Joshua Shirley, Esq., is a Managing Director at Kinney Recruiting, where he matches attorneys to opportunities in Charlotte, Raleigh, Chicago, and other major markets throughout the United States. Prior to joining Kinney, Josh was a top-producing legal recruiter in a large company with nearly 100 fiercely competitive agents. Josh succeeds in recruiting by listening closely to candidates and clients and always playing the long game. Several years on, Josh’s relationship-based recruiting style has led to many close connections and even some close friendships with many of the candidates he has worked with during his career. In 2022 Josh relocated to Charlotte, North Carolina where he is meeting new attorneys and helping them navigate their careers. Josh is excited to integrate himself in the Carolina legal markets and looks forward to all the new names and faces that come with being a professional legal recruiter in a fast growing market.

Before entering the world of legal recruitment, Josh worked as an attorney, advising private energy companies ranging from oil & gas exploration companies to oilfield service companies and those in between in litigation and transactions. Josh particularly enjoyed his litigation practice and the opportunity to argue at trial and in dispositive motions on behalf of his clients.

In his free time, Josh is an outdoors fanatic and music fan, taking any opportunity he can to catch an outdoor show at one of Charlotte’s many venues. Josh enjoys hunting, fishing, camping, and hiking throughout the Southeast and Southern Ontario, Canada where he has frequented since he was a boy. He is also an avid snowboarder and spends a considerable amount of time at his second home in the Colorado Front Range each year. When not at his Colorado home, Josh resides in Charlotte and is thrilled and excited to watch the Queen City’s continued development.