Who we are.
We are a small group led by Peggy Britt, and our mission is to help law firm partners like you achieve your highest level of potential.
Our role is to quarterback the recruitment process, ensuring you receive the representation you need and deserve, from sorting out the options to negotiating the best possible compensation package.
Peggy, our founder, believes in quiet legal recruiting and founded our company on that premise — ergo, the name Ipsa (the thing speaks for itself).
She prefers to work behind the scenes—you’ll never see us quoted in the legal press. We don’t do high-volume cold calls or emails, and we have only the most cursory Linkedin presence.
What we do have is broad and deep relationships in the Carolinas markets—not just with candidates and clients, but with friends Peggy has developed whom we can call on when we need some quiet inside intel on a firm.
Peggy knows the market. She attends CLEs in the Carolinas and focuses on the long term. She has placed partners in nearly every specialty area and has begun offices for firms in Washington, DC, Raleigh, and Charleston—starting not with the firm but with the group leaders, then narrowing the options while creating demand for the group.
If you are considering working with us, there are a few things you should know.
We are lawyer-focused, not firm-focused.
We never take a retainer for search because our greatest fiduciary obligation is to you, the candidate, not the firm. For the firm, it’s an opportunity; for the candidate, it’s your life.
Our client firms understand this priority and value it—to the point that they will often ask us to call someone the firm knows well. So, when we call, we have an opportunity in mind, but the moment we talk, it is about you. Anything you share with us is between us until we agree to share it with firms. If the opportunity is wrong and you’d like to explore other options, we move on to find the right fit.
There are no layers.
When you work with us, we are it. We don’t have endless layers of communication to fight through to reach one of us: when we work together, you have our mobile numbers. Just as you are with your clients,we are always on call.
Similarly, we work directly with the managing partners and practice group leaders of the firms where we present someone. We always start with that confidential high-level conversation with the appropriate leader. Only when the opportunity and timing are right do we broaden the discussions.
Paperwork is delayed until you are certain the firm might be a fit.
We are independent and not part of a group.
Since we are independent, we have the freedom to take the long view. We don’t have quota or profit requirements, and no investor is checking my placement rate. We’ve been doing this for 18 years, and we are confident that doing the right thing by our candidates and clients works out well over time.
What this means for you:
This is your journey, and it is about you, your happiness, and your self-actualization. Finding the next step often requires an outside perspective from someone who can think through your options objectively. That’s us.
We will never pressure you to move. The timing of any action you take is yours, not mine or a firm’s. You may want to move in the next 6 months or want to talk about it for years. Sometimes I work with lawyers for a decade before they move.
And sometimes, lawyers we work with don’t move at all—often, at our advice. As we see it, just being a resource is enough. This works because often, the lawyers who don’t move become my best source of referrals.
Whether you move or not, our goal is that you break through whatever is holding you back and feel like your career is tailor-built to you.
Would you like to have a no-pressure conversation?