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Anyone know how long a conflict check for a lateral attorney takes? Any chance of offer being rescinded? Trying to figure out when to give notice.

h2go wrote:Anyone know how long a conflict check for a lateral attorney takes? Any chance of offer being rescinded? Trying to figure out when to give notice.

Depends on firm you are going to - if bigger, conflicts db may be an easy search, but subsequent follow ups with responsible attorney may take longer. In smaller office, could be slower just getting a response, but could go incredibly quick too - 1-2 days. Offer can definitely be rescinded for conflicts (in fact, offer is probably contingent on conflicts, so not really rescinded at all).

Don't give notice until you confirm 100% that conflicts are completely clear.

It's a large V50 firm and my practice is corporate. The offer was contingent on conflicts, background, and references. I'm curious how often an offer gets withdrawn due to conflicts issues because I still need to notify my current firm references.

h2go wrote:Anyone know how long a conflict check for a lateral attorney takes? Any chance of offer being rescinded? Trying to figure out when to give notice.

I have lateraled twice. Conflicts were unpleasant. My conflicts check/clearing conflicts took nearly a month both times. The first time, my offer was nearly rescinded because of a partner in an unrelated practice group fearing that my prior representation of X would negatively impact his current representation of Y. The second time, I learned that the conflicts department at my firm was not being forthcoming about what sort of screens were put in place about me, and it was holding up my conflicts clearing.

Sorry it was a pain, but thanks for the information.

h2go wrote:Sorry it was a pain, but thanks for the information.

No problem. I'd be patient for a couple weeks, but if it drags on for more than 2 weeks, I would ping recruiting and see what is going on and to see if they need further information from you to move things along. I hated to bug them, but I am glad I did. I went through a few in-depth interviews with some risk management folks after pinging...and then conflicts cleared shortly after I could explain or otherwise handle the issues.

I have lateraled several times in corporate. Most firms deal pretty well with putting up ethical walls, so I doubt your offer would be rescinded. I would not give notice until you have an offer letter in hand. I've seen $hit happen--all of a sudden firms decide that the associate they thought they desperately needed right away should be postponed. Also, take a week off in between jobs. Long run, it won't matter, but it's so nice.

Conflicts for me have taken 2-4 weeks, but I have many years of experience and I just list all the matters. It's a lot.

I have lateraled several times in corporate. Most firms deal pretty well with putting up ethical walls, so I doubt your offer would be rescinded. I would not give notice until you have an offer letter in hand. I've seen $hit happen--all of a sudden firms decide that the associate they thought they desperately needed right away should be postponed. Also, take a week off in between jobs. Long run, it won't matter, but it's so nice.

Conflicts for me have taken 2-4 weeks, but I have many years of experience and I just list all the matters. It's a lot.

I'm currently going through this process, and I haven't been able to find any guidance on what information, if anything, I should not include on the conflict check form. For example, should I include all deals I have billed time to, even if they are confidential and/or sensitive (confidential acquisition finance or big name IPOs, etc.)? Or should I only include deals that have concluded and/or been announced? Sorry if this is a stupid question, just really confused and don't want to hold up the process much longer than I already have. I also don't have an offer yet, so to what extent will going through the conflicts process raise flags at my current firm (since I saw above a mention of the conflicts department being contacted)?

Anonymous User wrote:I'm currently going through this process, and I haven't been able to find any guidance on what information, if anything, I should not include on the conflict check form. For example, should I include all deals I have billed time to, even if they are confidential and/or sensitive (confidential acquisition finance or big name IPOs, etc.)? Or should I only include deals that have concluded and/or been announced? Sorry if this is a stupid question, just really confused and don't want to hold up the process much longer than I already have. I also don't have an offer yet, so to what extent will going through the conflicts process raise flags at my current firm (since I saw above a mention of the conflicts department being contacted)?

Sorry for reviving a dead thread, but I have the same question as above. Also what if the time was never billed to the client because it was written off?