Do I have to disclose whether my significant other is also a lawyer? Forum

[Anonymous User]

My SO and I are both in law school and want to work in the same market after graduation. If we're not legally married yet, do I have to disclose anything to my firm in any of the situations below?

1. If we live together (especially if we're in different firms)
2. If we're in the same firm (whether it's same office or different offices)
3. If we end up in different cities

[Anonymous User]

My SO and I are both in law school and want to work in the same market after graduation. If we're not legally married yet, do I have to disclose anything to my firm in any of the situations below?

1. If we live together (especially if we're in different firms)
2. If we're in the same firm (whether it's same office or different offices)
3. If we end up in different cities

None of these situations pose issues. If you need to disclose a conflict (e.g., your SO is opposing counsel on a case), then you'll disclose it when the time comes/when you go through conflicts checks. It's not an inherent issue in the slightest.

[cavalier1138]

No. I don't know how you think this would come up, but they're not even allowed to ask you about anything to do with your spouse or family, let alone your significant other.

[Mullens]

My SO and I are both in law school and want to work in the same market after graduation. If we're not legally married yet, do I have to disclose anything to my firm in any of the situations below?

1. If we live together (especially if we're in different firms)
2. If we're in the same firm (whether it's same office or different offices)
3. If we end up in different cities

You may need to disclose it to HR if you end up at the same firm but it shouldn’t be any issue since you’re the same year and won’t have a supervisory role over each other. Lots of people date at law firms and it’s not a big deal but there could be disclosure requirements.

[Anonymous User]

No, I haven’t had to disclose this, though we work in fields where we could really almost never be opposite each other so it’s not a real issue — might be different if you’re both going into PE M&A or something and there’s a genuinely good chance you’d work opposite one another. However, once we got married I did have to disclose some family industry ties he has that would prevent me from working on matters for certain clients - something to be mindful of also if relevant.