Mosaic Search Partners

Learn more about our entire team at https://lnkd.in/eZ4G5tZ7 Becca, Bryson, Erica, Ariana & Celine

Join me in welcoming the latest addition to the Mosaic recruitment team, Erica Zhao Whitaker! Erica earned her JD from the University of Chicago Law School (🏆 currently ranked as a Top 3 law school by U.S. News & World Report) and her bachelor's from UCLA. She’s based out of our San Francisco / Silicon Valley offices. Prior to her move to SF a few years back, she spent time living in Chicago, Los Angeles and grew up in Dallas, Texas 🤠 Erica has experience on both sides of the Big Law associate divide as she began her career in a corporate practice group and later transitioned to litigation under the labor and employment umbrella. Erica built out her legal skillset at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and McDermott Will & Emery. During her time at UChicago, Erica was an active and dedicated member of the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA). She’s currently a proud member of both the National Asian Pacific American Bar Association and the ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION OF SILICON VALLEY. ____ Mosaic Leadership Team: Becca Rodriguez, Erica Zhao Whitaker & Bryson Malcolm reporting for duty 🫡🫡🫡

The third member of the Mosaic recruitment team will be announced tomorrow... 👀 All eyes on SF!

🩵🦁 Now more than ever, it's critical that we support the structures that lift up our diverse legal community. Supporting Columbia Law School BLSA has always been top of my to-do list as a recruiter and I've provided free guidance and counsel to many Black students across the T14 during my time in the field, not because I have an immediate or direct financial incentive but because I know how much of an uphill battle we have as lawyers of color. With immense honor and pride (pun intended), I am happy to announce that Mosaic is now an official Platinum Sponsor of Columbia Law School's Black Law Students Association! To my knowledge, we are the only legal search firm to directly sponsor a major affinity organization at a T14 (but correct me if I'm wrong! 👀). If you're a current student seeking guidance on how to approach your legal career or trying to decide between a handful of law firm summer associate offers that seem almost identical, give me or my team a call. We are happy to share any inside intel we have on what each firm is really like for POC. We have hard numbers to back up our advice and we have countless anecdotal accounts from attorneys of color within every major law firm across the U.S. Not only that, we are connectors. If I don't have the information you need, I will introduce you to someone who does. This is something that has been at least a year in the making and I want to thank the entire CLS BLSA Board for being responsive and engaged when discussing ways we can help as an untraditional sponsor. Your trust means the world to me. To BLSAs, LALSAs, APALSAs, SALSAs, MELSA's, etc. across Columbia University, New York University School of Law, Harvard Law School, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, Yale Law School, Stanford Law School, and more, shoot me a message and let's talk some more about how we can best support you over here at Mosaic. __ Oh, and a special hello to our clients and fellow CLS BLSA Platinum Sponsors: Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP, Gibson Dunn, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates, White & Case LLP, Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP, Winston & Strawn LLP, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP, Milbank LLP, and Debevoise & Plimpton 😁🥂

Promotion time! Welcome to the Mosaic Recruitment team, Becca Rodriguez! Becca is a Harvard Law School and Dartmouth College alum based in Los Angeles, California. She practiced as a Litigation Associate (Tech Disputes) at White & Case LLP and the boutique firm, Elkins Kalt Weintraub Reuben Gartside LLP. Prior to earning her JD, she worked as a Summer Associate at O'Melveny & Myers LLP in NYC, White & Case in Miami, and at the United States Attorneys' Offices in Boston! During her time at Harvard, Becca was the Co-President of La Alianza at Harvard Law School and is no stranger to championing diverse professionals in the legal industry. Although she is physically based out of our LA office, she will be working to support and place Associates nationwide. We're both excited to announce the third member of our recruitment team in January 2025 when we officially take on the legal search industry as a dynamic trio!

