An Entrepreneurship Spotlight on Kristy Schulman: Advanced Legal Placement

Professor MarySheila McDonald’s Law & Strategic Entrepreneurship Attorney class will welcome Kristy Schulman, Esq., founder and owner of Advanced Legal Placement, LLC, for an upcoming guest lecture.

Schulman is an attorney, entrepreneur, and legal recruiter whose career illustrates that a law degree can create opportunities far beyond a traditional law-firm track. Based in Philadelphia, Advanced Legal Placement is a woman-owned, attorney-run legal recruiting company specializing in the permanent placement of attorneys with law firms and corporations nationwide.

A graduate of The Ohio State University and West Virginia University College of Law, Schulman graduated from law school in 1995 with a desire to use her legal education to make a difference. She initially moved to Washington, D.C., hoping to pursue public-interest work. After an early role at a personal-injury firm did not align with her goals, she joined Maryland Legal Aid, where she spent several years representing underserved clients.

Although Schulman found that work meaningful, she also recognized the immense “emotional drain” of public-interest practice and the practical need for a more sustainable income. After moving to the Philadelphia area with her husband, she explored several legal roles, including contract work for plaintiffs’ firms and a family-law practice. Eventually, a temporary agency recognized that her legal background, communication skills, and ability to understand people would make her an effective recruiter.

That pivot became the foundation for her entrepreneurial career. Schulman discovered that clients and candidates valued her personally – not merely the company name behind her. In April 2009, with four children under the age of ten, she took the risk of launching Advanced Legal Placement. She began with little more than her professional skills, a computer, and the confidence to build the business from the ground up. It is clear that the “grassroots” origin of her now very successful company is a point of pride for Schulman.

Today, Schulman sees entrepreneurship as more than a job choice; she views it as a personality trait and a willingness to accept the possibility of failure in pursuit of independence and opportunity. To Schulman, entrepreneurship means embracing risk, acknowledging potential failure, committing to hard work, and pursuing a meaningful goal. This is what she calls “embracing the entrepreneurial spirit.”

Her legal training remains central to her recruiting work. Through her past career as an attorney, she understands the realities of legal practice – from billable-hour expectations to firm culture. She leverages this knowledge and her experiences to help her clients make thoughtful career decisions.

Schulman describes her work as a form of helping people. In many ways, legal recruiting allows her to carry forward the part of public-interest work she valued most: making a real difference in people’s lives. By connecting attorneys with positions where they can thrive, she has found what she calls a “perfect synergy” between professional success, flexibility, and service to others.

Schulman’s entrepreneurial spirit led her to a career she never anticipated. Her willingness to pivot, take chances, and continue searching for her calling was essential to getting her where she is today – a role that, she jokes, can sometimes feel like that of a life coach. Her story encourages us as law students to seek not only work that provides financial stability but work that inspires genuine passion – because passion can lead to a career you love, even while recognizing that not every day will feel the same.

During her guest lecture, Schulman will discuss her path from law school and public-interest practice to founding a successful legal-recruiting business. Students can expect to hear about taking calculated risks, identifying alternative ways to use a law degree, building a business through relationships, and creating a career that is both financially sustainable and personally meaningful.