Nikki Betesh serves as the firm's Director of Lateral Integration, overseeing the firmwide onboarding and integration of lateral attorneys, working closely with internal teams to ensure new hires are effectively introduced to the firm’s culture, resources, and strategic priorities, and are positioned for long‑term success.
As Director of Lateral Integration, Nikki’s focus is on providing robust, cross‑functional support throughout every stage of the lateral integration process. She engages with lateral attorneys early to understand their goals and business priorities, coaching them through onboarding, setup, and transition so they can quickly and effectively establish their practices. Nikki is responsible for assisting new partners—and their department and practice group chairs—with the development and execution of business and marketing plans, while also identifying opportunities to create synergies among partners with intersecting practices and client bases. Working closely with firm leadership and key departments, she shares best practices, identifies and eliminates bottlenecks, increases transparency, and streamlines processes. She is also focused on developing additional meaningful and holistic measures of success; looking beyond revenue and hours alone to assess engagement, integration, and long‑term sustainability, ensuring laterals are positioned to thrive within the firm.
Nikki is a dynamic problem-solver who brings a strong analytical background and experience spanning banking, actuarial science, and financial analysis. During her 15‑year tenure at the firm, she played a key role in building out the Business Operations Unit within the Finance Department, working closely with practice group business managers to monitor monthly performance, report against goals, conduct annual budget setting, and lead pipeline reviews. In this capacity, she partnered extensively with IS&T, Human Resources, Marketing, and Recruiting to align operational, financial, and strategic priorities across the firm. Through this work, Nikki developed deep expertise in change management, issue resolution, and process improvement, as well as a comprehensive understanding of the firm’s structure, key stakeholders, and the onboarding challenges faced by new attorneys.