I'm summer in my dream practice group at a great firm. I love the people I work with and the work actually interests me. They've told us they don't carry debt and are one of the more conservative firms from a business perspective. But, throughout the summer different associates and junior partners have mentioned how much worse the firm was hit during the recession than its competitors and how it had to lay off a lot more people than most because it lost more clients. They also keep stressing the need to run a lean budget and how they don't do things like submit meal reimbursements or car receipts to curry favor with senior partners they know are under stress to keep clients.
Now the summer is winding down and while I haven't heard from them if I got an offer, I've been offered interviews with some other firms in related practice groups. Not my absolute dream practice group, but very similar groups. These other firms have rock-solid reputations for stability and did much better than most firms, from outward appearances. Assuming I get multiple offers from my summer firm and one or more of these other firms, I'm torn. One hand, I love the people and work at my summer firm and don't know if I would like the people or work as much at the other firms. On the other hand, I want to protect myself as best as I can by working for a firm that is unlikely to have layoffs or face severe financial stress.
How can I tactfully ask my summer firm for more details about its financial health without seeming like I'm ungrateful for the money they already spent on me this summer? I was thinking of asking things like what the average hours were for my particular practice group or what our realization rate is relative to the entire firm. Or how our group and office revenue has been trending since the depths of the recession. Also, our practice groups are fairly insular and it's looked down upon to do work for other groups, so I was thinking of asking if I could use down time to work for a related practice group instead of doing extra pro bono or non-billable training like the associates tend to do?
Post-offer questions Forum
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