Law firms face the final frontier - hiring a business manager.

Law firms that embrace the value of adding professionals to manage the business of the firm ultimately will win the fight for talent, clients and profits.

Hiring a business manager of any type - human resources, financial or marketing - indicates a perceived shift in power or control. However once a firm does make the leap to hire a business expert, it looks for the best in the business and doesn't settle for anything else.

A search professional shepherds the process for a firm managing partner or executive committee and helps the firm understand the need, evaluate the marketplace, and find and hire the best executives.

Business managers bring a variety of operational strengths to the table. In human resources particularly, these areas of focus run the gamut from employee communication, compensation, recruitment and retention, training and performance reviews, to organizational structure, diversity initiatives and change management.

In order to make strategic hiring decisions for the long-term, law firms must first look at themselves under a microscope, including reviewing long-term strategies and identifying which skills are important for the incoming executive to possess.

Are clients demanding higher diversity numbers? Is attrition eating at the firm's profits? Is the firm considering international expansion? Is it seeking merger or acquisition opportunities?

Each of these affects the required skill sets in vastly different ways. International expansion requires a professional with a global and innovative approach to structuring partnership agreements. Mergers and acquisitions require sophisticated partner profitability analysis, and sometimes compensation plan review. Almost always, the human resources executive should be skilled in integrations, assessing synergies, and smoothing personality conflicts.

It is also imperative to consider the culture of the firm. If it is a third-generation law firm, chances are an innovative thinker or maven will "upset the apple cart" with ideas and procedural changes. If it is a cutting edge consultancy with clients on the Fortune 100 and offices all over the globe, then the odds are good that a creative leader who has affected change and developed other leaders within the ranks is the right person.

Once an executive is identified, it is important to know how he will integrate into the firm. Again, this differs greatly from firm to firm, and depends on the firm's strategic plan. However, a safe assumption is that an incoming human resources executive gains credibility in a law firm environment slowly and deliberately. He must take the time to learn the firm's culture, spend time with the partners, and not force new ideas and processes.

Despite the anxiety and reluctance associated with recruiting a business person, good managing partners and executive committees are able to rise above the reluctance and see the firm's greater good as the key motivation, and beneficiary.