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I finished up my 2L SA within the past week and was taken aback when my last day came and went with no meeting about my performance and future with the firm. Partners walked by my office toward the close of business, peeked in, and said "thanks" and "good luck" and the like, but that was it. I cleaned off my desk and left just like any other day. This is a firm with three or fewer SA's in a non-primary market.

To be honest, I don't care much about the no-offer itself (I had been planning to take a different job anyway, which probably led to the apathy and lack of production that generated the no-offer), but I do find it offensive that a partner or two couldn't show the courtesy of meeting with me briefly and discussing their decision. I had amicable working relationships with them during the summer, and my work product was good even if my production was below-average (but not terrible). I guess I can't be too upset over it, but I do find myself becoming increasingly annoyed the more I think about how things transpired--or didn't transpire.

Thoughts? Should I tell the CSO, as if they care? Any similar stories?

Out the firm.

User has been outed.

I'm confused...were you no-offered, or just not told of your future at all? If it's the latter, maybe they haven't made decisions yet? Every firm is different, but mine didn't tell us until mid-September.

dolia wrote:I'm confused...were you no-offered, or just not told of your future at all? If it's the latter, maybe they haven't made decisions yet? Every firm is different, but mine didn't tell us until mid-September.

+1 , doesn't sound like anything definitive either way. Did they represent to you that there may be an offer of employment? Is this a big/small market firm? What size firm? How many SAs? Hard to really tell at this point. Most people ask about the offer process at some point in the summer. Did you? Did you tell anyone you were taking another job?

You can tell CSO if you like, but if you don't care about getting an offer I'd just move on.

dolia wrote:I'm confused...were you no-offered, or just not told of your future at all? If it's the latter, maybe they haven't made decisions yet? Every firm is different, but mine didn't tell us until mid-September.

OP here. Sorry, I should have been more clear: the firm has not told me of my future at all, and I suppose I made the leap to assuming that was a no offer. The firm has not indicated that they will contact me later or be in touch or anything of that nature. I had no performance review during or after the summer. The only feedback I received was from individual partners. While that was all positive, I know that I was slow on some work and maybe was not the best personality fit. I suppose I'm making the no-offer assumption based on all of those factors, primarily the fact that they made no mention that there would be future contact between us.

To answer another poster's question: I inquired about expectations at the callback phase last fall. They indicated that they select SA's with full intent to offer permanent employment.

Anonymous User wrote:Out the firm.

User has been outed.

I wouldn't just put the burden on the firm. You also have to take initiative. Maybe someone thought someone else was supposed to tell you about it, and there was some miscommunication. Who knows...

Take some initiative, knock on some doors, and ask what is going on. Of course, do it in an overwhelmingly professional way. You are mad at the firm for being passive-aggressive, yet you haven't done anything to pursue whether or not you have an offer.

OP here. Sorry, I should have been more clear: the firm has not told me of my future at all, and I suppose I made the leap to assuming that was a no offer. The firm has not indicated that they will contact me later or be in touch or anything of that nature. I had no performance review during or after the summer. The only feedback I received was from individual partners. While that was all positive, I know that I was slow on some work and maybe was not the best personality fit. I suppose I'm making the no-offer assumption based on all of those factors, primarily the fact that they made no mention that there would be future contact between us.

To answer another poster's question: I inquired about expectations at the callback phase last fall. They indicated that they select SA's with full intent to offer permanent employmen

Definitely don't assume anything. I had to ask the firm's legal recruiter when we'd be finding out about offers and even then she was pretty vague, but at least told me that a definitive yes or no would be coming in the future. If your firm has a legal recruiter or coordinator send her an email letting her know how positive your experience was over the summer and asking when you could expect an official answer on future employment. If there isn't one, did you have an associate or partner mentor? What about other people in your SA class, were they already given offers/no-offers?

Did it occur to you that the partners knocking on your door to say thanks were inviting you to start a conversation about your future?
Even in your forum posts you sound very apathetic about this firm or whether you get an offer there.

You said that there was 3 or fewer SAs at the firm. Maybe the firm does not have a formal feedback process for the SA program and thus your feedback fell through the cracks. Did the other SA(s) get any information on the offer process or final feedback?