Lateral conversion rate Forum

[Anonymous User]

Ask and point out that you’d be forfeiting the special bonus at your current firm if you leave.

Might be able get them to agree to pay that. Also should figure out whether they're going to pro rate your annual bonus.

Asking anon here: they did confirm full fall bonus/year end, which I definitely appreciate as something. But would hate to leave money on the table lol.

I'm sure it's been discussed elsewhere but what are typical signing bonuses for laterals?

This varies so much by firm and group that there's just no way to say what's typical. I have a friend who got "more than first year comp" as a bonus (don't know the exact number)...he's in a hot and niche group. I recently accepted $25k, but I'm making a bit of a practice group change. I've heard of Kirkland giving cap markets associates $100k+ this year. OP got offered $0.

are these bonuses in addition to year-end bonuses (non pro-rated)? just a little confused how this all works out when lateraling.

As the other poster said, there are basically two kinds of bonuses to negotiate as a lateral:

1. Make sure I don't get less than I would if I stayed (full year-end bonus, special COVID bonuses this year)
2. Incentivize me to come to your firm specifically (signing bonus)

If you're in a hot group, you should be able to ensure a full year-end bonus (ideally no matter what your hours are, but sometimes the best you will get is prorating your hours eligibility but not the bonus itself - i.e. at a 2000 minimum bonus firm, if you start July 1, you need to bill 1000 and then you get a full bonus) and special bonuses without too much trouble, and you should also try to get a signing bonus. Depending on your seniority, group, and the needs of the firm, these can sometimes crack six figures but not usually. Signing bonuses are also sometimes easier to come by if the firm put the opening out with recruiters and you applied directly - if you don't take the offer, they'll probably spend that bonus money with a recruiter anyway, and they've budgeted that for filling the role already.

Other things to negotiate are class years. I wouldn't take a haircut unless I was significantly changing practice groups. I have heard of associates gaining a class year when lateraling, i.e. a strong fourth year (C/O 2017 as of now) agrees to jump over if they treat/pay him like a C/O 2016.

[Anonymous User]

Perhaps more important question, how do most people go about asking for a signing bonus (etc.)? Just a blunt "what is the firm's policy on signing bonus" or similar once you have an offer? To HR contact or partner? Phone or email? Especially in the scenario where you don't have a competing offer to leverage.

[Anonymous User]

Perhaps more important question, how do most people go about asking for a signing bonus (etc.)? Just a blunt "what is the firm's policy on signing bonus" or similar once you have an offer? To HR contact or partner? Phone or email? Especially in the scenario where you don't have a competing offer to leverage.

interested in this as well

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know what the approximate response time is from submitting an application directly on a website/having it referred from an internal associate to screener/callback? A week? two weeks? a month?

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know what the approximate response time is from submitting an application directly on a website/having it referred from an internal associate to screener/callback? A week? two weeks? a month?

I've gotten extremely quick responses from websites--the average seems to be a week or a little over. The quickest has been two days to a screener. The longest was 3 weeks to a screener (plus others that just never contacted me at all lol).

[Anonymous User]

I've gotten extremely quick responses from websites--the average seems to be a week or a little over. The quickest has been two days to a screener. The longest was 3 weeks to a screener (plus others that just never contacted me at all lol).

Very helpful, thank you. I will give it two weeks before reaching out to recruiters.

[Anonymous User]

Perhaps more important question, how do most people go about asking for a signing bonus (etc.)? Just a blunt "what is the firm's policy on signing bonus" or similar once you have an offer? To HR contact or partner? Phone or email? Especially in the scenario where you don't have a competing offer to leverage.

It's not about the firm's policy; they may offer some candidates bonuses and not others. You just need to reach out to the recruiting person and say that you're considering the offer but would be more inclined to accept if they offered you a signing bonus of $X. It would be easier to negotiate this if you had an offer from another firm to use as leverage (especially if they offered you a signing bonus), but you still do have some leverage as long as you're in good standing at your current firm (i.e. you can choose to stay).

[Anonymous User]

Anyone know what the approximate response time is from submitting an application directly on a website/having it referred from an internal associate to screener/callback? A week? two weeks? a month?

Most of my interview requests have come within a week after submitting, though I've had at least two come a month later. In one case they had already hired an associate but he backed out at the last minute.

[Anonymous User]

Perhaps more important question, how do most people go about asking for a signing bonus (etc.)? Just a blunt "what is the firm's policy on signing bonus" or similar once you have an offer? To HR contact or partner? Phone or email? Especially in the scenario where you don't have a competing offer to leverage.

I went with the phone and partner who gave me the offer, but, according to him, he had to run it through HR (did get a signing bonus).