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I have been very lucky and fortunate during this cycle of job hunt and got about 5 offers from mid to big law in a major market.

I decided to take a pretty significant paycut and go to a firm where I thought I would succeed as a mid-level lawyer. The reason is I have not been doing this particular area of law my entire career, and I don't want to set myself up for failure a year later. I am a litigator and I am sure I can handle the work, but it's a fairly specialized field and I don't know what to expect. I thought that by going in 1 year below and almost guaranteeing to kick ass is better than going into it not knowing what the expectations are. The salary difference is also not significant enough for me to consider ($20K). I don't know how well I communicated this to the firm, but I suspect the firm could also take this as a red flag that I am not confident in my abilities. The firm did mention it was a request they never encountered and that candidates usually always fight for the higher class year. It's sort of a shitty situation because I've had no problem with my performance to date at my current/former firm. I just really want to succeed. For future reference, was this not a good idea?

I've seen people "forced" into this kind of situation, or, on rare occasion, people might be given an option to drop down a year. People normally take the seniority if they can get it, but a few opted to drop down.

It sounds like you are familiar with the arguments on either side. It's mostly a personal choice, but my experience is that there was no meaningful difference in outcomes between people that go with their class year versus dropping a year.

So as someone who just took a class year cut (the firm asked me to), here are my thoughts on this:

- At a leanly staffed firm this almost has no impact and only means you get less money. My firm usually staffs one associate and one partner per deal. So the difference between a 2nd and a 5th year is negligible in terms of what you are asked to do. The partners don’t stop and think about what year you are before giving you work. You might get extra review attention/time as a 3rd year or client contact as a 5th year but you pretty much get asked to do the same work.

- Clients and other firms will treat you as your graduation year because this is what is displayed in your bio. Headhunters too. So if you ever move, they will assume you are your graduation year, for better or for worse. Could mean more money but could also mean you’ve aged out of opportunities that actually fit your experience level.

- When I have a crappy day I’m like “well at least I’m not a 5th year.” So I guess there’s some comfort in that? I think my expectations of myself would be higher if I had come in at class year and was breathing down the neck of becoming a senior associate expected to begin building a book and running deals solo. I guess the ramp up time is helpful.

My big mistake in moving was not understand the hours requirement for bonus and how long it takes to ramp up. I just barely made bonus and only because I hustled for work.