Legal OPT Jobs in Tennessee

About Kirkland & Ellis

At Kirkland & Ellis, we don’t just meet the standard for legal excellence — we set it. Our culture is built on teamwork, ingenuity and an unwavering commitment to continuous growth. We tackle the most sophisticated legal challenges with bold ideas and innovative solutions, powered by the exceptional experience and ambition of our 7,000+ people, including 4,000+ attorneys, across 23 offices worldwide. Our dedicated professionals share our lawyers’ commitment to excellence and show up each day to do meaningful work that helps drive global business, investment and innovation forward.

What You’ll Do

Are you energized by building relationships, shaping candidate experiences, and helping a high-performing legal team grow?

As a Legal Talent Acquisition Specialist, you’ll play a critical role in supporting law student campus and lateral attorney recruiting for the Nashville office. Partnering closely with local attorneys, practice group leadership, and the Firmwide Legal Talent Acquisition team, you’ll help execute recruiting strategies that attract top legal talent while delivering a thoughtful, high-quality candidate experience. Your work will directly support the continued growth and success of the Nashville office within a collaborative, collegial firm environment.

• Recruiting Strategy & Partnership: Collaborate with local office leadership and the Firmwide Legal Talent Acquisition team to execute campus and lateral hiring strategies aligned with business needs.
• End-to-End Hiring & Stakeholder Support: Manage interview scheduling, candidate communications, feedback tracking, offer decisions, post-offer follow-up, onboarding logistics, and timely responses to attorneys, candidates, search firms, and staff.
• Candidate Experience Excellence: Deliver a consistent, high-quality, and engaging experience across all lateral and summer associate candidate touchpoints.
• Data, Reporting & Analytics: Maintain accurate candidate data, ensure system integrity, and prepare recruiting reports, projections, and metrics to support data-driven decisions.
• Law School Outreach & Events: Support law school relationship management and coordinate recruiting events; including receptions, dinners, and outreach programs in partnership with Firmwide Events and local leadership.
• Summer Associate Program & Process Innovation: Own day-to-day execution of the Summer Associate Program (orientation, logistics, budget, events, training, and communications) while collaborating across offices to improve recruiting processes through technology, automation, and emerging AI tools.

What You’ll Bring

• Education: Bachelor’s degree required.
• Experience: Minimum of 4 years of experience, ideally within a law firm or professional services environment.
• Relationship Building: Exceptional interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to build trust and credibility with Partners, senior leaders, and colleagues at all levels.
• Organization & Project Management: Proven ability to manage multiple priorities, maintain attention to detail, and thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic setting.
• Judgment & Problem Solving: Strong judgment, creativity, and a data-informed approach to solving challenges and improving outcomes.
• Collaboration & Professionalism: A team-oriented mindset, commitment to excellence, and a high level of professionalism in every interaction.

If you’re excited to make an impact, partner with talented legal professionals, and help shape the future of a growing office in this Legal Talent Acquisition Specialist role, we’d love to hear from you!

Compensation

At Kirkland & Ellis, we consider compensation more than just a base salary. We offer an exceptional range of flexible benefits including comprehensive healthcare, paid time off, and retirement. We also offer personal support and tailored learning and development opportunities all designed to help you realize your full potential both in life and at work.

How to Apply

Thank you for your interest in Kirkland & Ellis LLP. To complete an application and submit your resume, please click "Apply Now."

Don't meet every job requirement? That's okay! If you're excited about this role but your experience doesn't perfectly fit every qualification, we encourage you to apply anyway. You may be just the right person for this role or others at Kirkland.

Equal Employment Opportunity

All employment decisions, including the recruiting, hiring, placement, training availability, promotion, compensation, evaluation, disciplinary actions, and termination of employment (if necessary) are made without regard to the employee’s race, color, creed, religion, sex, pregnancy or childbirth, personal appearance, family responsibilities, sexual orientation or preference, gender identity, political affiliation, source of income, place of residence, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, age, marital status, military veteran status, unfavorable discharge from military service, physical or mental disability, or on any other basis prohibited by applicable law.