Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal partner Kara Baysinger is on the road. Every week since July, she has landed in an airport far from her San Francisco Bay Area home, climbed into a cab, and headed for one meeting or another. When she’s in a city with a Sonnenschein office, she sets up shop in a nondescript room reserved for visiting partners; otherwise she makes do however she can. Most nights she eats yet another protein-heavy dinner, often with recruiters or prospective laterals the firm is trying to charm.
Baysinger, 40, is Sonnenschein’s newly appointed lateral acquisition partner, the firm’s recruiting ambassador. An ebullient woman who turned a prelaw stint in the insurance business into a $4 million insurance regulatory practice, Baysinger herself is a Sonnenschein lateral. She joined the firm as an associate in January 1998 and made partner in 2000. Her partners say she’s precisely the type of lawyer Sonnenschein is trying to attract, which is why they’ve put Baysinger in charge of lateral recruiting.
