Molly Cliff

Harvard College, AB (magna cum laude)
Harvard Law School, JD (cum laude)
Cravath, Associate
GE, Asia General Counsel
Asia Search Partners (2007-Present)

As the founding partner of a major international legal recruitment firm, Molly has more than 15 years of legal recruitment experience.  She has recruited teams and individuals for law firms and financial institutions and has been responsible for a number of firsts (first lateral search for a leading Magic Circle firm, first hire of a female Japanese-qualified lawyer for a leading financial institution, first general counsel for a leading private equity fund).  She has helped clients acquire entire new practice areas and open new offices.  She has also worked successfully with candidates seeking to explore the lateral law firm market as well as make the transition from private practice to in-house and, in some cases, from in-house back to private practice.  She has successfully completed searches with specific diversity requirements and has been a trusted advisor to senior law firm management on recruitment issues. 

Molly is from New York City where she attended the Chapin School.  She graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School.  She practiced law at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York and then worked at GE as lead counsel for one of the company's business units before starting her career in executive search 15 years ago.

Matthew Bersani

Princeton University, AB (cum laude)
Columbia Law School, JD
Shearman & Sterling Partner (1997-2020)

Matthew brings an unparalleled firm-side understanding of how to build a successful team of collaborative and client-focused partners. Matthew played a senior management role for decades at Shearman & Sterling. He was elected to the firm's global board of directors, sat on the firm's global executive group, and most recently was head of the firm's global corporate finance team, the firm's largest practice group. In these capacities, he established many of the firm's strategies and lateral partner hiring initiatives.  

In addition to his law firm management experience, Matthew was a trusted advisor to many of Asia's leading companies and global financial institutions. He led the IPOs for PetroChina, ChinaMobile, Hutchison entities and the largest ever IPO out of Thailand.  He regularly represented Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Citibank on complex securities offerings.  Throughout his career, he was consistently cited as “top tier” or “highly recommended” in various guides to the world’s leading lawyers.

Matthew considers himself a builder of successful partners and practices.  He has deep experience mentoring young partners seeking to establish themselves and helping established partners reinvent themselves. He is a strategic thinker who is uniquely placed to help firms and candidates navigate the changing legal environment and capture the opportunities these changes present.