“. . . direct recruiting experience with a specialty in placing partners, counsels and associates with law firms . . .”
contact us
We serve a national client base out of our offices in Denver, Colorado and Austin, Texas. Please reach out to any of our shareholders:
Joe Maloney, Principal
For the last two decades, Joe has worked in support of attorneys and law firms in a variety of capacities across the country. In the early 2000’s, he supported legal entities in the Boston area as a legal researcher for a national corporation service company, a Supervisor with the Massachusetts Secretary of State, Corporations Division and within private practice as a corporate paralegal. (He fondly remembers the late days of micro fiche and nascent days of PDF’s.) In January of 2007, he relocated to Denver and began his legal recruiting career. His first experiences were with document review attorneys and senior paralegals. Since July of 2009, he has exclusively recruited attorneys in permanent placement with firms and legal departments. As of this writing, he has successfully placed 100’s of Associates, Counsel and Partners. His practice includes a variety of legal clients throughout the Western United States and include national, regional and boutique law firms. Much of his practice is working with mid-market corporate and specialty transactions attorneys. Joe has also handled the transition of practice groups, small firm mergers and practice succession planning. About 20% of his annual practice is dedicated to in house counsel positions.
Joe loves living in Colorado where there are so many activities to do outdoors with his wife and their three kids. You can find them out together skiing, camping, hiking and hunting. Joe has officiated three weddings, traveled to three continents, sung on stage with a Johnny Cash cover band in Vegas, jumped out of a perfectly good airplane and off a well built Canadian bridge with two gentlemen from Labrador, swam with sharks in Hawaii and Belize,(where the bait was tossed at his head) had his home robbed twice, his car stolen once and his car radio’s taken more times than he can remember.
James E. Downing, Principal
James, is one of the founding Members of Trident Partners, has a national recruiting practice assisting law firms and corporate departments with identifying and hiring top legal talent, and assisting in firm mergers and office expansions. James focuses on lateraling partner level attorneys and practice specific associates. For the past decade, James has worked with local firms, and many Am Law 100 and 200 firms nationwide. James enjoys helping attorneys find an ideal platform for their practice and helping law firms grow or fill a specific need. James believes the recruiter relationship with both client firms and attorneys to be one of advocacy, transparency, trust, and efficiency. James received his JD from University of Denver Sturm College of Law. James received his B.A. in Economics and Finance from Rhodes College, graduating with Honors and competing all four years for the Rhodes Varsity Men’s Soccer program.
In his free time, James enjoys traveling and playing golf with his wife and goofing around with his two hyperactive dogs Nikita (Siberian Husky) and Lucy (mini–Australian Shepard). He also competes nationally in Saber and Epee fencing tournaments.
Molly K. Snyder, Principal
Molly Snyder (Morris) has 12+ years of direct recruiting experience with a specialty in placing partners, counsels and associates with law firms on a national platform. Growing up in Breckenridge, Colorado, Molly enjoyed the tight-knit mountain community. Her parents moved the family to Breckenridge from the east coast to achieve their dreams of becoming business owners. Molly often shares that the town had one four-way stop sign, no grocery store, and one ski mountain. Graduating with a class of under 70, the town is nothing like it was back in the early 90’s and people often are shocked when she shares the changes and growth, or they think that she is joking. Molly earned her undergraduate degree in Environmental Policy from Fort Lewis College in Durango, Colorado. Upon graduation she was hired by The Southern Ute Indian Tribe in its Environmental Programs Division focusing on Air Quality issues. Working on a combination EPA/BIA Grant allowed Molly to have the rare opportunity to visit other Indian tribes throughout the U.S. to help them apply for grants and establish their own air quality programs under Tite V. As life happens, Molly moved to a city south of Colorado Springs, with very limited environmental services. This, however, brought her to her first law firm. After spending over ten years managing law firms, she was recruited (yes recruiters can be recruited) to the legal division of a premier Denver-based recruiting firm. Attorney recruiting has become her passion, to say she loves what she does is an understatement. After twelve years working with the same two partners and realizing their dream (much like her parents) to be business owners, Trident Partners, LLC was founded.