When to tell firm? Forum

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niveacreme

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Re: When to tell firm?

Post by niveacreme » Fri May 08, 2015 10:04 am

I have had to navigate this situation recently myself. I spoke with my school's career services and was told: (1) there is no "right" way to handle this; (2) the risk of telling now is obviously getting canned, but if you wait, there's a real risk the firm could find out from someone else first and even if they don't you'd look bad for waiting; and (3) big firms don't want to hurt their reputations with judges or with your school (if you graduated from a fancy school), which obviously isn't dispositive, but isn't something I had thought about. Her message was essentially that big firms are unpredictable so you have to go with your gut. For me, I graduated from a fancy school; am clerking locally; have a good relationship with my contacts at the firm; and get stressed out by trying to hide things (and also have a big mouth), so I went ahead and told my contact at the firm. She seemed to think it would be fine, in large part because I gave them plenty of notice (showing that I was serious about staying on good terms with the firm), but I've not heard back for sure yet. I'll keep you posted.

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KD35

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Re: When to tell firm?

Post by KD35 » Sat May 09, 2015 11:28 am

So the appropriate response for a 2015 SA for a 2016-17 clerkship is wait until summer?

wwwcol

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Re: When to tell firm?

Post by wwwcol » Sun May 10, 2015 11:34 am

KD35 wrote:So the appropriate response for a 2015 SA for a 2016-17 clerkship is wait until summer?
I'm in the same position and that seems to be the correct answer. I asked around and 3L friends said many of their firms either asked about it in the orientation period or it came up organically during the summer.

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LA Spring

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Re: When to tell firm?

Post by LA Spring » Sun May 10, 2015 1:22 pm

Just be prepared to answer (with something other than a deer in the headlights expression) “when did you learn about this?”

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Re: When to tell firm?

Post by Anonymous User » Tue May 12, 2015 12:35 am

I think it's clear that as with everything here it's very idiosyncratic. However, when I was going through it, I was already a year into practice so used a partner or two as a recommender. When I got the gig they both explicitly told me to wait on telling the firm. They didn't say why or explain the consequences of not. Worth noting though. As far as ethical obligations to tell the firm, I personally find that absurd.

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niveacreme

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Re: When to tell firm?

Post by niveacreme » Wed May 20, 2015 11:36 am

niveacreme wrote:I have had to navigate this situation recently myself. I spoke with my school's career services and was told: (1) there is no "right" way to handle this; (2) the risk of telling now is obviously getting canned, but if you wait, there's a real risk the firm could find out from someone else first and even if they don't you'd look bad for waiting; and (3) big firms don't want to hurt their reputations with judges or with your school (if you graduated from a fancy school), which obviously isn't dispositive, but isn't something I had thought about. Her message was essentially that big firms are unpredictable so you have to go with your gut. For me, I graduated from a fancy school; am clerking locally; have a good relationship with my contacts at the firm; and get stressed out by trying to hide things (and also have a big mouth), so I went ahead and told my contact at the firm. She seemed to think it would be fine, in large part because I gave them plenty of notice (showing that I was serious about staying on good terms with the firm), but I've not heard back for sure yet. I'll keep you posted.
Quick update. I heard back from my firm that they support my second clerkship. This all seems very idiosyncratic and I feel fortunate to have received good news.

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Re: When to tell firm?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Sep 06, 2015 2:13 pm

Sorry for the necro, but I figure it's better to use an on-topic thread than start a new one.

I'll be starting in a major market biglaw firm this fall. I have also accepted a clerkship that begins next summer, meaning I'll be at the firm for a little under a year before leaving. I'm at a loss for whether I should tell the firm now, wait until I've started, or even wait until early next year. I'm fairly confident they'll be cool letting me come back after I clerk, but I also want to be savvy about this.

This is a bit different from the cases described in this thread. Any thoughts or advice?

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Re: When to tell firm?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Jun 18, 2018 8:51 pm

Posted this in the "Clerks Taking Questions" thread, but worth doubling-down:

What's the best way to let my v100 firm know about leaving for a clerkship in the coming fall? '17 grad and been at the firm since the fall. In the last couple weeks I secured a D.Ct. clerkship in a flyover state that my firm doesn't have an office in. Ideally, I'd like to leave on good terms and come back. But, since our office hasn't had a junior associate in the last few years who have taken a clerkship, I don't really have any data points to gauge how the firm will react.

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