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Anonymous User wrote:i had a regionally reputable law firm cancel my interview under similar circumstances except that i didn't even ask for reimbursement. booked my own $400+ flight when they extended callback date about a week out and they cancelled the interview the morning of my flight (day before scheduled interview).

shitty law firms all out themselves at some point. it's best that it happens before you start working there.

Anonymous User wrote:Hi all,

I am in the process of interviewing for a post-clerkship job. Recently one of the law firms to which I sent my resume contacted me to set up an interview date. The firm is not in my area and would require me to take a day off work, drive 8 hours to and fro, so I asked for a reimbursement of reasonable traveling expenses. In response, the firm declined the request and cancelled the interview. I am not losing sleep over this firm but I thought reimbursement for traveling expenses is standard nowadays.

Anonymous User wrote:Could be nothing and just a coincidence - Maybe someone with veto power saw your application and didn't think you were a good fit so they pulled the interview and this just happened to coincide with you asking for reimbursement.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Could be nothing and just a coincidence - Maybe someone with veto power saw your application and didn't think you were a good fit so they pulled the interview and this just happened to coincide with you asking for reimbursement.

OP here.

There is only one partner in this firm. He stated that "my communication with the firm," which so far was an email setting up interview date and another for travel reimbursement, makes he thinks I am not a good fit. So I doubt that it doesn't have to do with the reimbursement request.

rpupkin wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Hi all,

I am in the process of interviewing for a post-clerkship job. Recently one of the law firms to which I sent my resume contacted me to set up an interview date. The firm is not in my area and would require me to take a day off work, drive 8 hours to and fro, so I asked for a reimbursement of reasonable traveling expenses. In response, the firm declined the request and cancelled the interview. I am not losing sleep over this firm but I thought reimbursement for traveling expenses is standard nowadays.

Is it possible the firm thought of this interview as a screener? Firms generally don't reimburse travel expenses for screening interviews.

You also asked: "Should I just have been silent about this and shoulder the traveling costs?"

It it a firm you really wanted to work at for one reason or another? Then, yeah, you should have. But if it was just one of many interchangeable firms to which you were applying, and if you're not worried about finding employment somewhere, then I think it made sense for you to cancel.

star fox wrote:Sounds like it wasn't a great fit. Is this some 5 attorney "firm"? I wouldn't expect something like that to reimburse for travel expenses.

Anonymous User wrote: Op here. Thanks for the suggestion. Yeah this was a screener. I initially planned to suggest a phone interview if the firm is not willing to help with the traveling costs for the screener, but they preemptively canceled upon seeing my request. Weird thing is all the other out-of-town firms I have interviewed with volunteer to reimburse. But from the tone of the firm's cancellation email you would have thought I was asking for something outrageous.

rpupkin wrote:

Anonymous User wrote: Op here. Thanks for the suggestion. Yeah this was a screener. I initially planned to suggest a phone interview if the firm is not willing to help with the traveling costs for the screener, but they preemptively canceled upon seeing my request. Weird thing is all the other out-of-town firms I have interviewed with volunteer to reimburse. But from the tone of the firm's cancellation email you would have thought I was asking for something outrageous.

I think it's odd that they canceled instead of simply telling you that the firm doesn't reimburse for screeners. Unlike large firms, many smaller firms and boutiques insist on in-person screeners.

I have one bit of perspective to add regarding looking for post-clerkship employment at smaller firms and boutiques. While in law school, most of us were focused on big law firms and their OCI recruiting norms. Those norms don't necessarily apply to a lot of the smaller firms that may be worth targeting post-clerkship. (Many folks clerk precisely because it makes them marketable to smaller firms and boutiques.)

If you're looking at smaller firms, I'd alter some of your assumptions. A reaction like "If they won't pay for my travel expenses, I don't want to work there" might make sense in the context of big-law OCI, but that sentiment could foreclose a lot of interesting opportunities if you apply it to your post-clerkship job search. Just a thought.

tyroneslothrop1 wrote:I've driven to several interviews and paid for my own parking. A lot of firms validate your parking. Some just don't say anything about it. Would they have done so if I'd ask? Maybe, but ultimately it didn't feel worth it to push.

