Counsel for recruitment and staffing firms with unpaid placement fees.
Recruitment placement fees are, on the whole, among the more reliably collectible categories of commercial debt, provided the matter is referred to counsel in good time. Hampton Vance LLP assesses each file on its merits and advises accordingly.
Common client objections, and how we address them.
“The candidate didn't work out.”
Placement fees are ordinarily earned on commencement of employment, not on long-term retention. Replacement guarantees, where they exist, are governed by the express terms of the engagement and are applied accordingly.
“We never signed your terms.”
Acceptance of commercial terms may be established by conduct. Receipt of the candidate CV, interview attendance, and the eventual hire are generally treated by U.S. courts as acceptance of the terms transmitted with them.
“The placement was direct. Your introduction didn't lead to it.”
Source of introduction is typically demonstrable through contemporaneous electronic records. Once the introduction is documented, the evidentiary burden shifts to the client to displace the causal chain.
“The fee is unreasonable.”
A negotiated commercial fee between sophisticated parties is not, as a rule, subject to judicial reasonableness review. Courts enforce the agreement as written.
“We'll pay when our client pays us.”
Pay-when-paid arrangements are generally not implied into a placement agreement; they are enforceable only where expressly incorporated, which is uncommon in this context.
“Send us another invoice and we'll look at it.”
Once counsel is engaged, correspondence moves onto a formal footing, beginning with a written demand and, where appropriate, proceeding to filed proceedings.
The first ninety days are decisive.
Recovery rates on commercial debt decline materially with age. Industry data places recovery on a ninety-day-old invoice at roughly seventy-three cents on the dollar, falling to approximately twenty-eight cents at the one-year mark. Early referral materially improves outcomes.
Permanent placement, contract, executive search.
Single-fee referrals from $5,000 upward and portfolio referrals of any size. Whether the underlying agreement is your own terms-of-business, a candidate-supplied PSL contract, or an email-thread acceptance, we will tell you within one business day whether the matter is viable.