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At the conclusion of my summer, I received an offer from my summer firm. Since then, I have been pursuing other firm options for the sole reason of improving exit options. I am planning to do corporate. I mass mailed firms with better exit options and received one screener from a highly-ranked firm with subsequent silence for over a week.

I am getting so nervous about leaving the offer open. I am terrified the firm is going to rescind it even though it is a NALP firm so is supposedly bound by the November 1 rule. The recent spike in no offers reported on this board has got me worried. It makes me think the economy is going to shit, and if my firm has a bad August, maybe they will rescind my offer. I alternate between telling myself this is irrational and believing it's possible.

I could really use some moral support from people who have been through 3L hiring before and left their summer firms offers open.

Also, are exit options really that different?

Did you land the screener out of OCI? Do you realistically think you have a shot at this firm? Absent a cataclysmic event, I rather doubt your offer will get pulled, but cataclysmic events do happen. Ask c/o 2009.

IAFG wrote:Did you land the screener out of OCI? Do you realistically think you have a shot at this firm? Absent a cataclysmic event, I rather doubt your offer will get pulled, but cataclysmic events do happen. Ask c/o 2009.

The screener was the result of a resume drop, so they selected me.

Ugh, well I guess I am not going to figure this out tonight but would like moar opinionz

If the firms are in different markets, I'd just accept. In that case, there is a very low chance that backing out will ever hurt you.

If they are in the same market, know that your SA firm will almost certainly never be willing to hire you back. Also, if one of the partners that knew you moves to a new firm and is involved with recruting, you'll have a hard time getting in to that firm as well. That said, people move firms all the time. Quitting a job closes doors, and that should be considered, but if firm B offers a better life for you, I would go for it.

Bump...anyone?

Accept and continue to interview if you want to. NALP is aspirational. The rules did not exist when I was in school and a dozen students had offers rescinded or were dragged along into the spring with a "we'll see" mentality. Firms are profit-seeking enterprises looking out for number one; no reason you shouldn't act the same.

edit: And if it's not obvious, when I say the rules did not exist, I mean they were on the books but simply not followed by firms.

ggocat wrote:Accept and continue to interview if you want to. NALP is aspirational. The rules did not exist when I was in school and a dozen students had offers rescinded or were dragged along into the spring with a "we'll see" mentality. Firms are profit-seeking enterprises looking out for number one; no reason you shouldn't act the same.

This, you don't owe them shit and they don't owe you shit

You won't hurt any feelings, and they won't care about yours

Do what is in your best interest

Even after you accept, the firm could rescind your offer or delay your start date, so your fears really aren't justified, IMO. Whether you accept now or wait till close to the deadline is up to you, but it'll have no bearing on whether or not you actually end up working at that firm.

Aqualibrium wrote:Even after you accept, the firm could rescind your offer or delay your start date, so your fears really aren't justified, IMO. Whether you accept now or wait till close to the deadline is up to you, but it'll have no bearing on whether or not you actually end up working at that firm.

Just want to point out for the record that this line of thinking, while fine in the major markets like NY or LA, could cause problems in some of the more insular mid-size and small markets.

^
This is in a major market.

Soooo, crazy update: on Monday I was flying and when I landed, I had a voicemail....I didn't listen to it right away bc I assumed it was my mom or something.....turns out it was the highly-ranked firm, and I have a CB but it is not until September. I am very excited and think this is a great opportunity but the wait is going to be hard!

I'd love to hear from anyone who went through 3L hiring but ended up back at their old firm...how were you received? Obviously I am hoping to end up at the new firm, but I have no idea how many they are hiring

Anonymous User wrote:^
This is in a major market.

Soooo, crazy update: on Monday I was flying and when I landed, I had a voicemail....I didn't listen to it right away bc I assumed it was my mom or something.....turns out it was the highly-ranked firm, and I have a CB but it is not until September. I am very excited and think this is a great opportunity but the wait is going to be hard!

I'd love to hear from anyone who went through 3L hiring but ended up back at their old firm...how were you received? Obviously I am hoping to end up at the new firm, but I have no idea how many they are hiring

I have been through this but I don't like sharing all the details in a forum. PM if interested.

Anonymous User wrote:^
This is in a major market.

Soooo, crazy update: on Monday I was flying and when I landed, I had a voicemail....I didn't listen to it right away bc I assumed it was my mom or something.....turns out it was the highly-ranked firm, and I have a CB but it is not until September. I am very excited and think this is a great opportunity but the wait is going to be hard!