Anonymous User wrote:

tyroneslothrop1 wrote:I've driven to several interviews and paid for my own parking. A lot of firms validate your parking. Some just don't say anything about it. Would they have done so if I'd ask? Maybe, but ultimately it didn't feel worth it to push.

OP here. The parking isn't the primary concern. It's more the fact that I would have to drive 8 hours and a little appreciation of interviewee's time in the form of reimbursement would not, I think, be too much to ask.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

tyroneslothrop1 wrote:I've driven to several interviews and paid for my own parking. A lot of firms validate your parking. Some just don't say anything about it. Would they have done so if I'd ask? Maybe, but ultimately it didn't feel worth it to push.

OP here. The parking isn't the primary concern. It's more the fact that I would have to drive 8 hours and a little appreciation of interviewee's time in the form of reimbursement would not, I think, be too much to ask.

I mean, once you get outside of biglaw-land, it's pretty normal for applicants to pay for all interviewing expenses. Reimbursement in that context is great, but not something anyone should feel entitled to - you're the one who applied for a job that would require you to take a day off work to interview. For some firms reimbursement actually is too much to ask.

Anonymous User wrote: I would agree with this sentiment if clerkship or government gig is involved, but private firms work on a different model and not willing to assist traveling's expenses shows how little the firm actually cares about hiring an associate. Mind you candidates have already done their part by actually traveling to the site. And the firm is in a booming practice area, if they cannot do their part and shell out $100 to see the interviewee, I am not hopeful that they would treat their associate much better.

Anonymous User wrote:I would agree with this sentiment if clerkship or government gig is involved, but private firms work on a different model and not willing to assist traveling's expenses shows how little the firm actually cares about hiring an associate. Mind you candidates have already done their part by actually traveling to the site. And the firm is in a booming practice area, if they cannot do their part and shell out $100 to see the interviewee, I am not hopeful that they would treat their associate much better.

Anonymous User wrote:I would agree with this sentiment if clerkship or government gig is involved, but private firms work on a different model and not willing to assist traveling's expenses shows how little the firm actually cares about hiring an associate. Mind you candidates have already done their part by actually traveling to the site. And the firm is in a booming practice area, if they cannot do their part and shell out $100 to see the interviewee, I am not hopeful that they would treat their associate much better.

Anonymous User wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

tyroneslothrop1 wrote:I've driven to several interviews and paid for my own parking. A lot of firms validate your parking. Some just don't say anything about it. Would they have done so if I'd ask? Maybe, but ultimately it didn't feel worth it to push.

OP here. The parking isn't the primary concern. It's more the fact that I would have to drive 8 hours and a little appreciation of interviewee's time in the form of reimbursement would not, I think, be too much to ask.

I mean, once you get outside of biglaw-land, it's pretty normal for applicants to pay for all interviewing expenses. Reimbursement in that context is great, but not something anyone should feel entitled to - you're the one who applied for a job that would require you to take a day off work to interview. For some firms reimbursement actually is too much to ask.

I would agree with this sentiment if clerkship or government gig is involved, but private firms work on a different model and not willing to assist traveling's expenses shows how little the firm actually cares about hiring an associate. Mind you candidates have already done their part by actually traveling to the site. And the firm is in a booming practice area, if they cannot do their part and shell out $100 to see the interviewee, I am not hopeful that they would treat their associate much better.

Anonymous User wrote:I was in Upstate NY for school and got an interview with a small (3-5 lawyers) bankruptcy firm in Long Island, and they cancelled on me shortly after I asked for reimbursement. They may have found out I didn't live in the area and thought it was a problem but my resume was pretty clear where I went to school and I knew one of the lawyers before the interview set up. Never heard from my 'friend' at the firm afterwards again despite several efforts to reach out. If they didn't want to reimburse, a simple no would have sufficed, I didn't demand anything.

People are ass holes.