Lawyers and law firms talk to us every day about where they are, what they want to achieve, and the resources they need to reach their goals. They trust us to connect the dots and help them make their vision real.
Eilene Bloom Group LLC
The Eilene Bloom Group LLC is a legal search and recruiting company placing lawyers, practice groups, and firms in settings that allow them to thrive.
“You’re different” is what we consistently hear.
We are different. That’s because Eilene Bloom’s experience hiring talent for the C-suite and building the corporate legal department of a public company grounds our firm. She learned first-hand what it means for a recruiter to add value and has assembled an experienced team of market savvy recruiters who act with integrity and always put the client’s interests first.
The people we work with — the lawyers who are moving and the firms that are expanding – recognize the difference when their interests drive the process. We listen carefully to all parties, provide guidance, and understand that our job is to help build value for you.
Can we guide you to a place where you prosper and help a firm to prosper, too? Can we find the people and practices that can join with you to propel your firm forward? Yes.
Working with us means your goals are heard and respected. We think hard about the complementarity of practices, economics, personalities, and philosophies, and give honest and insightful guidance about fit. We don’t waste anyone’s time.
We are different. Our focus is your future. A course of action that is in your best interest is the one in our best interest, too.
Call Eilene Bloom for a confidential discussion about your goals 646-503-4797.
OUR SERVICES
Partner placement and search
Law firm mergers
Associate placement and search
In-House counsel recruiting
Acquisition and placement of practice groups
Geographic expansion
Read Law Dragon Magazine’s interview of Eilene about changes in legal recruiting
Eilene Bloom’s reputation for effectiveness and integrity stems from years of diligently assessing fit–the tangible and intangible factors that when combined result in more value for the people involved. Understanding how value grows was key to her career at Reliance Group Holdings where she rose to be the first female vice president of the company. And building value is what she does in the legal industry.
At Reliance, Eilene’s responsibilities included talent acquisition for the business units. Working with hundreds of candidates and dozens of recruiting firms gave her keen insight into the competencies and goals of candidates, the requirements of the company, and when and how a recruiter adds value.
With the determination to clearly add value, she has orchestrated the placement of partners across legal practices – litigation, corporate, IP, real estate, bankruptcy, regulatory, and tax; partners focusing on industries from finance to pharmaceuticals, technology to manufacturing; and for firms from boutiques to global leaders. She works with partners to develop or fine-tune business plans, and with firms to assess their needs so there is clarity and consensus about what must be done to achieve mutual goals.
Recent projects include:
- Arranging the merger of a New York-based real estate and corporate firm into an AmLaw 100 firm. The senior partners of the smaller firm sought broader capabilities to serve their clients and a better management infrastructure. The AmLaw firm wanted to build out its New York City services. Eilene consulted with each partner individually to structure a viable combination.
- Arranging the merger of a major IP boutique’s New York and Washington team into a full-service firm’s New York office. The IP firm’s previous efforts to merge had unraveled because of its lease. Eilene identified a merger partner that welcomed both the high-end practice and the particular real estate lease that was part of the package.
- Placing a high-profile criminal defense lawyer and his team with a large firm expanding its New York litigation bench. Less of an administrative burden on the lead partner and a clearer career path for associates motivated the move. The partner continues his headline practice and the associates are moving up the partnership track in the new firm.
- Placing a corporate partner from a Magic Circle firm’s New York office with an AmLaw 100 firm. The rising-star partner had numerous options but would fit best in a firm that put his entrepreneurial drive and leadership skills. Eilene matched him with a firm that embraced his focus on practice development.
- Placing a litigation partner from a top firm where he was the go-to partner for the firm’s institutional clients. Eager but unproven in business development, he worked with Eilene to make a credible business case and found the right home at a highly profitable AmLaw 100 firm where he has exceeded expectations and already built a multi-million dollar practice.
A move is not necessarily the right step. Eilene counsels partners on market conditions – the grass may not be greener – and strategies to improve their current situation or create more options down the road.
With her insight into the complex issues driving the success of law firms and the career decisions of partners, Eilene is the confidant of managing partners, firm leadership, and partners considering their options.
Prior to starting her own firm, Eilene was with Major, Lindsay and Africa and Mestel & Company.
