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Rising 3L here. I have a V100 offer in a major market but am looking to move to another major market across the county. I have reached out to alums from my school working in my desired market in biglaw and a few have offered to put in a word with their office recruiters. Will my emailing firm recruiters/exploring opportunities across the county get back to my 2L summer firm? I don't want to endanger my offer in the event moving firms isn't possible. Thanks!!!

Folks do this all the time - of course, there's always a chance that someone at your current firm gets a little too chatty with one of the firms you reached out to, or the recruiting officer at the new firm decides to check and see if you actually got an offer, but I think most firms/people understand the importance of discretion. I'm sure there's a horror story or two that someone will share, but people try and switch firms all the time as 3Ls and this usually isn't an issue.

I applied for various job postings as a 3L. Note: I did not go through external recruiters. I ended up with an offer from a V5 contingent on allowing them to contact my summer firm. No other firm that interviewed me or gave me an offer ever contacted my summer firm or even showed interest. This is all to say that if you're applying directly to listings/reaching out to firm contacts it won't get back to your old firm. The only thing I'd be worried about is if you were for some reason using external recruiters. I've heard horror stories of external recruiters sending someone's resume to the firm that they work at. In general, have less trust in people who will make a buck off you than those who are on a salary/tied to an institution.

Thank you both for this info! I will make sure to avoid any recruiters. Hopefully, folks at my 2L firm aren't close to recruiters in the other market (seems unlikely).