When Kyisha Dixon joined Hoge Fenton, she was brought in to rebuild recruiting and professional development for a growing midsize firm. Coming from an elite BigLaw background, she saw an immediate opportunity to bring more structure, consistency, and rigor to the firm’s hiring process.
One of her first priorities was modernizing lateral recruiting. The process was heavily reliant on email and spreadsheets, and agency recruiters were submitting candidates in an unstructured way across the firm. As hiring volume increased, it became clear the firm needed a centralized system to manage recruiting end to end.
Kyisha selected Flo Applicant Tracking to bring all recruiting activity into one place, improve visibility across the hiring process, and create a more consistent experience for both internal teams and external agencies.
A key part of the transformation has been how agencies interact with the firm. Now, Flo is the required channel for all lateral submissions.
Q: When you joined Hoge Fenton, what were you brought in to accomplish, and where did you see the biggest opportunity?
Kyisha: I was brought in to focus on recruiting and retention, and shortly after that I also took on attorney development. My role is now Director of Attorney Development & Recruiting.
The goal was to rebuild the recruiting program from the ground up for both student and lateral hiring. A big focus was making sure we were hiring not just for today, but for long-term fit.
At the time, lateral recruiting was very agency-driven, but there wasn’t really a centralized process. Agencies would send candidates to different people across the firm, from attorneys to business professionals to anyone they had a relationship with really.
Very quickly, I knew, especially coming from a BigLaw background, that we needed to centralize everything into one system so we could manage the process. Many smaller firms start by using their payroll or HR system as recruiting software, but we quickly realized those systems weren't designed to support the complexities of law firm recruiting. We needed an ATS built specifically for law firms.
Q: What did the recruiting process look like before implementing an ATS? How did you decide to start the search for a recruiting platform?
Kyisha: It was very manual and fragmented. Everything lived in spreadsheets and email inboxes.
Lateral candidates were coming in from multiple agencies and being routed to different people, so it was hard to track anything consistently. It was also difficult to know which agency submitted a candidate first, or who should receive credit, which created unnecessary friction.
Interview feedback was also handled through email. Sometimes responses were delayed or didn’t come back at all, and, when they did, everyone on the thread could see each other’s feedback, which often led to groupthink instead of independent evaluation.
We just didn’t have a centralized or reliable system for managing any of it.
Now, with Flo, interviewer feedback response rates have gone up, attorneys find the platform very simple to use, and trust feedback is submitted in a secure platform.
Q: What made Flo the right choice as your ATS?
Kyisha: We were previously using our payroll provider’s recruiting system, but it wasn’t built for law firm recruiting workflows.
Coming from BigLaw, I knew what a proper recruiting system should look like, and Flo stood out immediately compared to other legal industry tools.
But the biggest differentiator for me was agency management. I built our entire lateral recruiting process around Flo. Today, agencies know that if they want to work with Hoge Fenton, they must submit candidates through Flo. If they don’t, we don’t accept the submission.
It has completely standardized the process. Agencies are happy to use it because it ensures their submissions are tracked, timestamped, and properly credited throughout the process.
Using Flo’s agency management portal has made submissions more secure, organized, and clean. It’s really a game changer.
Q: As a lean team, how important was having a centralized system for managing everything?
Kyisha: The team finds everything in Flo is seamless, organized, and customizable. It saves us so much time. Because work at a smaller firm is unique, Flo is especially valuable. No firm is too small to use Flo applicant tracking to manage recruiting.
I can set up processes that are specific to our firm in a platform that is built for legal. It’s not really possible to build a legal-specific recruiting structure in an out-of-the-box system that isn’t designed for law firms, and the more legacy legal recruiting providers require a lot more IT involvement.
With Flo, I can do most everything I need to do myself without technical expertise.
I can also quickly log in at any time and see candidate touchpoint history from casual conversations to the formal application to interviews and all the way through offer. All of our notes are logged and documented in Flo.
Q: What has changed since implementing Flo?
Kyisha: The biggest change has been in how we handle interview feedback and decision-making.
The Candidate Review feature allows us to consolidate feedback from interviewers and present it in a way that’s easy for the hiring committee to digest, which has made our hiring decisions faster and more objective.
Attorneys also find it very easy to use. They can submit feedback, review candidates, and vote directly from their phone or iPad, which has significantly improved response rates.
Q: What would you say to midsize firms that think an ATS is only for large firms?
Kyisha: Flo works with firms based on their size and needs. You don’t have to be in BigLaw to get the best use out of Flo. Smaller firms actually need an applicant tracking system for different reasons than BigLaw, and it’s even more important for lean teams.
A smaller firm doesn’t have to overcomplicate workflows or use every feature available. You can pare down the bells and whistles and build something that’s tailored to how your firm actually runs. It’s about having a system that fits your process, not forcing your process to fit the system.
I oversee both recruiting and professional development, and I would never be able to manage multiple facets of talent management without Flo.
And lastly, there is no software provider that comes close to matching Flo’s customer service. The customer success team is priceless. If you think you’re too busy to set up Flo, that’s even more of a reason to get it. The upfront investment of an hour a week for the first two to three weeks is absolutely worth it. Once you’re up and running, Flo saves exponentially more time. We were fully operational in about two weeks.
The onboarding team is very hands-on and makes sure you’re fully supported. And anytime I have a question or need guidance, I can get help immediately, either through live chat with a real Flo representative or by emailing my dedicated Account Manager who already knows our account and history. There’s no waiting until the next day or next week. The support is instant.
Conclusion
By centralizing lateral recruiting in Flo, Hoge Fenton transformed a fragmented, manual process into a streamlined system that benefits everyone involved. A key outcome has been that agencies have embraced the process because Flo provides clear submission tracking, transparency, and proper credit for their work. For Hoge Fenton, Flo has become more than an ATS, it is central to their recruiting strategy that supports growth, efficiency, and long-term talent success.