Job Offers at Law Firms and Decision Making

How will you receive an offer? Will the offer be made through a phone call or letter? How much time will you be given to make a decision? It is an old maxim that offers are communicated by telephone and rejections by mail.

After completing the interview process, firms may not give you any direct indication of your status. While you may have some idea of how well you did, you may possess little or no indication of whether or not an offer is forthcoming. The official notification will be received several weeks later. Occasionally, offers are made during the interview process, but more commonly, you will have to wait.

Receiving an Offer

If you do receive an offer and are not prepared at that time to make a decision, it is vitally important to show a continuing interest in the employer. Explain that presently you are interested but are talking to other employers and you feel it would be unfair to accept this offer without reviewing all your options. You might stress also the importance of the decision by saying that you simply need time to think. Emphasize that you enjoyed your interviews and that you were very impressed with what you saw of the firm.

There is no need to succumb to pressure. Certainly the firm will want to know as soon as possible whether or not you plan to accept, but usually it will allow you a reasonable amount of time to make a decision. Firms interviewing on campus during the fall generally follow NALP guidelines requiring offers to be held open until December 15. Check your own placement office for details.

Some employers attempt to exert pressure on applicants to make a quick decision. Smaller firms, for example, may feel that they cannot play a numbers game, making ten offers for five spots on the assumption that they will have only five acceptances. They may make only one offer and will want to know if that candidate is going to turn them down right away.
While the employer wants you to decide as soon as possible, you will want to keep your options open as long as possible. This is a matter for negotiation along with other issues such as salary, benefits, starting dates, etc. But remember that once you know an employer wants you, you are playing a much stronger hand than when the process started.

Negotiating a Job Offer

Many law students fail to think of themselves as negotiators when they get a job offer. They simply take the money and am. While negotiating varies according to issue and employer, many of the terms of employment are subject to negotiation.
Generally employers that participate in fall on-campus interviews and other employers with highly structured personnel policies are more likely to have predetermined what they are willing to offer you. They are less likely to be willing to negotiate major terms like salary and benefits, but may be more flexible on issues such as practice area assignment or starting date. Smaller firms and other employers that do not hire associates on a regular basis are less likely to have a clear idea of what they will agree to give. These employers are more likely to negotiate a wider range of issues.

Many students have taken law school courses on negotiation and should recognize that the principles of negotiation are the same in a job offer situation. A few suggestions may help you negotiate the best possible terms for yourself:

• Figure out what you want out of the negotiation. What would you like to get ideally? What would you be willing to accept as a fallback position? Which issues are critical (non-negotiable) and which are you willing to concede in order to reach an accord?
   
• Figure out what the employer wants out of the negotiation. What is the maximum you can expect? Which issues are critical to the employer?
   
• Construct an agenda for the negotiation. When you sit down to talk about terms have a plan for attaining your objectives. Employers hiring to fill a single position are more likely to negotiate terms than employers hiring two or more since it may be awkward (or illegal) to start different lawyers with comparable qualifications at different rates.
   
• Keep in mind your bottom line. Both you and the employer have a bargaining range (See Chart 21). Do not expect the employer to go outside its bargaining range to accommodate you. Try to make this a win-win situation. Both you and the employer should walk away happy.

Some of the specific areas that you may be able to negotiate include:

• Starting salary& Benefits-- Health insurance may be fixed, but professional benefits (e.g., bar dues, CLE allowances, club memberships) may be a subject for negotiation.
   
• Incentives/bonuses-- While signing bonuses are uncommon except for genuine superstars, many smaller firms are willing to give associates an incentive to produce work or bring in clients (e.g., a percentage of the fees from all new clients brought to the firm by the associate).
   
• Practice areas--This is the most commonly negotiated term of employment.
   
• Working conditions-- Support, office space, expectations.
   
• Special arrangements-- Child care, part-time status, tuition for LLM program.
   
• Time off--Vacations, National Guard, maternity leave.

Your own marketability can also be a factor. Does the employer want you because of your Ph.D. in genetic engineering? Are there other comparably qualified candidates in the wings who would take the job if you said no? How close is it until the time when you plan to go to work? How many other offers can you expect to receive in the near future? You should not hesitate to ask for specific terms once the employer has formally extended you an offer. Do not wait until after you start work to clarify terms and conditions of employment.

Making a Decision

Whether you receive a single offer or have several to choose from, take time to assess options in order to reach a sound decision. Develop a list of the advantages and disadvantages for you in any position. Then on a scale of one to five (1 = ideal; 5 = unbearable), rate the offer you have received according to the factors you have listed. Use this rating system to help clarify your thinking about the offer.

Ask yourself: Is this the type of practice I have been seeking? Will my family and I be happy in the community? Do I possess the requisite skills for the job? Does the management style of the employer seem consistent with my working style? Will my peers be the types of lawyers I find interesting and congenial? Is the money offered satisfactory?