I'd love to hear from anyone who went through 3L hiring but ended up back at their old firm...how were you received? Obviously I am hoping to end up at the new firm, but I have no idea how many they are hiring

Was the "highly-ranked firm" Skadden? They collected resumes and selectively screened at CLS.

Anonymous User wrote:^
This is in a major market.

Word. That was more for others who read this thread later, skip to the substance and end up thinking something along the lines of "I'll just accept with Firm A and interview with Firm B, because fuck them it's just a business decision." when there are only 3 firms in town to begin with. Could make for some awkward interactions going forward.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:^
This is in a major market.

Soooo, crazy update: on Monday I was flying and when I landed, I had a voicemail....I didn't listen to it right away bc I assumed it was my mom or something.....turns out it was the highly-ranked firm, and I have a CB but it is not until September. I am very excited and think this is a great opportunity but the wait is going to be hard!

I'd love to hear from anyone who went through 3L hiring but ended up back at their old firm...how were you received? Obviously I am hoping to end up at the new firm, but I have no idea how many they are hiring

Was the "highly-ranked firm" Skadden? They collected resumes and selectively screened at CLS.

I don't want to out the firm but not Skadden

f7u12 wrote:

IAFG wrote:Did you land the screener out of OCI? Do you realistically think you have a shot at this firm? Absent a cataclysmic event, I rather doubt your offer will get pulled, but cataclysmic events do happen. Ask c/o 2009.

+1. And it's not like they don't already know what OP is trying to do (i.e., upgrade).

OP here. Yeah, I think my summer firm knows what is up. I am just hoping that if I accept my summer firm in September, they won't hold it against me in the future. They could say 'screw you, you disloyal traitor' or they could want me more because I am desirable to other firms or they couldn't give a shit. Who knows?

patrickd139 wrote:

Aqualibrium wrote:Even after you accept, the firm could rescind your offer or delay your start date, so your fears really aren't justified, IMO. Whether you accept now or wait till close to the deadline is up to you, but it'll have no bearing on whether or not you actually end up working at that firm.

Just want to point out for the record that this line of thinking, while fine in the major markets like NY or LA, could cause problems in some of the more insular mid-size and small markets.

That wasn't my point; I actually am opposed to the accept now and fuck em later approach--honesty and communication is the best policy IMO. My point was that OP's concern about having the offer rescinded if he waited too long to accept is really unnecessary because his offer could be rescinded or the terms of his employment could be altered by the firm at any point, even after he accepted so why worry about it.

Aqualibrium wrote:

patrickd139 wrote:

Aqualibrium wrote:Even after you accept, the firm could rescind your offer or delay your start date, so your fears really aren't justified, IMO. Whether you accept now or wait till close to the deadline is up to you, but it'll have no bearing on whether or not you actually end up working at that firm.

Just want to point out for the record that this line of thinking, while fine in the major markets like NY or LA, could cause problems in some of the more insular mid-size and small markets.

That wasn't my point; I actually am opposed to the accept now and fuck em later approach--honesty and communication is the best policy IMO. My point was that OP's concern about having the offer rescinded if he waited too long to accept is really unnecessary because his offer could be rescinded or the terms of his employment could be altered by the firm at any point, even after he accepted so why worry about it.

My bad, that post meant to quote ggocat, not you.

Anonymous User wrote:^
This is in a major market.

Soooo, crazy update: on Monday I was flying and when I landed, I had a voicemail....I didn't listen to it right away bc I assumed it was my mom or something.....turns out it was the highly-ranked firm, and I have a CB but it is not until September. I am very excited and think this is a great opportunity but the wait is going to be hard!

I'd love to hear from anyone who went through 3L hiring but ended up back at their old firm...how were you received? Obviously I am hoping to end up at the new firm, but I have no idea how many they are hiring

I did this last year when I was pursuing a consulting option. However, the consulting interview schedules didn't work out with me being able to tell my firm yes/no by Nov. 1, so I accepted my firm's offer 6 weeks after they gave me the offer. I was honest and said I needed time to make sure this was what I wanted to do. When I finally accepted they acted happy, and that was that. In my case there would be very little "fall out" because the person I worked with was the recruiting coordinator, who isn't going to go in and convince all the partners I suck because I took a few extra weeks to decide. I wasn't emailing partners or associates and telling them my every move, but when a couple of associates emailed me I told them I was thinking about consulting. Also, by the time I start working in November, no one is going to remember this anyway, and they'll just have the most recent class of SAs in their minds.