Asking about offer rates Forum

[Anonymous User]

I recently received an offer from a small office of a biglaw firm. This particular office is not listed on NALP Directory, and I would likely be the only summer associate there. The pay is the same as NYC and it is in a region that I want to end up in, so it seems like a pretty sweet deal. However, I am kind of worried about the offer rate at this particular office because the offer letter states that whether they will extend an offer for a position after graduation will depend on an evaluation of my work and "other circumstances" of the office at that time; it goes on to explicitly state that they do not guarantee that an offer will be extended at the end of the summer. I am not sure if this is just boilerplate or if this is something I should be worried about, and the fact that there is no past offer-rate data on NALP Directory isn't comforting either.

I assume that since I already have an offer I can ask whatever I want, but if anyone has experience with this, I'd be interested in hearing how exactly you went about asking for the offer rates of a particular office for the past several years. Also, any advice as to whether the wording of the letter is typical would be helpful as well.

[BVest]

I recently received an offer from a small office of a biglaw firm. This particular office is not listed on NALP Directory, and I would likely be the only summer associate there. The pay is the same as NYC and it is in a region that I want to end up in, so it seems like a pretty sweet deal. However, I am kind of worried about the offer rate at this particular office because the offer letter states that whether they will extend an offer for a position after graduation will depend on an evaluation of my work and "other circumstances" of the office at that time; it goes on to explicitly state that they do not guarantee that an offer will be extended at the end of the summer. I am not sure if this is just boilerplate or if this is something I should be worried about, and the fact that there is no past offer-rate data on NALP Directory isn't comforting either.

I assume that since I already have an offer I can ask whatever I want, but if anyone has experience with this, I'd be interested in hearing how exactly you went about asking for the offer rates of a particular office for the past several years. Also, any advice as to whether the wording of the letter is typical would be helpful as well.

I actually asked this during screeners or CBs, as a followup to a series of questions about their summer program (All in one section? Assigned a mentor? Number of summers? etc.) Once I knew the number of summers, I would couch it in terms of future direction of the office in question vis a vis growth and attrition. It's possible it hurt me, but it was usually well-received by my interviewers and a couple commented on my being the first interviewee more concerned with the future beyond just the summer.

Anyway that's how I did it, and it could be done post-offer as well, possibly in a conversation with an associate or partner.

[Anonymous User]

This is how it is everywhere (without the disclaimer in the letter). Can you reach out to a first year or someone a 3L? You could ask a first year how the summer was, and whether they were walking on egg shells. This will allow you to ask the question in an organic way socially to someone who has 0 input on whether you get an offer. Also, everyone knows you're concerned about this. It's a duh, obviously important thing to know. If you hint at it they'll tell you.

[Anonymous User]

This is how it is everywhere (without the disclaimer in the letter). Can you reach out to a first year or someone a 3L? You could ask a first year how the summer was, and whether they were walking on egg shells. This will allow you to ask the question in an organic way socially to someone who has 0 input on whether you get an offer. Also, everyone knows you're concerned about this. It's a duh, obviously important thing to know. If you hint at it they'll tell you.

This office unfortunately does not bring in SAs every year, and I doubt that anyone from my school has worked there. Accordingly, there are no freshly-minted associates or upperclassmen to ask about their experience.

Also, are you saying that the disclaimer is normal but just generally not explicitly stated, or is it unusual and something I should be worried about?

[Anonymous User]

Regional biglaw associate here. Unfortunately, regional offices don't play by the same rules that major offices do. We've had lots of summers learn that the hard way. I'd ask up front. If you're on the fence, think hard about how important the 100% offer rate is to you. More than one no-offered summer has called me pissed off and said "I could have gone to [x firm] in [New York/Chicago/San Francisco], and they have a 100% offer rate." I'm sure they wish they had asked up front.

(I have no input on offers, these summers are usually calling to see if I have backstory of if I can be a reference).

[09042014]

You can ask, but that is boilerplate SA language.