Timeline for big law laterals? Interviews, applications, offers, etc Forum

[gaddockteeg]

For those of you that lateraled big law firms before:

What was the timeline from application --> interview --> second interview --> offer --> conflicts check --> time off before starting new job --> actually starting working?

[Anonymous User]

For those of you that lateraled big law firms before:

What was the timeline from application --> interview --> second interview --> offer --> conflicts check --> time off before starting new job --> actually starting working?

Was told by recruiter that it is highly dependent on how much they like you (if they love you, they will obviously move quickly, if not, they may want to see what other candidates are out there first).

In process now: I was submitted for something about on X day, 8 days later they asked me to setup a phone call, 3 days after that I had the phone interview. Phone interview was on a Monday and at the end of the call they asked me to come in to meet more people that Friday (4 days later). So from submission to CB, total of about 15 days approximately.

[Anonymous User]

Piggybacking off of this, has anyone who lateraled used the technique to land screeners where you tell the firm in your cover letter dates when you'll be in the city? Is this necessary or helpful as a lateral candidate?

[Anonymous User]

Piggybacking off of this, has anyone who lateraled used the technique to land screeners where you tell the firm in your cover letter dates when you'll be in the city? Is this necessary or helpful as a lateral candidate?

Yes. I applied to a firm today and my interview is Monday.

[Anonymous User]

For those of you that lateraled big law firms before:

What was the timeline from application --> interview --> second interview --> offer --> conflicts check --> time off before starting new job --> actually starting working?

Don’t forget calling references. That took me the longest amount of time. I couldn’t ask current coworkers and I had been at the firm a while. So reaching out to old coworkers from 3+ years took a while.

[Anonymous User]

For those of you that lateraled big law firms before:

What was the timeline from application --> interview --> second interview --> offer --> conflicts check --> time off before starting new job --> actually starting working?

Don’t forget calling references. That took me the longest amount of time. I couldn’t ask current coworkers and I had been at the firm a while. So reaching out to old coworkers from 3+ years took a while.

I don't think references are universal for biglaw laterals.

[Anonymous User]

For those of you that lateraled big law firms before:

What was the timeline from application --> interview --> second interview --> offer --> conflicts check --> time off before starting new job --> actually starting working?

Don’t forget calling references. That took me the longest amount of time. I couldn’t ask current coworkers and I had been at the firm a while. So reaching out to old coworkers from 3+ years took a while.

I don't think references are universal for biglaw laterals.

I think it’s market dependent. In NY, was never asked for references. I think most employers don’t want to waste time doing references because who is actually going to give the name of a reference who won’t give a good referral?

[RedGiant]

IME, this varies greatly according to a few factors:

- how in-demand is your practice area and experience level?
- how busy is the group you're trying to join? (Is it a business issue that if they don't hire soon, people will quit?)
- is the group trying to backfill a specific role (someone's on leave or just left the firm and there's a gap in ability or level)?
- have you made it clear you're in the middle of the process with a few other firms?
- is it "lateral season" (so the firm is getting tons of applications) or is it some other time of year?
- do you have a special connection to the firm or to a top firm client?
- do you have an elite pedigree?
- does the firm have a hiring committee that meets only once or twice a month to review things?
- is your conflict list lengthy (never an actual bar to hiring, just a slowdown)?
- are they running a process with multiple possible hires or are you the only kid in the pipeline?
- is the key decision-making partner available/not-traveling/not booked such that you can meet him or her soon?

Things can move very quickly if a firm wants you and is motivated, and can drag if the firm is more deliberate or just sort of "kicking around" the idea of beefing up a group. I've seen things happen in as fast as three weeks or take months and months.

[Anonymous User]

Depends on the firm, process, etc. I've gotten offers before where I only interviewed once, and no offers even after 3 interviews. My current firm went something like this:

Apply
1-2 weeks later, interview
Offer a few days after
[Accepted offer approx. 1 week after]
Conflicts/HR stuff right after [1-2 weeks]
2 weeks off
Start

All in, from application to start, it was a litlte over a month and a half. Numerous other firms tracked similarly up to the conflicts/HR part, or fit in two interviews but were still on the same general timeline.

