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I recently applied for an In-House position in a fast-growing cash positive but kind of small Company, and accepted an offer to join two days ago. I was going to give my notice to my firm today (I’m a mid level at an AMLAW 200 firm in the Midwest) but the last few days have been an emotional rollercoaster as the stock market keeps crashing and coronavirus containment measures spread.

The new company is in the recreation industry (think movie theaters or gyms) and will be affected by people going out in public less. The GC assures me that they have enough cash to weather a few slow months and wouldn’t hire me just to lay me off, but I am still really nervous to give my notice to my firm. It’s hard to know how bad things could get before I start at the new place on April 1.

Am I being overly cautious/dramatic here? Anyone else making a major transition in the middle of this chaos?

You are being the perfect amount of dramatic/cautious here. The problem is, it’s hard to gauge the impact this is going to have on your Amlaw 200 firm. The uncertainty cuts both ways.

I will say, however, “enough cash to weather a few slow months,” would not inspire much confidence in me. Forget about the larger economic system, “social distancing” to fight the virus might need to get to Italian and Chinese levels to fight the virus. It sounds like your new gig is about to take a direct dramatic hit, not “a few slow months.” I don’t know what the right answer is, but make sure you’re being realistic about the risks to your new gig. Of course they’re not hiring you to just lay you off. That’s beside the point. Don’t let them distract you with noise.


Sorry I can’t offer any actual opinion. Good luck OP.

Yeah, this kind of company is at risk of going completely under, or getting bought out for pennies on the dollar, in 2020. If it's a great gig you can go ahead and roll the dice (and there'd be some political upside in being so committed to your new boss through their darkest hour) but staying put would be totally reasonable. There will be more in-house opps in the future.

OP here. Thanks for the replies everyone. I may have understated the new Company’s financial position a bit. They’ve been bringing in a ton of revenue and using it to go on an acquisition binge, but if the revenue dries up, my understanding is that they can survive for quite a while. If they end up needing to close some of their physical locations, I assume they’ll still need legal support for that, so I don’t think I’m looking at an immediate layoff, but still worried about long term prospects. They are also private equity owned, which could be positive if more funds are needed or negative if the fund decides to cut its losses and sell.

To add more color, I’m currently an M&A/VC associate, so staying at my firm in the face of an extended downturn is not necessarily attractive either.

I’m in a very similar position as OP. I am a 4th year m&a associate and just gave notice last Friday to go in-house. The company is in the online automotive space, so not quite as sensitive as OP’s company to COVID, but still very worried that a recession could lead to substantial decline in the auto industry (plus the company is already on shaky ground financially, which I was already pretty concerned about). Other than the economy/the company’s financial struggles, the job is exactly what I want with great pay, so ultimately I viewed it as worth the risk (I figured even if I get laid off in 6-12 months, I have a decent resume and it won’t be a hard story to tell potential new employers), but I think it’s definitely a personal decision that you have to make in your own.

Anonymous User wrote:OP here. Thanks for the replies everyone. I may have understated the new Company’s financial position a bit. They’ve been bringing in a ton of revenue and using it to go on an acquisition binge, but if the revenue dries up, my understanding is that they can survive for quite a while. If they end up needing to close some of their physical locations, I assume they’ll still need legal support for that, so I don’t think I’m looking at an immediate layoff, but still worried about long term prospects. They are also private equity owned, which could be positive if more funds are needed or negative if the fund decides to cut its losses and sell.

To add more color, I’m currently an M&A/VC associate, so staying at my firm in the face of an extended downturn is not necessarily attractive either.

What do you mean "they can survive for quite a while"? Why not ask for specifics? This is a huge decision. You should not take this offer lightly.

I’m in house in the travel/hospitality sector and it’s a real concern.

As an anecdotal data point, I continue to go to the gym, but I'd think twice before going to a movie theater (though I'll attend a showing of Hamilton that has been postponed until May).

I'd go to a hotel, but unless absolutely necessary I don't want to be on a plane.