While salary is important, especially for those with financial obligations, it should be weighed against a number of factors that receive your careful consideration. Only a relative handful of graduates can be expected to see the top dollar figures being quoted in newspapers and periodicals. For most applicants this is simply being unrealistic.

Because the first few years of practice represent an apprentice ship or internship, and the beginning lawyer is learning how to practice law rather than generating a profit, starting salaries for new lawyers may not reach the impressive levels indicated by the legal press. On the other hand, economic surveys show that you can expect your income level to grow year after year, reaching the top income figures after about 20 years of practice. Thus, initial salary and benefit packages are important, but these are only part of the overall picture.

Before you total up your ratings for the positions you are evaluating, take a second look at the list of disadvantages. In contrast to the pluses, the disadvantages are often thrust to the back of one's mind. On a day-to-day basis, however, they can tarnish even the advantages most eagerly sought.

What if you are not really comfortable with your office peers? Will you be excluded from the informal discussions at lunch or other moments of relaxation that contribute so much to your professional growth? Will advice and counsel be freely provided by those who have performed similar tasks before? Some disadvantages are merely inconveniences, but others can have truly inhibiting effects upon your professional life.

One additional factor deserves special consideration: How will accepting the position influence your future?

In The Making of a Public Profession, Frances Zemans and Victor Rosenblum point out the importance of the selection of a first position on future potential. Reviewing their survey results, you cannot help but be impressed by the importance of your first position to your entire future career. Your potential for specialization is determined. Upward professional mobility is developed. Lateral mobility is defined.

Your question, therefore, is simply: What limitation will this first position impose if all does not go as well as you hope? If a chance for a partnership does not develop, how saleable in the legal marketplace will be the skills you acquire? Will your skills be easily transferable to another area of the country? How closely tied to your present community will you be by your clients, your business, and professional contacts, or the specialized practice experience you have acquired?

Should you have to choose from two or more offers, it may help to make lists of the pros and cons of each offer. But although a ranking may help you to review your own objectives, it may not answer the question of which offer is most likely to satisfy you. You might play out a worst case scenario and imagine where you will be if the job does not work out.
In the end, it is frequently a subjective rather than objective decision. Carefully assessing an offer means considering personal feelings not just attempting to quantify advantages and disadvantages. Ultimately, you make a choice and go forward.

Finding Satisfaction

A number of different surveys of young lawyers report that for many their present work failed to meet their expectations for personal satisfaction. Those who are not happy frequently experience frustration either because of unrealistic expectations or because they chose the wrong type of position to meet their goals.

For many new lawyers, the biggest dissatisfaction is the amount of time spent on trivial matters. This is not surprising. Most clients have problems that loom large in their eyes but which to the trained professional are routine and simple.
Some offices are involved in large cases with millions of dollars at stake. A virtual army of attorneys may be involved for days or months in compiling data and citations and cataloging a myriad of documents. Many of the lawyers involved in such tremendous compilations will not be around to see their contribution to the final outcome. They may not know the overall objectives of the client representation for which they work so diligently. Although this situation is highly frustrating, young lawyers should be aware that this kind of data collection work is typical in firms where large issues are a way of life.
Dissatisfaction can also arrive after two or three years of practice when lawyers begin to feel they have mastered the skills of practice and their responsibilities are increasing more rapidly than compensation. Still another type of annoyance to many young lawyers is the administrative detail that the operation of any office requires but particularly larger firms. It is frustrating when there does not seem to be enough time to deal adequately with the challenging legal matters at hand.

New lawyers also may complain that they have insufficient time to do an adequate job on their assignments. The fact is, you cannot spend $2,000 worth of time on a case that will bring only $200. A new lawyer may also have several assignments from different partners or senior associates and feel they cannot all be completed within the time frame allotted. Or there simply may be too few lawyers to handle the total case load.

Lack of feedback or evaluation from superiors represents another source of dissatisfaction. This is perhaps the most serious problem because it limits professional growth and development. It is also the most difficult to remedy because training must be initiated from the top to be truly successful. Forward-looking offices seek ways in which to improve the skills of both new lawyers and more experienced ones.

On an encouraging note, job dissatisfaction seems to dissipate after the third year in practice. As new lawyers gain experience, they develop a more realistic outlook on practice and better means of coping with its many irritants.
Although a certain amount of frustration is inevitable in the transition from law school to the real world, long term career dissatisfaction is often avoidable. If you match your skills and goals to the best position available, you are more likely to achieve satisfaction in your work. Seek out the possibilities, rather than accept whatever comes along, and take time to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of any offer. Negotiate to get the best employment pack- age and choose the position which offers the best opportunities for personal and professional growth. If genuinely torn between career choices, use contacts in your network to help you decide what's best for you.