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I am toying with the idea of accepting a SA position only to try and target my ideal market during 3L. I did not get an offer from my ideal market this cycle. That said, do people ever do this? I.e., do a SA at a firm, accept full time offer, then keep looking for a better fit during 3L? [and, if fruitful, renege the full time offer; "I know I accepted but I found another job"]

People take SAs with the intention of applying for other things as a 3L (usually government), but the reneging is where things get really iffy. Opinions vary on how big of a deal reneging is, but it's probably safe to say that it definitely burns your bridges with that firm if nothing else.

Yes go for it. There is zero ethical issue with it. If you suck at your job you will get canned at any time. If the job sucks, you should find something else instead of being miserable. firms and employees do this all the time.

TheSpanishMain wrote:People take SAs with the intention of applying for other things as a 3L (usually government), but the reneging is where things get really iffy. Opinions vary on how big of a deal reneging is, but it's probably safe to say that it definitely burns your bridges with that firm if nothing else.

I don't think anyone really thinks reneging is a big deal? There are a lot of people on TLS who go through the 3L OCI process, even when they got a 2L SA and got an offer from that firm.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

TheSpanishMain wrote:People take SAs with the intention of applying for other things as a 3L (usually government), but the reneging is where things get really iffy. Opinions vary on how big of a deal reneging is, but it's probably safe to say that it definitely burns your bridges with that firm if nothing else.

I don't think anyone really thinks reneging is a big deal? There are a lot of people on TLS who go through the 3L OCI process, even when they got a 2L SA and got an offer from that firm.

To whatever extent it is a big deal, it's a slightly bigger deal that you accepted the full-time offer and then renege, rather than just doing an SA and then looking elsewhere.

Everyone I talked to about this had until October/November to accept their full-time offers from their SA. Most firms know that lots of people look around.

I'm going through this dilemma also, I didn't get an offer from my target market either. Does anyone know whether firms in the desired market, with which I had CB interviews, would reconsider during 3L OCI, if they have a need? Or would a ding at the CB stage automatically preclude future employment with that firm?

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

TheSpanishMain wrote:People take SAs with the intention of applying for other things as a 3L (usually government), but the reneging is where things get really iffy. Opinions vary on how big of a deal reneging is, but it's probably safe to say that it definitely burns your bridges with that firm if nothing else.

I don't think anyone really thinks reneging is a big deal? There are a lot of people on TLS who go through the 3L OCI process, even when they got a 2L SA and got an offer from that firm.

I've heard from a few people that, at least at their firms, reneging would be a very bad look and the firm would definitely shitmouth the person if asked. That might vary from firm to firm, and it might be less of an issue in a large legal market. In a small market, though, I can see word getting around that you bailed and having that be an issue.

But yeah, I'm just passing along the impressions of others. YMMV, OP.

I switched firms during 3L OCI, but since I was interviewing elsewhere I just didn't accept my SA offer immediately. Biglaw firms generally give you until October 1st. It was a little awkward at the end of the summer (have you accepted yet? why not??), but I was uncomfortable accepting when there was a real possibility I'd have to renege.

You may ultimately decide to accept and then renege if you continue interviewing past October 1st, but I don't know how much hiring actually happens after that point.