H&P Executive Search Founder and CEO Jack Hayes recently joined Hishem Azzouz on The Recruitment Mentors Podcast for a conversation on growth, legal executive search, and what it takes to build a specialist search firm in a highly competitive market.
The episode covers Jack’s journey from building a legal desk from scratch to scaling H&P into an international legal executive search business operating across the UK, Europe, and the US.
Rather than focusing on headlines alone, the conversation gets into the reality behind the growth: the mindset, structure, lessons, and decisions that have shaped the business over the last few years.
Or read some of the key themes discussed in the episode:
Building in legal from the ground up
One of the more interesting parts of the conversation is Jack’s reflection on how he entered the legal market in the first place.
He did not inherit an established legal desk or walk into a built-out platform. Instead, he spoke about building within the market from scratch, learning the sector, developing relationships, and creating a foundation that would later shape H&P itself.
It is a useful reminder that specialist markets are rarely built overnight. They are built through repetition, consistency, market knowledge, and time.
Why H&P hires for transferable recruitment fundamentals
A major theme throughout the episode is that Jack does not see executive search as a completely separate discipline from the rest of recruitment.
His view is that the strongest recruiters tend to share the same core attributes regardless of market: hard work, process management, accountability, communication, and commercial instinct.
That point matters because it speaks directly to one of the things that has shaped H&P’s growth. Many of the people who have succeeded in the business have not come from traditional executive search backgrounds. They have come in with strong fundamentals and then learned how to apply them in a more specialist, senior, candidate-led market.
What makes legal search different
The conversation also touches on why legal remains such a distinct market.
Jack describes it as fundamentally candidate-led, with much of the work centred around identifying and building relationships with exceptional lawyers rather than simply reacting to live vacancies.
That creates a very different dynamic.
In many markets, recruitment begins with the role. In legal executive search, the more valuable starting point is often the individual. Firms do not only hire because they have an immediate vacancy. They also hire because the right person can strengthen a practice, add revenue, open up a market, or shift the trajectory of a team.
That candidate-led dynamic is a major part of how H&P operates.
The H&P model: executive search specialism, sales floor intensity
One of the strongest parts of the episode is Jack’s explanation of where H&P sits in the market.
He describes the business as combining the best parts of executive search with the urgency, pace, and energy more commonly associated with high-performing contingent environments.
That means deep specialisation, senior mandates, and a highly targeted market focus, but within a culture that is intensely commercial, phone-first, and performance-driven.
It is a useful insight into how H&P has positioned itself differently, particularly in a market where many firms still see executive search and contingent recruitment as entirely separate worlds.
From startup to scale-up
Another key part of the discussion is the difference between early growth and true scale.
Jack is candid about the fact that while H&P achieved strong results early on, the business only more recently began to feel like a real scale-up in terms of structure, leadership, accountability, and clarity.
The episode touches on the work that has gone into building that platform properly: leadership structure, defined responsibilities, clearer performance management, stronger back-office support, and greater focus across the business.
That honesty is one of the more valuable aspects of the conversation. It goes beyond growth headlines and gets into what actually has to change inside a business for scale to become sustainable.
Why focus changed everything
Perhaps the clearest strategic lesson in the episode is around focus.
Jack shares trying to build too much too early, including multiple verticals outside legal, and the importance of later pulling that back.
For H&P, doubling down on legal was not a narrowing of ambition. It was the decision that gave the business greater clarity, sharper positioning, and stronger long-term momentum.
It is one of the most interesting parts of the conversation because it speaks to a challenge many growing firms face: whether growth comes from doing more, or from becoming far better at one thing.
Miami, the US, and the next phase of growth
The episode also looks ahead to H&P’s next chapter, including the launch of the firm’s Miami office.
While H&P has operated internationally for years, having a physical presence in the US marks an important step in the company’s wider growth strategy.
Jack talks about the opportunity this creates not only for the business, but also for clients, candidates, and the wider team as H&P continues to build its presence across key legal markets.
Watch the full episode
Jack’s appearance on The Recruitment Mentors Podcast offers a useful look at the thinking behind H&P’s growth so far, the realities of building a specialist legal search firm, and the priorities shaping the next phase of the business.
You can watch the full episode here >
