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I am a lateral in a small group at a V50 firm and started here a year ago. I had around three years of experience at my previous firm with no issues. Received a call from my partner to tell me that they are letting me go because management decided to cut costs and picked me as the most junior in the group.

I hit my billable hours last year, but a senior associate in the group was on leave and has since returned, which reduced my workload. The partner said everyone in the group was happy with the quality of my work and that they are willing to provide a strong recommendation. I have until early June on the website.

Should I disclose this situation when interviewing for a new job? My initial reaction was no, but a recruiter suggested that it may be better to be upfront because firms will assume I was let go due to poor performance because of my short stint at the firm. Thoughts?

Your new employer will call your references to check the reason you left. So just make sure to be consistent with the record of your firm. If they give you an official notice and let you go, it just makes no sense to say you left voluntarily because the new employer will find out anyways. If you are being pushed out and you give them notice "voluntarily," you may tell them you left voluntarily for some reasons because that's just the truth and the new employer will find out the same on the references calls.

Jump ship after 1 year is not untypical. Don't stress over it.

Absolutely don't tell people you're getting pushed out. In the interview process, the new firm should not reach out to your old firm at all (that betrays the confidentiality of your interviewing). Likewise, most firms do not disclose whether someone is being pushed out, they only verify whether someone is currently employed by them or not. So even if your new firm does reach out, as long as you are on the website, they should affirm you are employed.

*also, don't put your current firm as references. Act as if you are making a move confidentially, so you wouldn't want anyone at your current firm to know you're interviewing.

Source: previously let go from a v10 and landed fine at a v50