🔺BREAKING: The demographics for the first 1L class post national affirmative action ban (SFFA) have been released by the American Bar Association. Columbia, Harvard, NYU, Georgetown & Berkeley are featured below. More broad analysis coming later this week. I will include some pretty pictures, don't worry. ~~~ Columbia Law School: 2024 1Ls vs. 2023 1Ls Asian Students 139 - 57 = 82 students ⏫ Up 143.9% [Now the plurality racial group at CLS outpacing White students by 2] Black Students 42 - 48 = 6 students 🔻Down 12.5% Hispanic Students 36 - 46 = 10 students 🔻Down 21.7% Two or More Races 15 - 0 = 15 students 🔼 Up White Students 137 - 178 = 41 students 🔻Down 23% Total POC 232 - 152 = 80 students 🔼 Up 52.6% Race and Ethnicity Unknown 29 - 11 = 18 students 🔼 Up 163.6% Total Students 398 - 418 = 20 students 🔻Down 4.8% ~~~ Harvard Law School 2024 1Ls vs. 2023 1Ls Asian Students 132 - 103 = 29 students 🔼 Up 28.16% Black Students 19 - 43 = -24 students 🔻Down 55.81% Hispanic Students 39 - 63 = -24 students 🔻Down 38.1% Two or More Races 33 - 28 = 5 students 🔼 Up 17.86% White Students 325 - 280 = 45 students 🔼 Up 16.07% Total POC 224 - 238 = -14 students 🔻Down 5.88% Unknown Race and Ethnicity 14 - 15 = -1 student 🔻Down 6.67% Total Students 563 - 564 = -1 student 🔻Down 0.18% ~~~ New York University School of Law 2024 1Ls vs. 2023 1Ls Asian Students 105 - 64 = 41 students 🔼 Up 64.06% Black Students 29 - 32 = -3 students 🔻Down 9.38% Hispanic Students 45 - 47 = -2 students 🔻Down 4.26% Two or More Races 11 - 27 = -16 students 🔻Down 59.26% White Students 233 - 213 = 20 students 🔼 Up 9.39% Total POC 190 - 171 = 19 students 🔼 Up 11.11% Unknown 13 - 7 = 6 students 🔼 Up 85.71% Total Students 436 - 429 = 7 students 🔼 Up 1.63% ~~~ Georgetown University Law Center 2024 1Ls vs. 2023 1Ls Asian Students 114 - 64 = 50 students 🔼 Up 78.12% Black Students 30 - 45 = -15 students 🔻Down 33.33% Hispanic Students 44 - 44 = 0 students No Change (0.00%) Two or More Races 21 - 28 = -7 students 🔻Down 25.00% White Students 360 - 359 = 1 student 🔼 Up 0.28% Total POC 211 - 183 = 28 students 🔼 Up 15.30% Unknown 85 - 13 = 72 students ⏫ Up 553.85% [Many POC likely chose not to identify this year] Total Students 656 - 602 = 54 students 🔼 Up 8.97% ~~~ 💡 Control Group - Proposition 209 Prohibited Affirmative Action in California in 1996 University of California, Berkeley - School of Law 2024 1Ls vs. 2023 1Ls Asian Students 83 - 76 = 7 students 🔼 Up 9.21% Black Students 21 - 20 = 1 student 🔼 Up 5.00% Hispanic Students 41 - 36 = 5 students 🔼 Up 13.89% Two or More Races 30 - 29 = 1 student 🔼 Up 3.45% White Students 167 - 140 = 27 students 🔼 Up 19.29% Total POC 175 - 164 = 11 students 🔼 Up 6.71% Unknown Race and Ethnicity 8 - 5 = 3 students 🔼 Up 60.00% Total Students 350 - 338 = 12 students 🔼 Up 3.55%

