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Hello TLS,

I recently accepted an offer from a V50 law firm for a summer associate position. I had a bit of an unconventional path to my offer, as I first interviewed with the firm in a smaller city location they have, then in a major market city. I got the offer from the major market and accepted.

Immediately after accepting, the partner who made me the offer gave me the option to do a split summer at both cities. He said that it would be a valuable networking experience and help me learn more about the firm's nationwide operations.

The issue is that I did not like the smaller city as much as I had hoped. I turned down several offers in the major market city to go to this firm, and this is the city were I would like to live long term.

Would saying no to the split summer lower my chances of getting a full time offer after the summer (as in would they already write me off thinking im not open to other opportunities)? Would saying yes mean that they could just make me a full time offer at the smaller market and I miss out on being where I want to be full time? I would greatly value any feedback.

Thank you for your help.

Anonymous User wrote:Hello TLS,

I recently accepted an offer from a V50 law firm for a summer associate position. I had a bit of an unconventional path to my offer, as I first interviewed with the firm in a smaller city location they have, then in a major market city. I got the offer from the major market and accepted.

Immediately after accepting, the partner who made me the offer gave me the option to do a split summer at both cities. He said that it would be a valuable networking experience and help me learn more about the firm's nationwide operations.

The issue is that I did not like the smaller city as much as I had hoped. I turned down several offers in the major market city to go to this firm, and this is the city were I would like to live long term.

Would saying no to the split summer lower my chances of getting a full time offer after the summer (as in would they already write me off thinking im not open to other opportunities)? Would saying yes mean that they could just make me a full time offer at the smaller market and I miss out on being where I want to be full time? I would greatly value any feedback.

Thank you for your help.

I don't think it would lower your chances - on the other hand, I think it would increase your chances. If you stick to the major market office, you could do much more assignments there and network with the associates/partners there. That hopefully would help you get sufficiently good reviews for a permanent offer, all of which may be harder to get with less time. It could also be that the partner asked because from his perspective you seemed interested in both. If you clearly express your interests I think they may understand.