The history of Strategic Workforce Solutions is a tale of two companies as well as three people — principals Jay Horowitz, Kris Vickery and Peter Goodkind.

The first company — Strategic Legal Resources (SLR) — was founded in New York City in September 1995 by Jay Horowitz and Kris Vickery. Within the first year of operation, Mr. Horowitz and team had a client base of close to 130 blue-chip law firms and corporations, placing approximately 100 legal professionals on assignments each week. After just two years, SLR posted billings of $12 million. The wildly successful legal staffing agency was a prime candidate for acquisition by a public company — and in January 1998, Mr. Horowitz did sell and leave the helm, albeit briefly. During this time Ms. Vickery continued working with SLR as its President. In September 2000, after launching the Internet-based legal referral service MyBestLawyer (MBL) Mr. Horowitz returned with venture capitalists to buy back SLR, merge it with MBL and expand operations.

Meanwhile, Peter Goodkind was leading the second company in the Strategic story — professional placement agency The Goodkind Group, which he founded in 1991. The Goodkind Group with its extensive staffing expertise in IT, administrative support, financial services, accounting, human resources and sales/marketing, shared SLR’s premium, no-nonsense, expert approach. This complementary expertise and common mindset was the perfect fit for SLR’s expansions and Mr. Horowitz and Ms. Vickery drew Peter Goodkind into discussion. In April 2001, SLR acquired The Goodkind Group and shortly thereafter renamed the merged entity Strategic Workforce Solutions.

Today, Strategic Workforce Solutions is a premier full-service placement firm with offices in New York, New Jersey, and Chicago. The former “SLR” — now “SLS” for Strategic Legal Solutions — stands stronger than ever in legal staffing, backed in expertise by Strategic IT Solutions, Strategic Administrative Support Solutions, Strategic Financial Services Solutions, Strategic Human Resources Solutions and Strategic Sales & Marketing Solutions.

Further targeted expansion is planned to serve both clients and candidates with wide-ranging services in multiple cities, as well as to continue the company’s profitability and success.