Laterals: Have conflicts ever been an issue? Forum

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Laterals: Have conflicts ever been an issue?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Sep 01, 2022 11:37 pm

I know I’ll find out when I find out, but curious whether anyone has ever had (or heard of) an offer rescinded due to conflicts? I have an offer from a V10 and trying to tell myself it’s gonna happen.
Last edited by Anonymous User on Fri Sep 02, 2022 12:01 am, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Laterals: Have conflicts ever been an issue?

Post by Anonymous User » Thu Sep 01, 2022 11:58 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Thu Sep 01, 2022 11:37 pm
I know I’ll find out when I find out, but curious whether anyone has ever had (or heard of) an offer rescinded due to conflicts? I have an offer at a V10 and trying ti tell myself it’s gonna happen.
It's rare. Heard of a case for someone who'd been doing bankruptcy M&A at a creditor-side shop who wanted to move to a debtor-side one, and getting conflict waivers from a dozen existing clients was going to be hard. It's not so much that the offer's rescinded as that the admin hassle is going to be too much (at least from a corporate perspective; if you're a litigator moving from Quinn to a defense-side firm, it may be a bit different).

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Re: Laterals: Have conflicts ever been an issue?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Sep 04, 2022 3:17 am

I've had a friend who got a lateral offer, left her firm and moved to a new city, only to have the firm rescind due to conflicts. She then tried to find another firm, but took her a while and she ended up having to move to another city almost a year later. Moral of the story: don't leave your firm till all conflicts have cleared.

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Re: Laterals: Have conflicts ever been an issue?

Post by Anonymous User » Sun Sep 04, 2022 6:15 pm

I lateraled from a V30 to a V10. V10 ran a conflicts check on me and decided they wanted one of my clients to sign a conflicts waiver. I contacted the client but they were hesitant (they did not understand the waiver and wanted a partner at my V30 to explain it to them, but if my V30 found out that I was trying to leave then they would've tried to stop me from leaving). Thankfully one of the senior guys at the client signed the waiver without needing an explanation and it wasn't an issue.

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Re: Laterals: Have conflicts ever been an issue?

Post by Anonymous User » Mon Sep 05, 2022 11:30 am

Litigator colleague at a top shop (V10) accepted a lateral offer from a peer firm, gave notice that he was leaving before conflicts cleared, then had his offer rescinded after he did not clear. He had to go back to the partners and rescind his notice. He’s well liked so they were happy to keep him.

So yes, it does happen, and don’t give notice until the Is are dotted and the Ts crossed.

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