Not sure how much my attitude is a reflection of the general public. It may also be hard for people to afford recreation expenses if schools are closed and they have to stay home from work or pay someone to come over and watch their children.

I might be wrong about this - but I think jumping in-house makes it harder to land a gig in a law firm after. My assumption is that law firms would rather hire associates that have been tried in another law firm whereas they are not sure if you are doing the same rigors in-house.

Lots of good points that have been raised already in this thread. This is a tricky decision, for sure, and I don't know that anyone here is in a position to confidently advise you to lean one way or another.

One consideration I wanted to raise, though: Many companies are responding to COVID-19 by allowing or ordering employees to work remotely. Do you even know if you'd be able to start at your new gig? If their offices are shut, it may not even be possible for you to go in to complete the necessary I-9 verification with HR, pick up your laptop and access codes from IT, take any required in-person trainings, etc. Even if their offices aren't shut now, this is a very fluid situation and no one can predict how things will look two or three weeks from now.

Further, even if you'd be able to start on time, I think it's an additional risk to start a job without the opportunity to connect with the team in person. It's one thing to work remotely for an extended period of time 6 months into a job - it's a whole different ballgame to work remotely for an extended period of time starting day one.

To be clear, I'm not saying you should decline the offer and stay at your current firm. Just wanted to flag these potential risks that haven't been mentioned yet.

QContinuum wrote:Lots of good points that have been raised already in this thread. This is a tricky decision, for sure, and I don't know that anyone here is in a position to confidently advise you to lean one way or another.

One consideration I wanted to raise, though: Many companies are responding to COVID-19 by allowing or ordering employees to work remotely. Do you even know if you'd be able to start at your new gig? If their offices are shut, it may not even be possible for you to go in to complete the necessary I-9 verification with HR, pick up your laptop and access codes from IT, take any required in-person trainings, etc. Even if their offices aren't shut now, this is a very fluid situation and no one can predict how things will look two or three weeks from now.

Further, even if you'd be able to start on time, I think it's an additional risk to start a job without the opportunity to connect with the team in person. It's one thing to work remotely for an extended period of time 6 months into a job - it's a whole different ballgame to work remotely for an extended period of time starting day one.

To be clear, I'm not saying you should decline the offer and stay at your current firm. Just wanted to flag these potential risks that haven't been mentioned yet.

I think these are fair points, but just to respond a bit to some of them, in case it helps put your mind at ease (on this issue). I'm going in-house next week actually, though in a part of the financial sector that isn't expected to be hit very hard by the current downturn (take a guess). For me, it seems so far that I will go in that first day to get my laptop and do some of the onboarding stuff, and then probably start teleworking immediately thereafter--maybe even that same day.

I know another person starting a new job THIS week (not an attorney), and his job is simply mailing him his work laptop so that he can start and get onboarded remotely right away. A second friend of mine who works down in FL will be starting a new job tomorrow and then probably start teleworking right away on Tuesday.

In other words, there are solutions that companies are working through to onboard folks. Not that Q is advocating for it, but I wouldn't let it stress you. It's definitely weird and less-than-ideal to have to start out a new job working remote--but this whole situation right now is less-than-ideal and so it kind of just is what it is.

As to your more particular concerns about starting in this current climate, I don't think any of us can really help much. I'm someone who'd love to keep working out at the gym while working remotely for the foreseeable future, but at least in my region, gyms (including the one in my apartment building) have already started closing. Movie theaters meanwhile are postponing major releases like Mulan, and you've got the CDC asking companies to reconsider all events of more than 50 people for the next 8 weeks.

In other words, from an outside perspective, there's no obvious reason you should make this move. But from your perspective, considering the particulars of the company, the specific industry, your specific role in the company, and other details (e.g., are you being hired to replace someone who's very senior or are you being hired to expand the team?) the calculus may come out differently.

I know how excited I am to start my new role so I hope you aren't too bummed out if you decide against it. If you do though, maybe just take it as good fortune that all this is happening prior to you taking the job, rather than after you'd already started? Good luck!