Since then, I've had wildly different experiences as I've occasionally dabbled in the market. Once I got an initial interview 2+ months after submitting an application. Another time, I had a firm take nearly a month between initial and second round interviews, whereas before I'd almost always had them in back-to-back weeks.

I agree with the above posters that there are a lot of factors at play. If you're really in contention, though, things should move relatively briskly, at least after the initial interview.

[Anonymous User]

This can be one of the most stressful parts of the job search. I landed at a prestigious biglaw firm, but my process took forever. The most significant detail for you in my post, I would imagine, is that after having arrived I learned beyond a doubt (for reasons not worth going into) that I was everybody’s top choice (and the reasons for this inference are more solid than “oh a couple people told me this”).

Apply to invite to first round 2 weeks, first round occurs 2 weeks later.

During first round, I am told I’ll get second round. Call Re second round several days later. Second round scheduled about two weeks after that.

After second round, it was two weeks to the day until I got invited to third round. Another 2 weeks approximately between invite and interview.

Another two weeks to the day (and I was losing my mind during this second week), I got an email re conflicts. Few days later call from managing partner.

And, like I said, I have hard evidence that I was first choice throughout.

Moral is that it often moves fast when you get it, but sometimes (even when you’re frontrunner), it also moves quite slowly. Long story short—don’t give up hope!

Good luck OP

[Anonymous User]

to post above: were all your interviews w/ partners?

[gregfootball2001]

Midlaw to v50.

Application (Wednesday).
Screener the next Monday (phone, one partner).
In-person callback two weeks later.
Offer at end of callback.
Began conflict checks - had a conflict, so had to get a waiver. Overall the conflict process took three weeks. Was unexpectedly stressful.
Began right away, no time off.

Overall from application to start date was about six weeks. However, they were desperate for help and I fit the niche pretty well, so it went pretty fast.

[shock259]

My experience (which I don't necessarily think is typical):

-networking event, meet person at new firm, person tells me of open position that I might be eligible for
-call from recruiting person at new firm, lunch w/ partner at new firm within a few BDs of networking event
-following day, full round of interviews
-offer received the afternoon of the interviews
-I can't really remember conflicts check but I would say about a week or two
-I took about 2 weeks off in between the jobs to move across the country. As you can tell from the timeline above, new firm was desperate and really wanted me to start ASAP.

When we're hiring laterals, some applicants linger for months and some move very quickly. I think mostly depends on how selective we can be: the time of year, the office we're hiring for, number of other applicants, etc. And also how available folks are in the group to do the interviews.

[Anonymous User]

My experience (which I don't necessarily think is typical):

-networking event, meet person at new firm, person tells me of open position that I might be eligible for
-call from recruiting person at new firm, lunch w/ partner at new firm within a few BDs of networking event
-following day, full round of interviews
-offer received the afternoon of the interviews
-I can't really remember conflicts check but I would say about a week or two
-I took about 2 weeks off in between the jobs to move across the country. As you can tell from the timeline above, new firm was desperate and really wanted me to start ASAP.

When we're hiring laterals, some applicants linger for months and some move very quickly. I think mostly depends on how selective we can be: the time of year, the office we're hiring for, number of other applicants, etc. And also how available folks are in the group to do the interviews.

Was your relocation paid by the firm? Did huh receive a sign on bonus? At what point do you learn about benefits, salary, and the details?

[gaddockteeg]

This can be one of the most stressful parts of the job search. I landed at a prestigious biglaw firm, but my process took forever. The most significant detail for you in my post, I would imagine, is that after having arrived I learned beyond a doubt (for reasons not worth going into) that I was everybody’s top choice (and the reasons for this inference are more solid than “oh a couple people told me this”).

Apply to invite to first round 2 weeks, first round occurs 2 weeks later.

During first round, I am told I’ll get second round. Call Re second round several days later. Second round scheduled about two weeks after that.

After second round, it was two weeks to the day until I got invited to third round. Another 2 weeks approximately between invite and interview.

Another two weeks to the day (and I was losing my mind during this second week), I got an email re conflicts. Few days later call from managing partner.

And, like I said, I have hard evidence that I was first choice throughout.

Moral is that it often moves fast when you get it, but sometimes (even when you’re frontrunner), it also moves quite slowly. Long story short—don’t give up hope!

Good luck OP

This was very helpful.

