First-year corporate associate leaving regional/mid law firm to v10; 8 months into practice Forum

[Anonymous User]

Currently have an offer from several v10 firms with very strong corporate groups. More volume and bigger deals than my current. I’d be making about 40-50k more than where I’m at now. I’m a first-year associate 9 months into practice but the deal volume at my current firm is very slow and I feel like I’m stagnating my skill set.

A couple of the firms I received offers from recommended I class back due to ease of transition and being fairly compared against a group of fresh lawyers as opposed to first-years that are used to the pace at the firm. (these firms have a strong presence in the major market I’m in btw). This class back means no bonus.

Just curious on your thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

[Anonymous User]

I made a very similar move and at first didn’t take a cut, but later did and the firm agreed to continue to pay me at my prior class year salary (bonus was at reduced class year but this wasn’t hugely impactful at junior year bonus levels). I’d try to negotiate something similar, it’s a drop in the bucket for the firm. Taking a cut can result in more money in your pocket in the long run because it can prolong your shelf life.

[Anonymous User]

Another ship lured by the siren song of the free market system...

[Buglaw]

I wouldn't take the cut. At most firms you don't really age out and get fired. People leave corporate voluntarily. Agreeing to be paid less is typically not in your interest.

[kinglew]

Edit- Wrong thread

[target_corp]

I wouldn't take the cut. At most firms you don't really age out and get fired. People leave corporate voluntarily. Agreeing to be paid less is typically not in your interest.

Except in very specific circumstances, I agree with this. I've seen more people take too much of a pay cut than people being in too high of a class relative to their actual experience level.

[Anonymous User]

I made a very similar move and at first didn’t take a cut, but later did and the firm agreed to continue to pay me at my prior class year salary (bonus was at reduced class year but this wasn’t hugely impactful at junior year bonus levels). I’d try to negotiate something similar, it’s a drop in the bucket for the firm. Taking a cut can result in more money in your pocket in the long run because it can prolong your shelf life.

I wouldn't take the cut. At most firms you don't really age out and get fired. People leave corporate voluntarily. Agreeing to be paid less is typically not in your interest.

I wouldn't take the cut. At most firms you don't really age out and get fired. People leave corporate voluntarily. Agreeing to be paid less is typically not in your interest.

Except in very specific circumstances, I agree with this. I've seen more people take too much of a pay cut than people being in too high of a class relative to their actual experience level.

OP here, and thanks your responses.

What do you think about their reasoning for the cut? (Want to fairly assess and compare me with the new class due to me only being at my current firm for 8 months whereas the current class of 2020 crop will be there for a year and is used to the pace and deal volume). I’d be missing out on about 10k considering 2020 goes up to 220 I believe in Jan. I’d be making 205k until
Jan 2023. Also, I don’t have much PE experience (only m&a) and this firm has a very strong PE group and I’ll be doing that work.

Also, what if I already accepted the offer? Is there any chance I could go back and discuss this with my hiring partner? Or am I screwed?

[Wubbles]

Why ask the question if you already accepted...?

I think asking now will get you a no answer and an eyeroll

[Anonymous User]

I made a very similar move and at first didn’t take a cut, but later did and the firm agreed to continue to pay me at my prior class year salary (bonus was at reduced class year but this wasn’t hugely impactful at junior year bonus levels). I’d try to negotiate something similar, it’s a drop in the bucket for the firm. Taking a cut can result in more money in your pocket in the long run because it can prolong your shelf life.

I wouldn't take the cut. At most firms you don't really age out and get fired. People leave corporate voluntarily. Agreeing to be paid less is typically not in your interest.

I wouldn't take the cut. At most firms you don't really age out and get fired. People leave corporate voluntarily. Agreeing to be paid less is typically not in your interest.

Except in very specific circumstances, I agree with this. I've seen more people take too much of a pay cut than people being in too high of a class relative to their actual experience level.

OP here, and thanks your responses.

What do you think about their reasoning for the cut? (Want to fairly assess and compare me with the new class due to me only being at my current firm for 8 months whereas the current class of 2020 crop will be there for a year and is used to the pace and deal volume). I’d be missing out on about 10k considering 2020 goes up to 220 I believe in Jan. I’d be making 205k until
Jan 2023. Also, I don’t have much PE experience (only m&a) and this firm has a very strong PE group and I’ll be doing that work.