Vault 20 firms can be nice, but that doesn't mean they're an ideal fit for every attorney at every phase of their career. That was the case for me when I was practicing and it seems to have been the case with Allison Houston, my final placed candidate of the year and close personal friend! Allison is now in her third week at Bracewell LLP in NYC and things couldn't be going more smoothly! A graduate of Columbia Law School, Allison practiced as an Associate at both Ropes & Gray LLP and Milbank LLP before making this move. This pattern is quite common in our industry, especially for attorneys of color who can find themselves lost in the shuffle of a massive firm practice group, unable to secure quality mentorship or proper lateral integration. I know it's easy to get sucked into the allure of an elite white-shoe firm, but by the time you hit the middle of your career and you've already acquired base junior skills and you've proven to yourself that you've "got what it takes"... the way you view things can start to change. Healthy work environments, quality mentorship, close relationships with Partners, and connection on a human level, are all things that are increasingly rare at a mega-firm in NYC. I always tell candidates to take a step back and really assess what they want for the future. What kinds of interactions and opportunities bring them joy on a daily basis? Sounds simple, but at the pace we work in these shops, you often barely have time to reflect on even the most minor elements of your life (and I think that's an intentional part of this system). 💡 REMEMBER to stop to reflect! Especially at this time of year. 💡 REMEMBER that even if a firm isn't in the Vault 100, they can still pay you the same exact amount of money as a Vault 10 firm! 💡 REMEMBER to put yourself first. You do not need to be at a Vault 20 firm to be successful or happy or rich! You don't need to prove anything to anyone. and 💡 REMEMBER that almost all of these firms pay recruiters the same amount for placements! I really have no financial bias in where you go! If you're happy where you end up, I'm happy 😁

🩵Next year’s Metropolitan Black Bar Association 41st Anniversary Awards Gala is already shaping up to be an incredible event, and we are beyond proud to announce that Mosaic Search Partners will be an official sponsor of the event taking place on May 16, 2025, at Pier Sixty, Chelsea Piers in New York City! 🎉 This year’s theme, Amplifying Our Legacy: Building on a Foundation of Excellence, reflects the MBBA’s ongoing commitment to advancing Black legal professionals and celebrates decades of transformative impact. We know it’s early, but we’re already preparing for a record-breaking 2025 with expanded involvement in major affinity bar associations across the country! We’re excited to continue building momentum and creating opportunities to connect, support, and uplift historically underrepresented members of the legal community. Special thanks to Nicole Lester Arrindell, Esq. for allowing us to support MBBA, and thank you to Anthony Williams, CFP® for the introduction! _____ #MosaicSearchPartners #MBBA #BlackExcellenceInLaw #LegacyOfExcellence #LegalLeadership

🩵Another Donation from Mosaic! This one went out to the International Society for Better Health Access (ISBHA) 🕊️, a remarkable organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals in East Africa and beyond by providing access to essential resources like food, healthcare, and education. This organization was selected by our most recent placement at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates. Congrats on your new role! _ ℹ The Mosaic Donation Pledge After each successful placement of an attorney candidate, we donate $500 to a nonprofit of the placed attorney's choosing🦚

I'm happy to announce that Ariana Momtazi-Bushweller has joined Mosaic Search Partners! Ariana will be leading data collection and analysis focusing on attorneys of MENA/SWANA descent in the U.S.!! We are now the first in the industry to collect and prioritize this data! NALP, the American Bar Association, and the U.S. government have statistically ignored the MENA/SWANA demographic for far too long, as I've spoken on previously: 💡 The U.S. government for decades had not provided an option for this category on the census or the Office of Management and Budget's EEOC-1 form (demographic reporting form required of U.S. employers) but a change was announced this past April (2024)! MENA will now be an available category for folks to check for purposes of workforce and population tracking!🚨 But there's a catch: Government agencies (and seemingly by extension, the American Bar Association and NALP which base their categories on U.S. forms) have 5 whole years to implement these changes... That's a lot of time to keep an entire group of people in the dark, unrecognized, and statistically invisible. We believe that if we can help the industry better understand how much of its U.S. workforce is likely MENA, it would increase the likelihood that their voices be heard and their interests be properly accounted for. It also just helps mentally to know how represented your self-identified group is in your field. We hope this will finally give us the ability to shine a light on unique disparities for this group affecting hiring, promotion, and retention. SWANA (Southwest Asia and North Africa): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Yemen, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Sudan, Tunisia. ______ LegalcommunityMENA