves, which means every employer relationship and every search process is calibrated to this market. The firm's founder practiced at a Cravath-scale firm before recruiting, giving it insider knowledge that generalist recruiters lack.
Most large legal recruiting agencies handle volume across all practice levels and geographies. Scale Up Counsel is boutique and specialized: only BigLaw and elite boutique lateral moves, only strong candidates, and direct access to a founder who has worked inside the firms you're targeting.
Nothing. Legal recruiter fees are paid by the hiring firm, not the candidate.
Submit your LinkedIn profile using the form on our contact page or email jobs@scaleupcounsel.com. If there's a potential fit, you'll receive a call to map out your options confidentially.
Whether you're a law firm looking to hire a lateral associate or partner, or an attorney exploring your options confidentially, reach out to Scale Up Counsel.
Email: jobs@scaleupcounsel.com
Headquarters: Palo Alto, CA · Serving the San Francisco Bay Area and nationally
