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Hi all, I'm a T14 '20 grad heading to a V50 in DC for regulatory work. I'm looking for thoughts on whether I should ask my firm to defer for a year to Sep/Oct '21.

I haven't heard anything from my firm re: start dates or advances. I'm registered to take the bar exam in July. My wife and I are expecting a baby shortly after I take the bar.

I was in the military before law school and in light of all the paycuts, layoffs, and delayed starts, I reached out to a few people who are still in the service to see if they knew of any short-term mobilization opportunities. A former boss shared a couple year-long, non-legal administrative roles at bases in the South that start in Aug or Sept this year that I would be likely be able to get.

That's not an ideal situation, but I'm having trouble figuring out how else to support a family until I get my first paycheck potentially in Jan/Feb. Crashing with my parents/in-laws isn't totally feasible since they're thousands of miles away. I suppose I could take out a personal loan, but my wife and I already have more student debt than I'd care to admit. I talked to my school's CSO and they said they thought the firm would be fine with a year long deferral.

I really like my firm - they are well-regarded in my desired practice area and I see myself there for at least 4-5 years. I'd be fine with losing a class-year. I don't want to burn my bridges with the firm or defer and get my offer rescinded in the meantime. I've been reading the ATL and TLS articles/threads from 08-09 and it seems like far fewer firms now are offering long-term deferrals compared to a decade ago.

So, I'd appreciate any advice from current B/L attorneys or HR people on how to approach this or whether it's too risky and I should find another way to stay afloat until my start date. Thanks!

Talk to your firm about salary advances, early start dates, pro-bono fellowship stipends or other options. In non-covid times many (or all) V50s would be able to work with you on this. Just explain your situation to them.

I personally haven't seen someone defer a year, but in non-covid times I'm sure that would have been OK too if needed.
First years are largely fungible.

In addition to what BugLaw said, are there any senior associates or partners you got to know over your summer there who are reservists or also veterans? While this wouldn't be a traditional reservist mobilization, it's a fairly common type of mobilization and some firms are actually pretty good about handling reservists. Those folks can give you some insights on how the firm approaches those things.

They're also more likely to be frank with you and not hold anything against you while you sort out what to do.