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In an interesting predicament. Just gave notice at my biglaw firm that I'm leaving to lateral to another big firm. Partners at my current firm just came into my office with a counterproposal to get me to stay. Not going to go into the details as I would be extremely outable, but they've gotten the approvals grant the requests that I've been pushing for for the last 6 months. I do enjoy working at my firm, and it would be nice to not have to start over.

I've asked the partners for some time to think on it. One of my main concerns is that I've already accepted a lateral offer, and I don't know what the consequences of breaking it would be. All input very appreciated.

Some people feel very strongly that accepting a counteroffer to stay is always a mistake. If you Google around, you can see lots of articles elaborating on this view. On the other hand, it's a lot of work to form new relationships at a new firm. Maybe think about what got you doing lateral applications in the first place and whether it's still present.

It's kinda hard to offer our thoughts if you don't clue us in on some details on why you want to leave the place you enjoy working at. Maybe the biglaw reputation isn't as bad as it seems, but the chances of being happy at another firm aren't high. Seems risky to me.

maybe if a partner is offering you some sort of credit arrangement or non-equity partnership (both seem kind of unlikely). Hard to think of something worth while that couldn’t be yanked out from under you.

If your reason for leaving is not financial I’m not sure how much happier you’d be if you stayed if it was just a boost in comp

Anecdata: my former firm convinced two associates to stay after they either gave notice or mentioned an offer from a peer. Both ended up getting treated like shit (run over, maybe partly because of a perception they were too afraid to leave) and gradually iced out bc partners (correctly) didn’t think they were committed to the firm. Both left within about 18 months of all this going down

spoiler: still in law school.

I would agree with those above - if they are not giving you anything they can't yank out from under you then it is dicey to stay. On top of that the expectations will be high (and if those changes you pushed for fail, even because the market tanks, you are getting burned for it).

Maybe try to leverage it with lateral firm for a bump in pay or some fringe thing?

I wouldn't stay, too much downside little to no upside and enhanced expectations (and maybe some saltiness around the office from those who don't have the guts to bail but want to and now hate you for it).