[Anonymous User]

I’m the poster who was the frontrunner for biglaw lateral and had it take 2 weeks before each thing.

Answering a post above—first screener was with partner, the second two were mixes of partners and associates over the course of like 3 hours each.

[shock259]

Was your relocation paid by the firm? Did huh receive a sign on bonus? At what point do you learn about benefits, salary, and the details?

Lot of questions on this recently.. Haha.

1) yes, relocation expenses were paid in full (no cap). Firm just recommended that I used their movers. Paid for my plane ticket too.
2) yes, I lateraled in August and they paid me my full expected bonus for my class year when I joined.
3) I received an offer letter the day of the verbal offer with the specifics. The firm pays NY market so nothing was surprising. If by details you mean health insurance and all that, I don't think I got any of that until I started. But I would guess that I could have bugged someone about it if it was relevant. I figured all of the big firms basically have the same benefits, so it's not really relevant.

[Anonymous User]

Was your relocation paid by the firm? Did huh receive a sign on bonus? At what point do you learn about benefits, salary, and the details?

Lot of questions on this recently.. Haha.

1) yes, relocation expenses were paid in full (no cap). Firm just recommended that I used their movers. Paid for my plane ticket too.
2) yes, I lateraled in August and they paid me my full expected bonus for my class year when I joined.
3) I received an offer letter the day of the verbal offer with the specifics. The firm pays NY market so nothing was surprising. If by details you mean health insurance and all that, I don't think I got any of that until I started. But I would guess that I could have bugged someone about it if it was relevant. I figured all of the big firms basically have the same benefits, so it's not really relevant.

By details I mean 401k (some firms match a certain percentage but most don't), health insurance, HSA contributions, backup childcare (if applicable), etc. I'm guessing most don't provide this much detail until you start. Do you have a spouse? If so, was their plane ticket also paid for? Did you go with the firm movers? Someone made a post about relocations expenses being taxed. If that's the case, then I would rather use the firm movers if charged directly to the firm.

[Anonymous User]

Is there a way to tell if first interview will be the only interview? I have an interview with 2 partners and am interviewing for a junior associate position.

[SplitMyPants]

Is there a way to tell if first interview will be the only interview? I have an interview with 2 partners and am interviewing for a junior associate position.

i would assume that because you're only meeting with two people, it is not your final interview.

[Anonymous User]

Is there a way to tell if first interview will be the only interview? I have an interview with 2 partners and am interviewing for a junior associate position.

I feel like we could be interviewing for the same position...west coast?

[Anonymous User]

Is there a way to tell if first interview will be the only interview? I have an interview with 2 partners and am interviewing for a junior associate position.

Generally that indicates a screener. Doubly so if they’re just normal partners and the interview is only a half hour or so.

I’ve been on a bunch of lateral interviews over the years and only had one experience otherwise. But it was an extended single interview with the practice group heads.

[shock259]

By details I mean 401k (some firms match a certain percentage but most don't), health insurance, HSA contributions, backup childcare (if applicable), etc. I'm guessing most don't provide this much detail until you start. Do you have a spouse? If so, was their plane ticket also paid for? Did you go with the firm movers? Someone made a post about relocations expenses being taxed. If that's the case, then I would rather use the firm movers if charged directly to the firm.

I can't totally remember, but I don't think I got any of that information until after I accepted and around the time I started. But if you received an offer, I'm sure you could get in touch with HR people and they could get you some or all of that information.

Also, no spouse so can't speak to that. But worth a try, I'd say.

My moving expenses weren't taxed, but this was about 4 years ago. I think I just paid it with my credit card and I got a regular expense reimbursement (like I would for a dinner or a cab).

[Anonymous User]

Is there a way to tell if first interview will be the only interview? I have an interview with 2 partners and am interviewing for a junior associate position.

Generally that indicates a screener. Doubly so if they’re just normal partners and the interview is only a half hour or so.

I’ve been on a bunch of lateral interviews over the years and only had one experience otherwise. But it was an extended single interview with the practice group heads.

I had one interview where it was two partners, but it was a small satellite and those were the only two people I’d be working for. That was the only time I had an final interview with fewer than 5 people

[Anonymous User]

How soon is too soon to reach out to check in after a final interview? Things moved VERY quickly up to this interview and it felt like it went really well. The interview was oddly casual.