A year or two ago, I happened upon an interesting questionnaire that NYU’s School of Law had on their website. The questionnaire was intended to assist associates contemplating full-time offers after their summer associate programs had ended. I thought it was a pretty useful tool and wished I could find something similar to send to my candidates who were considering a lateral move (because a lateral associate’s needs are often very different than those of a 3rd year law student)!
Then, last year, I was working with a patent litigation associate who had two offers from extremely different law firms (and to complicate matters, one was East Coast and the other West Coast). We talked at length about the two offers and ultimately revisited the initial reasons we had instituted the search to begin with. It was a very complicated decision for this candidate, and he spent a lot of time making pros and cons lists for each firm.
I realized my candidates could really benefit from a thorough offer analysis tool that would allow them to explore all aspects of the offer and their potential new firm. There are only so many moves that a lawyer can safely make in their career, and it’s important to look, look, look, before you leap.
Here is the article: Analyzing the Offer: A Questionnaire and Worksheet
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