How Presidio Legal hired a corporate associate in 10 days with Paraform

Presidio Legal is a San Francisco based boutique corporate law firm and one of the top Emerging Companies and Venture Capital (ECVC) practices in the country. The firm advises venture-backed startups and the investors that fund them.

Presidio has served over 500 clients and closed over $5B venture financing and M&A deals across major tech hubs. The firm specializes in venture capital financings, M&A transactions and outside general counsel services. Pitchbook recently ranked Presidio top 20 law firms for completed venture deals.

Founded in 2019, the firm has grown into a national high-end ECVC practice. The team is known for their practical, founder-friendly approach.

Challenge: Finding associates with ECVC experience in a highly limited talent pool

As co-founder and partner at Presidio Legal, Sean Mahsoul has watched demand for the firm’s ECVC work spike. In under five years, Presidio expanded from a five-person founding team to a 45-person firm, building one of the fastest-growing ECVC practices in the market.

Growth came with higher client expectations (or demands), raising the bar on every ECVC hire. Sean wasn’t looking for generalists. He needed associates who could drop into live deals quickly and own founder relationships.

But ECVC work is highly technical. It demands a unique mix of hands-on deal experience, entrepreneurial vision, and -startup law focused training.

“Finding someone with true ECVC experience is rare. There are a limited number of firms that see the type of deal volume that we need our associates to be trained on given the volume and fast paced nature of our deals. There are a lot of people with general corporate experience, but few have the depth of deal exposure we need.”

Historically, Sean relied on traditional legal recruiting agencies and word-of-mouth referrals to find talent. But these avenues only provided a limited candidate pool.

“We would get maybe one candidate every few months. And it was hit or miss whether that person was even the right fit.”

Reactive hiring cycles and slow timelines limited Presidio’s ability to build a team and staff deals quickly. Delays in hiring also meant more pressure on the team's existing resources.

“If we didn’t hire for this role, it would've impacted our culture. People would be working more and losing time in their personal life and with their families. That would strain employee morale and the quality of our client engagements.”

Sean needed a way to proactively identify and engage high-quality ECVC attorneys. But he worried that adding a new recruiting channel might mean more work for his already busy leadership team.

He’d already heard of Paraform, and when he heard how well the platform worked for a mutual contact, he decided to move forward.

“We had nothing to lose by working with Paraform. This was an easy way to expand our top of funnel, and there were no downsides to trying it. As a Partner with a busy practice, it was almost zero effort to get the search going.

Solution: Dedicated recruiters that reliably deliver vetted candidates

Onboarding with Paraform was easy. After Sean explained his candidate requirements, Paraform translated those details into a targeted brief for the platform’s specialized legal recruiters.

Within a week, Paraform’s recruiters delivered 15 qualified candidates who matched Presidio’s highly specialized criteria. Instead of waiting months for a potential match, Sean was interviewing great candidates immediately.

“Right away, I was going back to my team with great candidates.”

After the first few submissions and feedback from the team, recruiters quickly honed in on Presidio’s ideal associate profile. Incoming candidates already had the venture deal experience and training the firm required.

“When you’ve hired the right person from day one, everything feels plug and play. Associates immediately provide value, work with clients, and jump on projects. Clients can feel the difference too”

Presidio could now rely on a steady pipeline of ECVC attorneys who were both qualified and genuinely interested in the opportunity.

"Previously, getting one qualified candidate every few months felt like a win. With Paraform, we suddenly had 15 people who fit our criteria and were interested in interviewing.”

Results: 10 days from onboarding to hire

Just two days after posting the role, Sean met the candidate who ultimately joined Presidio - and hired her within 10 days.

Her background at Wilson Sonsini and experience practicing in ECVC made her a natural fit for Presidio’s culture and firm’s practice. She was a key member on several deal teams, including on the sale of Bun to Anthropic.

For Sean, Paraform’s refreshing combination of speed, curation, and ease of use turned hiring from a reactive process into a proactive one.

Looking ahead, Presidio plans to continue using Paraform as they expand their bench, treating the platform as an always-on extension of their talent strategy.

“Paraform is a must-do if you want to hire quickly, with less internal lift, and without compromising candidate fit. You'd almost certainly miss out on potential candidates without them.”