conflicts check before offer Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm in the process of lateraling to a firm and am going through a conflicts check now (I submitted paperwork and the firm's conflicts attorneys are reviewing). I had the final round interview and haven't yet been formally offered the job, only requested to complete the lengthy conflicts questionnaire form. Is it normal to be going through a conflicts check before receiving an offer? Is it possible/likely that the firm is simultaneously doing a conflicts check on other candidates? Sorry if this is a dumb question, this is my first time lateraling and any insight would be appreciated.

[LaLiLuLeLo]

In my experience it was offers contingent on conflicts. Odd that they would run conflicts before an offer.

[QContinuum]

In my experience it was offers contingent on conflicts. Odd that they would run conflicts before an offer.

Agreed. Is this a small/midlaw shop? I've never heard of a BigLaw shop running conflicts prior to deciding whether to extend an offer.

[TigerIsBack]

Just another data point, but I have only lateralled once, and my process went (1) offer on phone from partner, (2) written offer from HR later that day, (3) accept offer, (4) start conflicts/background check process

[Anonymous User]

Just another data point, but I have only lateralled once, and my process went (1) offer on phone from partner, (2) written offer from HR later that day, (3) accept offer, (4) start conflicts/background check process

Same here. Never had to go through the conflicts process before accepting an offer (and why would the firm care/go through the trouble of running conflicts before even extending you an offer for employment?).

[Anonymous User]

I had a conflicts check before an offer for my recent lateral. I was annoyed, so I tried to politely ask about it. Their response was the feedback was overwhelmingly positive and an offer was expected, but because certain figures necessary for final approval to make the offer were out of pocket, they wanted to go ahead and get the conflicts check out of the way to speed things up.

[Anonymous User]

I lateraled to Jones Day and received offer before conflicts check, but the conflicts form had language along the lines of "you need to return this as soon as possible if you don't already have an offer from us or don't have a start date, if you already have a start date then return at least X amount of time before your start date" so I believe conflicts before offer is possible, but I don't know how common that is.

[papermateflair]

My lateral offer was made and accepted contingent on passing conflicts.. Conflicts before the offer seems odd, but if it's a smaller firm then it wouldn't be surprising, or if there are a couple of key clients where if there's a conflict they won't be able to make it work, even with a screen.

[sparty99]

Conflict check before the offer is not unusual at all even for big law

[Anonymous User]

They should do these conflict checks before offers more often.

I got an offer contingent on one. They said it's probably not an issue, don't worry about it, etc. I accepted the offer.

Well, I did everything except tell my current employer that I was leaving. Withdrew from another interview process that was going well. Moved to a new apartment because my old lease was ending anyway. Very inconvenient location (but close to new firm), hired movers, led to stress in my relationship.

Well, they come back a month later with a PDF letter containing a paragraph saying they found a conflict, sorry.

So now I'm stuck in this new place that's 2x+ my old rent and 5x the commute. My gf and I broke up after 3+ years. My dating life is in complete shambles. I have to drive to get anywhere because I'm away from the city and in an inconvenient location. They declined to reimburse me for my moving expenses.

So please make sure that the conflict is clear and the offer is set in stone when you accept it.

[QContinuum]

They should do these conflict checks before offers more often.

I got an offer contingent on one. They said it's probably not an issue, don't worry about it, etc. I accepted the offer.
...
So please make sure that the conflict is clear and the offer is set in stone when you accept it.

I'm sorry about all of the above. I honestly am. That said, I disagree with your takeaway that "they should do these conflict checks before offers". That's wrong. The correct takeaway is, one should not rely on an offer until conflicts have cleared. You rightly held off on giving notice to your current employer. You should have been equally cautious with respect to moving out of the city. If a similar situation arises again in the future, consider going to a month-to-month lease. Or renewing for a short period, say 3 months. Yes, short-term leases are horrendously expensive, but they are worth it in these situations.

Moving sucks. But maybe consider moving back to the city. Unless your previous commute was a 5-minute walk (in which case a 25-minute commute really ain't bad, objectively speaking), a place that's "5x the commute" sounds brutal.

Finally, another session of amateur counseling from QContinuum. It's very understandable to try to attribute everything to that blasted conflict check. But if your relationship ended over that conflict check, as much as it royally sucks right now (I've been there, we all have), it's best in the long run that it didn't drag out longer. Think of it this way: If your GF left you because the conflict check didn't work out... how strong of a relationship was it? It's clear that, regardless of how committed you were on your end, she wasn't nearly as committed, given that she bailed over your new job not working out.

[Anonymous User]

They should do these conflict checks before offers more often.

I got an offer contingent on one. They said it's probably not an issue, don't worry about it, etc. I accepted the offer.
...
So please make sure that the conflict is clear and the offer is set in stone when you accept it.

I'm sorry about all of the above. I honestly am. That said, I disagree with your takeaway that "they should do these conflict checks before offers". That's wrong. The correct takeaway is, one should not rely on an offer until conflicts have cleared. You rightly held off on giving notice to your current employer. You should have been equally cautious with respect to moving out of the city. If a similar situation arises again in the future, consider going to a month-to-month lease. Or renewing for a short period, say 3 months. Yes, short-term leases are horrendously expensive, but they are worth it in these situations.

Moving sucks. But maybe consider moving back to the city. Unless your previous commute was a 5-minute walk (in which case a 25-minute commute really ain't bad, objectively speaking), a place that's "5x the commute" sounds brutal.

Finally, another session of amateur counseling from QContinuum. It's very understandable to try to attribute everything to that blasted conflict check. But if your relationship ended over that conflict check, as much as it royally sucks right now (I've been there, we all have), it's best in the long run that it didn't drag out longer. Think of it this way: If your GF left you because the conflict check didn't work out... how strong of a relationship was it? It's clear that, regardless of how committed you were on your end, she wasn't nearly as committed, given that she bailed over your new job not working out.

You're right. I relied on assumptions that ended up not coming to fruition. To be fair, they were pretty good assumptions based on the office's head partner telling me it was probably going to be fine. So like you said, one should not rely on the offer (even one that's accepted) until all the conditions have been definitively cleared.

Re the relationship, it wasn't the conflict check but rather the stress of moving to another city (we were living together in the same place for about 3 years) and MY becoming more distant because of the whole situation. I think it was on a slow decline anyway, but it sucks that all this (and more) just happened to stack on top of me in 2019.

I miss the commute for sure. It was maybe a quick 3-4 mile drive from a no-frills place with gas stoves. Now it's 17-18. It's not horrific, but damn, does it eat into my day. 5 more months of this left...

So yes, just be careful about these offers... I'm doing well at my current position, and I think I'm going to be here for quite a while, so I'm not in the worst situation.

[Anonymous User]

I had a V30 make me fill out a conflicts form before getting an offer. My recruiter said that it was a great sign, the feedback from my interview was extremely positive, this was likely just to get the process started more quickly, etc. Then, like 3 weeks later, I got a rejection saying they hired someone else. Even though I was okay with not getting the offer because the position wasn’t the greatest fit (I’m a patent litigator, and the office I was applying for did almost exclusively trademark/copyright), I was not happy. That conflicts form took forever. At least having it done gave me a head start on the next conflicts form when I did end up lateraling.