Confidentiality in Lateral Application Forum

[Anonymous User]

Can anyone shed some light on confidentiality with respect to laterals? Although I understand that generally all applications are confidential, I worry about back-door/accidental discussions. For example, I worry that a recruiter at a firm that I've applied to might run into a recruiter at my current firm at a social event (or similar) and may accidentally say something along the lines of "you must know person X. Isn't she great? I'm really excited she is interviewing." Resulting in my current firm either firing me (or pulling an existing offer if applicable).

For reference, my brother is a Wall Street recruiter and says although applications are supposed to be held in confidence, back-door discussions happen all the time.

What do I do about this?

[Anonymous User]

Two stories (im a biglaw mid level)

1) was working on a deal. The mid level on the other side applies to my firm right before this deal. During deal he interviews with my partner, gets an offer, rejects it, stays at his other firm. All without anyone letting anything slip.

2) i applied to lateral. Two weeks later I’m at a firm social (tipsy) and head of my group (drunk) asks how my application is going. Apparently he was at a cigar bar, literally smoking a cigar sitting next to a partner at the other firm as that partner scrolled my CV on his phone.


So, you know, take from those what you will.

[Best]

There's nothing you can do. Not like the law firm will sign a confidentiality agreement.

[Anonymous User]

Two stories (im a biglaw mid level)

1) was working on a deal. The mid level on the other side applies to my firm right before this deal. During deal he interviews with my partner, gets an offer, rejects it, stays at his other firm. All without anyone letting anything slip.

2) i applied to lateral. Two weeks later I’m at a firm social (tipsy) and head of my group (drunk) asks how my application is going. Apparently he was at a cigar bar, literally smoking a cigar sitting next to a partner at the other firm as that partner scrolled my CV on his phone.


So, you know, take from those what you will.

That is my exact fear. I'm glad I'm not over-thinking it.

[Anonymous User]

There is absolutely no confidentiality. Every time I apply to another firm, the partners at my firm find out within hours. It’s awful.

[hdivschool]

There's no confidentiality. The partners or staff that your current firm might or might not hear about your lateral application. It just depends. I wouldn't count on it staying confidential.

[Anonymous User]

I had a callback at a firm that two partners I regularly work with came to my current firm from. During the interview, the interviewer actually mentioned that she is still close with the two partners because they were associates together at the firm. A few days after the callback, I heard about a rumor going around that I’m trying to leave. I’m currently the only associate in my practice (other associates have left), so job security isn’t something I am too concerned about, but it was unfortunate that that happened. I got rejected almost immediately (and it was a job I thought I was extremely well qualified for). But, on the flip side, the partners I work with have been VERY nice to me after the callback.

[dvlthndr]

You should not assume confidentiality. People move around over time and develop connections outside the firm. If you are being seriously considered, there will be half a dozen senior people looking at your application. Odds are pretty good that one of them will know somebody at your current firm.

Many people manage to keep the whole thing under wraps, but it's not something you can count on. There are plenty of stories about shady dealings or unlikely "coincidences" (e.g., I knew an associate that was initially turned down for a lateral position, but received an offer a week later once he came clean with the partners and got their "blessing" to jump ship).

[Anonymous User]

You should not assume confidentiality. People move around over time and develop connections outside the firm. If you are being seriously considered, there will be half a dozen senior people looking at your application. Odds are pretty good that one of them will know somebody at your current firm.

Many people manage to keep the whole thing under wraps, but it's not something you can count on. There are plenty of stories about shady dealings or unlikely "coincidences" (e.g., I knew an associate that was initially turned down for a lateral position, but received an offer a week later once he came clean with the partners and got their "blessing" to jump ship).

Can you please elaborate on this situation? It is just like mine.

I graduated from a top school in the top 10% of the class. I am an exceptionally regarded V20 associate. Through sheer skill, I have won cases for partners on multi-billion dollar litigation matters. I have never once asked for credit or recognition for my work in any way. I practice in a niche area of the law, and specifically for three highly regarded partners, two of whom are Band 1 nationally and in New York. Their names accrue a great deal of respect in our field.

Despite the above, most law firms are not willing to interview me for lateral associate positions when I apply. Likewise, even though I managed to snag interviews at an elite boutique and a V5, I did not receive responses to my interviews. My friend at one, who is a trusted associate and is about to make partner, told me a few months later that the partners at my firm lobbied the other partners not to hire me in an effort to retain me. The partners at the other firm obliged since they did not want to damage their relationships with the partners at my current firm. I then asked a second friend at the third firm what happened, and that second friend independently confirmed the first friend's story.

Do you have any advice on what I can do here? Apart from objecting to illegal conduct, I would rather practice at the more highly regarded firms. The partners at my current firm have gone out of their way not to openly show too much favoritism to me because it would make our practice politically unstable. Indeed, I understand that non-partnership quality associates are still highly profitable for the firm and need to be monetized. But the firm does not pay me more. I understand that the reward for excellent work is a partnership position, but I never once agreed to giving up the optionality on my career when I accepted an offer at this firm. I have become rather unhappy, even though I understand that I am highly regarded by the powerful partners. What I find most unacceptable is that the partners at my current firm never asked me what they could do to make my situation better; they simply thought they had me fooled and would never figure out what was going on behind the scenes.

Please do not quote.

[dvlthndr]

It was actually a pretty similar to that. The situation I was thinking of involved a mid-level associate in a specialized practice group. He did good work and was well-liked by most of the partners, but he had huge issues with the "aggressive" management style of a particular partner in the group. The firm he wanted to work for was higher rated (think V20 as opposed to V50), and the partners at that firm used to work with some of the partners at his current firm. Nobody knows for sure, but the rumor was that the partners at his current firm called in a favor and had his application turned down so he would stay put.

The way it actually worked out was that he gave his current firm an ultimatum about a week later, telling them that he was committed to jumping ship in the next few months. I'm not sure how much he told them about his reasons for leaving, but they probably knew what was really going on. He also told them that he had been throwing out applications, working with recruiters, and had an offer at a lower-ranked V50 firm (which was true). He may have been bluffing about going to the lower-ranked firm, but the partners took it seriously. Once it sunk it that there was no chance of him staying, everything worked out. His current partners acted supportive, and he got the offer from the higher ranked firm a few days later. The rumor is that they did him a solid and told the higher-ranked firm they should reverse the decision and take him on.

It's always the best practice to leave on good terms (you never know who is going to wind up in-house for a major client). One it was clear he was leaving, I'm guessing they did the calculus and figured it was a better to help him out rather than letting him huff off and be bitter.

[RedGiant]

It's never confidential. Everyone backdoors to ask if you're good. Assume nothing is confidential. You only need to walk down the hall and people from your law school are texting their friends saying, "I just saw Bob here, interviewing, what's up?" etc.

Go when you'r ready. Assume that lateralling is a bad call in this market environment anyway, unless you're BK or L&E.