When to lateral? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I’m a third year (capital markets, V50) and think it’s about time to lateral. My plan has always been to tough it out in biglaw for 3-5 years and then to move in-house/government, so I feel if I don’t lateral by the end of the year, I would lose out on a potential signing bonus, as I won’t be lateraling later anymore.

My only question is when to start interviewing? My only consideration to wait is that I want my EOY bonus this year, so should I wait until December or so to really kick my search in higher gear? Or is it best to start now and just negotiate for an EOY bonus (is that a thing?)?

[existentialcrisis]

I’m a third year (capital markets, V50) and think it’s about time to lateral. My plan has always been to tough it out in biglaw for 3-5 years and then to move in-house/government, so I feel if I don’t lateral by the end of the year, I would lose out on a potential signing bonus, as I won’t be lateraling later anymore.

My only question is when to start interviewing? My only consideration to wait is that I want my EOY bonus this year, so should I wait until December or so to really kick my search in higher gear? Or is it best to start now and just negotiate for an EOY bonus (is that a thing?)?

Negotiating for year end bonus is definitely a thing.

[Anonymous User]

You can try to negotiate for a signing bonus plus full EOY bonus; I'm not sure if that's attainable anymore. But if you find your job tolerable then think carefully before lateraling if your goal is just to get more money out of biglaw. A lot of partners are truly awful to work under and you don't want to end up somewhere that you hate.

[Anonymous User]

Just as a data point for you: my offer from Latham offered a full sign-on bonus as long as I hit prorated hours (LW requires 1,900 hours a year, but only had to hit 950 hours to get full bonus because I joined in the middle of the year). Good luck.