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Best way to phrase it? Ideas?

Just call them and be upfront about it. That way you keep the connection alive for later down the road if you want it.

Dear Law Firm:

As you know, I was this year forced to make a difficult decision between many distinguished law firms. I regret to inform you that I will be unable to accept a position with your firm.

I wish you the best of luck with all of your future endeavors.

Sincerely,

<Your name>

I'm not sure how anyone who has difficulty figuring out how to write a simple email like this is capable of functioning in an actual workplace.

I'm sure you got rejected from at least one firm. Take that email and replace firm with student.

Thank you for submitting your [offer] for consideration by [your name here]. Your [firm's] accomplishments and credentials are certainly impressive. appreciate your interest in [having me as a summer associate].

Unfortunately, the number of highly qualified [firms] for 2L Summer Associate positions exceeds the number of openings have. Consequently, regret that am not able to consider [your firm] further for a position. will keep your [firm's contact information on file], however, and in the event [my] situation changes, will contact you.

Again, thank you for expressing an interesting in hiring me as a summer associate.
Very truly yours,

A person who is devoid of common sense [In case you haven't gotten the point by now, that's you]

Is it just me or is emailing to turn down an offer in poor taste?

First, you should call (recruiting, not the partner unless you particularly hit it off).

Second, I'll echo everyone else and say that I'm shocked you're having trouble writing a simple email, since you will have to write many, much more complicated emails and even have face to face conversations in an actual workplace.

Third, the firm (particularly recruiting) does not really give a shit and they are not personally or emotionally invested in you accepting. So something like this is fine:

[Name of Recruiter],

Thanks very much for your help throughout the recruiting process so far. I enjoyed meeting [names of people] on my callback, and am glad I had the opportunity to learn about [Firm Name].

Unfortunately, however, I have decided to accept an offer with another firm, and as a result I will have to decline my offer.

Thanks again for considering me, and please feel free to get in touch if you need any other information from me.

Regards,
[Name]

Anonymous User wrote:Best way to phrase it? Ideas?

Don't email. Use phone

Patriot1208 wrote:Is it just me or is emailing to turn down an offer in poor taste?

Very.

Patriot1208 wrote:Is it just me or is emailing to turn down an offer in poor taste?

It's not just you.

It's not like they'll be offended, but your giving up a lot of potential goodwill. I still keep in touch (occasionally) with a lawyer from a firm I ended up turning down, largely as a result of the fact I called to decline my offer and we had a good conversation and he encouraged me to keep in touch. It's not like he's now my friend, but I would feel comfortable emailing him if I needed to, and I would have had a good contact if I had changed my mind after my summer and decided to re-recruit during 3L (happens more often than you think, and having a contact can get you fast-tracked to callbacks).

how about withdrawing pre-decision from a firm via email?

Anonymous User wrote:how about withdrawing pre-decision from a firm via email?

I still say make the phone call. Things like vocal inflection do not come across well on email. The firm will thank you and likely think of you as a professional. You never know when you'll cross paths again.

I sent (nice, slightly longer + explanatory) emails, and got great responses across the board, including encouragement to join the firm fulltime if my current summer SA isn't a good fit.

Would rather get a message like that in email than over the phone, as it is probably easier to act on in the future.

I don't think phone calls are always the answer. I declined one of my offers by phone because I had been in a lot of contact with the hiring partner and felt it would have been rude to email. I declined another offer by email because I'd had very little contact with the recruiter or any partners and didn't think they'd care one way or the other. People are capable of judging for themselves when the situation calls for a phone call versus an email.

I think people advocate too strongly for phone calls on TLS. These recruiters are probably dealing with dozens of applicants right now; they don't need to talk to you, and you will likely get their voicemail anyway. Email makes it easier for them to keep track of things and address them when it's convenient to them.

dixiecupdrinking wrote:I think people advocate too strongly for phone calls on TLS. These recruiters are probably dealing with dozens&nbsp;of applicants right now; they don't need to talk to you, and you will likely get their voicemail anyway. Email makes it easier for them to keep track of things and address them when it's convenient to them.

+1

There's this strange set of best practices on TLS that doesn't really apply in the real world. Look at the men's clothing thread for just one example (if you don't have a Brooks Brothers suit and some Allen Edmonds shoes, then you can't get a job apparently). End of the day, nobody is going to look back in 5 years and be like this kid e-mailed instead of calling, don't hire him! If there's a partner out there who you want to keep in touch with, then yeah, give them a call and let them know about your decision. But even career services at CLS said emailing or calling (doesn't matter which) the recruiter is fine and that getting in touch with partners is not necessary.

