Offer Letters-Verbal Offers? Formal Letters? What's Typical?

[Anonymous User]

Dumb question perhaps, but is it typical for an offer to basically be comprised of a firm giving you a call and offering you a summer position without any hard copy letter or any specific information (partner basically telling you "ask me if you have any questions" type thing)? Will the paperwork typically come in after you accept the offer? Or is this just my firm that does this?



This is what I found from Yale's website:

http://www.law.yale.edu/documents/pdf/C ... offers.pdf

Accepting an Offer
When you are ready to accept an offer, you can either call the person who extended the offer to you, or in the case of larger law firms, you can call the Recruiting Department with your good news. If you have questions for the employer about your employment (i.e., salary, benefits, start and end dates, vacation issues), you should feel free to address them in your call. Although, after accepting a position, you will likely receive information from the employer setting forth the terms of your employment more specifically. If you accept a law firm job offer over the phone, it is usually not necessary to follow up with a letter. The employer typically follows up an acceptance with a letter confirming the acceptance and providing additional information about the position. With public interest employers, if you accept by phone, you should send a confirming email or letter.

Typical indeed?

[Anonymous User]

Unusual, in my experience, not to get an offer letter before you accept.

I wouldn't worry about it, though. They could probably rescind your offer at any time anyway, so the only advantage to having a physical letter is that it ensures they didn't mean to give an offer to some other guy whose name sounds like yours.

[Anonymous User]

Was wondering about this too, I've a similar experience:

Hiring partner called me over three weeks ago to extend an SA offer. We had a nice chat. I called back a few days later to enthusiastically accept the position. In the interim, I got calls from associates at the office offering congratulations and answers to any questions. I had nothing important to ask, but I called them back later out of courtesy and they were happy I'd accepted. I think they mentioned paperwork would be forthcoming but they definitely did not say when, and I've received nothing.

I went ahead and cancelled everything else and have not thought about it too much since then...not sure if I should begin to get worried though. After this much time, I'd feel awkward asking for a confirmation letter now. Plus, as others have posted in this and other threads, even with a letter an offer can be rescinded at will evidently .

[Anonymous User]

Any other thoughts on this?

[Anonymous User]

Any other thoughts on this?

For the firm I will be at this summer: I got .pdf letters both after my offer and after I accepted. But I don't know how standard or not this is.

[Anonymous User]

For me, phone call was the informal offer. Confirmed in writing by mail within the week. The formal written offer asked me to sign and mail back an acceptance.

[Anonymous User]

I received two offers, and both firms sent me an offer letter .pdf in an email. One firm called around the same time they sent the letter. I accepted my offer over the phone.

[Anonymous User]

Of my 4 offers, I got them all over the phone. 3 of them sent PMs the same day or the next day. All of them sent letters. Of the offers I accepted, one just wanted a verbal acceptance by phone. One wanted me to send back a sheet, which I scanned and PDF'd as well as mailed.

[Anonymous User]

Two offers, for both I got phone calls to letting me know, followed by a written offer (those arrived the very next day, but I'm in the same city as the firms I got offers from).

One wanted me to sign something and send it back, the other wasn't specific on the way to accept.