asking to switch offices Forum

[Anonymous User]

Hey everyone,

I have a SA offer with the HQ office of an east coast V50. I have also been applying to firms in a west coast market (I have a pretty good reason for wanting to be out there). When I was at the offer dinner for this east coast firm, a partner at dinner with me told me to let him know if I decided to be on the west coast so that we could talk about putting me at that firm's satellite office out there. That was about two weeks ago (and the partner was pretty drunk at this dinner).

My question now is, how to I start a conversation about potentially switching offices? The partner who I screened with reached out to me to ask how my decision is going, so should I ask him? Or reach out to recruiting? I'm trying not to start the summer off as the guy who didn't ideally want to be in this east coast office if I end up starting there.

What about splitting? When NALP says a firm does not allow splits, does that just mean they don't let summers split with other firms (as opposed to same firm, two offices)?

Any advice would be really appreciated. I hope everyone's recruiting process/new academic year is going well. Thanks a lot.

[5ky]

You can politely ask recruiting if they do any splits with other offices.

It would be a red flag if you asked to simply switch offices before even starting your SA.

[Anonymous User]

Not to hijack this thread, but does anyone have any familiarity with Sidley office transfers between 2L SA offer and starting full time?

[Anonymous User]

bump. In a similar situation. SA at a V50 in Boston, hoping to transfer to NYC office upon returning to the firm to join a practice area that is much more active there than Boston.

Do stats matter for this? (GPA, LR, etc.)?

[favabeansoup]

bump. In a similar situation. SA at a V50 in Boston, hoping to transfer to NYC office upon returning to the firm to join a practice area that is much more active there than Boston.

Do stats matter for this? (GPA, LR, etc.)?

Fact of the matter is you guys got hired for the office you are doing your SA at. Sure, ask the firm if they have any openings in the other office for when you will graduate, but it's going to be the exception, not the norm, that you can do that successfully.

What about splitting? When NALP says a firm does not allow splits, does that just mean they don't let summers split with other firms (as opposed to same firm, two offices)?

Splitting usually means two different firms, not same firm and 2 different offices. Ask recruiting NOW about splitting your summer between the east + west coast offices and if that is a thing (while mentioning partner conversation).

Best you could get would be a split not getting out of the east coast entirely. With a split summer scenario in two offices you'd likely get an offer to go back to either depending on the firm.

[Anonymous User]

at my firm, you can split between two of the firm's different offices, but you have to get separate offers at both -- so it's not something you can just ask about after the fact.

we have plenty of people who do it. at the end of the summer, they get two separate offers, one for each office.

[Anonymous User]

Had a friend who split at 2 Skadden offices

[Anonymous User]

I got an offer for a vault ny firm, and after I got the offer, but before I accepted the offer I asked to split between offices of that firm. They said they would check to see if a split was possible. Then I accepted the offer and after that they said I could split. They were nice and very accommodating. This will obviously vary by firm, but I didn't see a harm in asking. The firm does, however, advertise that they are amenable to office splits. Check your firm's website.

[Anonymous User]

at my firm, you can split between two of the firm's different offices, but you have to get separate offers at both -- so it's not something you can just ask about after the fact.

we have plenty of people who do it. at the end of the summer, they get two separate offers, one for each office.

A lot of firms have this policy, but it's not a hard rule. If you ask after and have a genuine reason for wanting to split, they'll probably entertain it because it makes it less likely you'll do 3L OCI to switch markets.