Long Point Capital is pleased to announce that it has made an investment in Mestel & Company and Hire Counsel , providing financing for the sale of the companies' stock to the HCMC Legal, Inc. Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Headquartered in New York, NY, Mestel & Company. and Hire Counsel are national companies exclusively dedicated to legal placement and temporary attorney staffing and review management. The two companies, both founded by attorney Lynn Mestel, are the first legal recruiting and staffing agencies to be employee owned.
Mestel & Company is one of the largest legal placement companies in the country, with an associate and in-house counsel placement division, and a partner, group and law firms merger division. Hire Counsel provides temporary and permanent legal staff, including attorneys, discovery specialists, paralegals, coders, litigation support professionals and contract administrators to corporate legal departments and law firms nationwide primarily for e-discovery review management. The combined companies manage a network of over 50,000 attorneys and legal staff through 22 offices and interview facilities across the country.
"The sale to the employees enables us to recognize the outstanding work and dedication of our full-time recruiters and administrative staff as well as the thousands of professional temporary attorneys who work in corporations and law firms across America on our behalf," said Mestel. "In addition to sending a strong signal to our clients that we are deeply committed to our core values of teamwork, integrity and professionalism and ensuring a sustainable strategy to maintain our commitment for years to come, the partnership with Long Point Capital provides access to resources and expertise that will allow for strategic expansion."
Ira Starr, Managing Director of Long Point Capital, said, "We are excited about partnering with Lynn and her employees. This transaction provides a strong platform for the management team to continue to grow the business and we believe that the ownership by the employees creates a competitive advantage in the legal staffing and placement industries."
Mestel & Company and Hire Counsel represent Long Point's eighth investment from LPC Fund II.
If you have questions about this transaction, please contact: Ira Starr, Eric Von Stroh, or Bruce Smith.