Name: Dale Durham
Astrological Sign:Virgo
Year Joined Major, Lindsey & Africa: 2016
What attracted you to Major, Lindsey & Africa?
MLA is the best legal recruiter by any metric. As someone just starting their legal recruiting career, I knew MLA offered the best training, experience and mentors.
What is the best part of your job?
Helping associates and other attorneys make meaningful changes in their careers and lives. I’ve helped attorneys immigrate to the U.S., relocate across the country and find opportunities they didn’t know were possible. It doesn’t get better than that.
What is the most surprising part of being a recruiter?
How fun it is to have conversations daily with some of the brightest and most verbal people, including my colleagues, candidates, clients and industry leaders.
How would you describe your career in 5 words or less?
Career counselor for top associates.
Describe one of your successes thus far at Major, Lindsey & Africa.
I recently advised a junior Harvard-educated associate who always dreamed of being an entertainment transactions attorney. However, through no fault of her own, she found herself in her second year as a litigator. I helped her find her dream job by transitioning to a lauded entertainment transactions practice at an AmLaw firm.
What advice would you give to someone considering becoming a recruiter?
To have longevity in this industry, you must be ethical, candid, communicative and responsive. However, nothing is more important than your ability to listen.
If you weren’t a lawyer or a recruiter, what career would you have had?
I studied acting in college and thought I would spend my life as a stage actor and comedian. While theater and comedy are no longer my career focus, they remain important.
What is on your bucket list?
- My wife and I have a long list of places we’d like to travel to with our young son within the U.S. and internationally.
- I’d like to meet all the kids born during the pandemic to my friends and family across the country.
- I’d love to learn to cook at a professional level.