Nancy Wein
646.503.4798 office / 917.941.6477 cell
nwein@ebloomgroup.com
Referrals are the hallmark of an effective recruiter, and the candidates Nancy Wein has placed and the firms with which she has worked refer their colleagues to her. That’s because she listens, a skill honed during her 14 years as a trusts and estates lawyer where eliciting, respecting, and acting on a client’s personal goals is fundamental to orchestrating the right outcome.
Changing jobs, making a career change, and bringing in new people can be the best decision a person or a firm makes, with a downside if the move is not the right one for the lawyer or the firm. Nancy’s commitment is to achieve the upside and mitigate risk.
She works with partners and associates to bring their practices to new levels and is attuned to considerations and concerns at different career stages. Her experience encompasses virtually all practices – corporate, energy, litigation, IP, tax, real estate, and regulatory, and many industries. She has recruited for boutique, mid-size, regional and global firms, hedge funds, the Big Four accounting firms, financial institutions, corporations and non-profit organizations.
Her clients have said she distinguishes herself by respecting candidates’ and firms’ goals and time, and by her honesty, careful assessment of fit, and follow through that is effective yet not aggressive.
Nancy graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Art History, and from William and Mary Law School. She worked at Mestel & Company for nearly eight years before joining Eilene Bloom.
Ty Rugman
646.503.4877 office / 917.478.4458 cell
trugman@ebloomgroup.com
As former global head of executive recruiting at a Fortune 50 company, an executive with Cleary Gottlieb, and a senior recruiter at a legal industry search firm where he worked alongside Eilene Bloom, Ty Rugman has a keen insight into the people and teams organizations need to grow their businesses. With first-hand knowledge of how complex legal and financial services organizations function and make decisions, his responsibilities have included recruiting and effective integration of new people, whether they joined as an individual, part of a group, or as a result of an acquisition. Consequently, Ty brings a holistic and long-term perspective to his work. Lawyers in the same practice and firms of the same size and scope differ greatly in terms of their aspirations, culture, ambitions, operations, and approach. Ty focuses on fit, knowing that the work has only just begun when a placement is made.
An excellent example is the search he conducted for a technology-oriented law firm seeking an M&A partner with public company, venture capital, and private equity experience who could also serve in a corporate advisory/general counsel role for portfolio companies. The partner he placed there has met all the firm’s criteria and become chairman of the M&A Group. In another situation, he led the recruitment of an asset management practice where individual arrangements were required for each of the principals, along with an offering suitable for the rest of the team. Another example is the recruitment of the head of compliance for an asset management company. The role required a person versed in multiple asset classes, whereas most compliance heads are expert in a narrow range.
Known for candor, discretion, and business sense, Ty has been a frequent speaker at leading law schools and a writer for the New York Law Journal and other publications. He is often called on by law firms and corporations to provide strategic advice on achieving their growth objectives by hiring.
Mari Passananti
646.503.4799 office / 617.669.4686 cell
mpassananti@ebloomgroup.com
Mari Passananti, an attorney and experienced recruiter, has placed attorneys in leading law firms and across practice areas, including securities enforcement, commercial litigation, IP litigation, corporate/transactional/M&A, private equity, employment law, and federal regulatory practices.
Law firms and candidates appreciate Mari’s candor, business sense, and attention to the intangible factors that add up to the right “fit” and timing of a move.
In one case, for example, Mari assisted a young securities litigation partner with a significant book of business find a firm with more “running room” and a broader platform for growth. The partner now heads up the practice group. When a private equity lawyer felt constricted by the culture of a firm, she placed him with a more progressive firm where he eventually became managing partner. In another situation, Mari worked with a securities enforcement lawyer who aspired to a senior role at the SEC. She placed her at a firm that better positioned her for an eventual top government job. She later joined the SEC at the Deputy Director level.
On the client side, Mari works closely with in-house recruiting professionals, practice group leaders and law firm management to refine and implement their visions for expansion. Every firm seeking to grow has a compelling story and Mari helps clients hone and deliver their candidate-facing messaging.
A graduate of the Georgetown University Law Center, Mari was an associate in the Washington, D.C. office of Nixon Peabody LLP, and recruiting director in the Washington office of a pre-eminent legal search firm and later was that firm’s managing director of its Boston office. She joined the Eilene Bloom Group in 2022.
In her spare time, Mari enjoys traveling, reading, writing, the great outdoors and time with her family.
Contact information
ADDRESS
1350 Avenue of the Americas, 2nd Fl New York, NY 10019
PHONE NUMBER
646-503-4797
Call us. Let’s connect the dots and achieve your vision