As for the whole "the legal world is a small community!" thing, you can go an entire career without meeting people in your own average NYC biglaw firm. It's really not that small. If you honestly think that you're limiting your opportunities by e-mailing instead of calling, then you're not putting enough faith in your own credentials and abilities. End of the day, yeah, any chance to network is one wisely taken. But choosing not to network when you don't want to isn't going to screw you over.

Anonymous User wrote:

dixiecupdrinking wrote:I think people advocate too strongly for phone calls on TLS. These recruiters are probably dealing with dozens&nbsp;of applicants right now; they don't need to talk to you, and you will likely get their voicemail anyway. Email makes it easier for them to keep track of things and address them when it's convenient to them.

+1

There's this strange set of best practices on TLS that doesn't really apply in the real world. Look at the men's clothing thread for just one example (if you don't have a Brooks Brothers suit and some Allen Edmonds shoes, then you can't get a job apparently). End of the day, nobody is going to look back in 5 years and be like this kid e-mailed instead of calling, don't hire him! If there's a partner out there who you want to keep in touch with, then yeah, give them a call and let them know about your decision. But even career services at CLS said emailing or calling (doesn't matter which) the recruiter is fine and that getting in touch with partners is not necessary.

As for the whole "the legal world is a small community!" thing, you can go an entire career without meeting people in your own average NYC biglaw firm. It's really not that small. If you honestly think that you're limiting your opportunities by e-mailing instead of calling, then you're not putting enough faith in your own credentials and abilities. End of the day, yeah, any chance to network is one wisely taken. But choosing not to network when you don't want to isn't going to screw you over.

Whether or not emailing is acceptable is a different question than whether or not it is the best practice. There seems to be this weird movement in our generation to move away from simple and unobtrusive politeness for no other reason than to avoid interaction with another human being. Being the type of person that calls instead of emailing, personalizes notes, etc will help you throughout every area of your life.

Also, i've read the men's clothing thread and either you haven't or you just can't comprehend what you read because never did anyone say you needed an expensive suit or expensive shoes. There are always posts about good suits and shoes in the different prices ranges. BB and AE just happen to be two of the most popular brands.

just don't be a dick, no one will care, and your e-mail will be skimmed. if you are worried about being a good person, there are a lot of other things you can do that are more important. more likely, you are worried that maybe you will need this firm down the road. no one will remember your vocally inflected phone call

underdawg wrote:just don't be a dick, no one will care, and your e-mail will be skimmed. if you are worried about being a good person, there are a lot of other things you can do that are more important. more likely, you are worried that maybe you will need this firm down the road. no one will remember your vocally inflected phone call

This. Stop sweating the small stuff, seriously.

Patriot1208 wrote: Whether or not emailing is acceptable is a different question than whether or not it is the best practice. There seems to be this weird movement in our generation to move away from simple and unobtrusive politeness for no other reason than to avoid interaction with another human being. Being the type of person that calls instead of emailing, personalizes notes, etc will help you throughout every area of your life.

I talked to a partner at a V50 firm (in a market to which I wasn't targeting) about this. He told me that it's usually not that big of a deal either way, but that he really prefers e-mail since it cuts down on the awkwardness and also, somebody isn't calling him in the middle of the day (when it might not be the best time to talk) to turn down his firm—when that could just has easily been handled via e-mail. He told me to absolutely call for an acceptance. I don't think it's about being the type of person who calls instead of e-mailing—it's about being the type of person who knows when to call and when to e-mail.

Helmholtz wrote:

Patriot1208 wrote: Whether or not emailing is acceptable is a different question than whether or not it is the best practice. There seems to be this weird movement in our generation to move away from simple and unobtrusive politeness for no other reason than to avoid interaction with another human being. Being the type of person that calls instead of emailing, personalizes notes, etc will help you throughout every area of your life.

I talked to a partner at a V50 firm (in a market to which I wasn't targeting) about this. He told me that it's usually not that big of a deal either way, but that he really prefers e-mail since it cuts down on the awkwardness and also, somebody isn't calling him in the middle of the day (when it might not be the best time to talk) to turn down his firm—when that could just has easily been handled via e-mail. He told me to absolutely call for an acceptance. I don't think it's about being the type of person who calls instead of e-mailing—it's about being the type of person who knows when to call and when to e-mail.

That's fair. I'm not saying that doing one over the other in any instance will likely hurt you professionally. Simply that, in general, taking two extra minutes and being friendly can do nothing but be helpful. One of the things your partner brought up was it being awkward and that's kind of the point, you should have the ability to keep it from being awkward. But that post was more of comment on a lot of practices I see these days with our generation in professional settings.