3L with offer - could job shopping get back to firm and destroy good will? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I recently got an offer from the firm I summered at. I had a great experience but for reasons I don't want to get too into for fear of outing myself, I'm interested in checking out other firms (NY only). OCS strongly discouraged me from this as they say it could get back to my employer and destroy good will, and that all the firms are too busy with 2L hiring to pay attention to 3Ls right now anyway. Unfortunately, if I'm going to interview it must either be this month because I'll be studying abroad in the fall, or it would have to be in the spring, at which point I would have had to accept my summer firm's offer and reneg on that. OCS implied that that could seriously destroy my professional reputation and that firms would be unlikely to hire me anyway for continuing to shop around after accepting an offer.

I'm never sure exactly what to think about OCS advice as I know their incentives don't perfectly align with students. Not sure if relevant, but T6 school with poor grades (bottom 1/3rd). Summer firm is V100.

PLEASE DON'T QUOTE

[Anonymous User]

Have you accepted your offer? If so, you probably shouldn't be looking anymore. If not, it's perfectly fine to interview with other firms.

[Anonymous User]

Have you accepted your offer? If so, you probably shouldn't be looking anymore. If not, it's perfectly fine to interview with other firms.

No I haven't accepted yet, and have a month to decide. I'm also concerned that leaving the offer outstanding is essentially signalling that I'm looking elsewhere anyway, whether it actually gets back to the firm or not, which is another reason that I really want to move quickly.

[BlendedUnicorn]

I mean it's certainly possible but it's also probably not super likely that the people who matter moving forward will care.

but it's really tough to say beyond that because people are weird and care about weird things. Without knowing why you want to transfer I don't know if there's much more people can you. Your firm could very well find out that you're interviewing. The recruiting staff might care. The attornies probably won't. You won't lose your offer. Whether those are acceptable risks or not is really up to you to decide.

[OutCold]

Accepting an offer is all but meaningless. You can absolutely continue to look. In my experience, no recruiting department will reach out your summer firm unless they are giving you an offer. See, e.g., Cravath, who makes you sign a form notifying you that they will be contacting your summer firm in the event they decide to extend an offer. If they did reach out, it would be pretty unprofessional, though I suppose it could happen.

[Lavitz]

OCS is full of shit. Go shop around this month.

[Anonymous User]

OP here

Thanks all for the advice so far, I think I'll go ahead and contact recruiters. Is there any CR as to whether a 3L should first ask recruiters whether they're looking to hire 3Ls and then if they bite send resume/transcript, or just go ahead and send it in the first email?

[Lavitz]

I'd go ahead and send it in first e-mail. Too much of a chance that recruiters don't bother responding to questions from random 3Ls whose qualifications they don't know.