Also, what if I already accepted the offer? Is there any chance I could go back and discuss this with my hiring partner? Or am I screwed?

I don't know about their reasoning for asking a cut - maybe, to get you cheaper? Maybe because they doubt the level or work at your firm? Either way I wouldn't take the cut.

First year work is mostly mindless work everywhere. Are you really going to struggle with diligence/drafting signature pages just because they're asking you to do it at midnight instead of 8pm? This is even more pronounced in M&A where you mostly don't do any substantive work until midlevel anyway. If you're lateralling into the PE group to do mostly finance work, then I can see the argument for taking the cut as there is actual substantive things a 2nd year would know that a 1st year wouldn't.

Even then, you can easily catchup - you're still only 8 months into your first year. You could easily learn whatever you're missing in a couple of months of hard effort. Weird request honestly.

[CanadianWolf]

With only 8 months of law firm experience, OP wrote: "...the deal volume at my current firm is very slow..." "...I feel like I'm stagnating my skill set."

I am aware of such offers. Doesn't seem unreasonable based on your description of the work & work pace at your current firm. Plus, you are not taking a pay cut; you are getting a raise of $40,000 to $50,000 base salary in your first year with the new firm.

Are you required to relocate ?

Also, OP wrote that he has received several Vault-10 offers and that more than one firm has suggested that he start as a first year in order to ease the transition.

OP: Has any V-10 law firm offered to hire you as a second year ?

Has any non-Vault-10 law firm offered to hire you as a second year ? If so, would you still be getting a $40,000 to $50,000 raise in base salary ?

OP: After working just 8 months in law in a related practice area (corporate M&A) at a slow,stagnating pace, do you really have a problem accepting a 25% ($40,000- $50,000) pay raise starting in your 9th month in a somewhat different specialty area (PE) at a more sophisticated firm ?

[Anonymous User]

I made a very similar move and at first didn’t take a cut, but later did and the firm agreed to continue to pay me at my prior class year salary (bonus was at reduced class year but this wasn’t hugely impactful at junior year bonus levels). I’d try to negotiate something similar, it’s a drop in the bucket for the firm. Taking a cut can result in more money in your pocket in the long run because it can prolong your shelf life.

I wouldn't take the cut. At most firms you don't really age out and get fired. People leave corporate voluntarily. Agreeing to be paid less is typically not in your interest.

I wouldn't take the cut. At most firms you don't really age out and get fired. People leave corporate voluntarily. Agreeing to be paid less is typically not in your interest.

Except in very specific circumstances, I agree with this. I've seen more people take too much of a pay cut than people being in too high of a class relative to their actual experience level.

OP here, and thanks your responses.

What do you think about their reasoning for the cut? (Want to fairly assess and compare me with the new class due to me only being at my current firm for 8 months whereas the current class of 2020 crop will be there for a year and is used to the pace and deal volume). I’d be missing out on about 10k considering 2020 goes up to 220 I believe in Jan. I’d be making 205k until
Jan 2023. Also, I don’t have much PE experience (only m&a) and this firm has a very strong PE group and I’ll be doing that work.

Also, what if I already accepted the offer? Is there any chance I could go back and discuss this with my hiring partner? Or am I screwed?

Did the firms recruit you? If so, I would push back.

If you sought them out, then I would go with it given what you’ve described.

Is your current firm’s deal flow really slow? I would be surprised to hear that given the economy and general demand for corporate work to be done. I ask because this may be a good chance for you to get feedback on whether there was a reason you weren’t getting staffed on deals?

I only suggest this as someone who had a coworker go through a similar experience and he learned that there was room for him on deals but he wasn’t staffed because of he did an average job on some basic tasks but the work was sloppy (think spelling errors and precedent details left in) and the major partner in the group essentially wrote him off. Good feedback and he went his way onto a better paying firm.

[Anonymous User]

This. I haven’t seen someone use the word “slow” to describe a corporate practice in 18 months. Have you asked partners or workflow coordinators to be staffed or tell them that you’re slow? Are you talking slow like 150 hours a month or like 80 hours a month?

Either way congrats on the offers. On the haircut on class year, have you been pure play M&A for 9 months? Or has your experience been a mix of all types of corporate?