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I emailed a firm kindly not taking them up on their offer and they emailed me back asking where I was going, what should I do? Any reason not to tell them? Or is it not a big deal and I should just tell them? Thanks people

It would be interesting to read their reply if you asked that firm for the names of the other law students to whom they have extended offers.
In answer to your question, it may come down to personal preference. Maybe it would suffice to write that you are uncomfortable revealing that information now as you are still negotiating some points. This allows the rejected firm a chance to reoffer if they really want you for some particular reason. Or, you could just tell them.

Anonymous User wrote:I emailed a firm kindly not taking them up on their offer and they emailed me back asking where I was going, what should I do? Any reason not to tell them? Or is it not a big deal and I should just tell them? Thanks people

Why would't you tell them? If you can justify the decision to you, you can justify it to them... and they're only asking to help determine their statistics and 'competition' for future hiring practices, most likely.

This is common practice, virtually every firm I turned down asked this and I told them. I can't see how it can hurt you - it's just for their own records so they know how they do against other firms.

Career services at CLS encourages us to provide this information.

In general you should be nice to firms that gave you offers b/c you might want to switch after the summer.

Not a big deal, just tell them.

ZXCVBNM wrote:In general you should be nice to firms that gave you offers b/c you might want to switch after the summer.

This.

vanwinkle wrote:

ZXCVBNM wrote:In general you should be nice to firms that gave you offers b/c you might want to switch after the summer.

This.

How is relevant to what the OP asked? You can be "nice" to the firm either way (telling them where or giving a vague answer). Also, how would you "switch" after the summer? It would be very naive to think that a firm will give a permanent offer to someone that hasn't worked for them the past summer. Now if you're talking about a couple years down the road when you want to lateral over to a firm that you've previously turned down, I see what you're saying. But in any case, I highly doubt that there is a law student out there who isn't going to be "nice" to firms that gave them summer offers.

daisyduck wrote:

vanwinkle wrote:

ZXCVBNM wrote:In general you should be nice to firms that gave you offers b/c you might want to switch after the summer.

This.

How is relevant to what the OP asked? You can be "nice" to the firm either way (telling them where or giving a vague answer).

In what world would an intelligent person think of a vague answer to a direct question as "nice"? They're more likely to be frustrated by such an answer, and most people take you giving them an answer you know will frustrate them as "not nice".

It's relevant to what OP asked, because it provides what he should do: Tell them.

daisyduck wrote:Also, how would you "switch" after the summer? It would be very naive to think that a firm will give you a permanent offer to someone that hasn't worked for them the past summer.

Naive? This happens. You go work at one firm, get an offer, and then go apply at other firms, telling them you have an offer at firm X but would rather work for them. The fact that you have an offer already is actually a positive, it tells them that you worked a summer at a law firm and didn't screw up enough to get no-offered. People do this. I imagine it's much more rare now than it used to be, but I've heard of it happening at least once ITE so it's still happening to at least some extent.

daisyduck wrote:Also, how would you "switch" after the summer?

Not sure exactly how this would work - but I have definitely been asked by firms with which I have declined offers to "get in touch" with them at the end of the summer if I'm looking.

Also, vanwinkle's post is credited.