The New Trend of Contingent Offers for Law Students
As the LG Podcast listeners know, I had an experience recently where I was extended an offer for a clerkship contingent upon an opening being available in August. In my particular case, the clerk’s term is technically over, but the judge granted some extra time for him or her to find a job. This creates a difficult problem forwhich Career Services had no solid advice: what do I do about judges and firms who have asked me to let them know if I get an offer?
Put that question aside for a moment. In the past few months, I have heard from several 3Ls who have had similar offers from both judges and law firms. For law firms, the conditional offer takes the form of “if we have the money / have any vacancies, we’ll hire you.” One of my close friends actually has three such offers outstanding — two from firms, and one from a judge.
Is this a new trend due to The Economy™? Our CSO seems to have little experience with such situations. Is it leverage or is it just a bad situation? Do you have any of these dreaded “contingent offers” outstanding?
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I think it puts you in the best possible situation, so long as you sell it right. Receiving a contingent offer states that you are valuable enough that someone wants to hire you, but you haven’t been locked into anything yet. Desirable yet available.
I would be very upfront. State you have an offer, say why it is contingent, and make sure to remind them that firm offers are more appealing to you than contingent ones.
It’s a bad lie to get caught in if you act like it’s a bona-fide position. Not only do you seem untrustworthy, but now you also aren’t on the mind of the person searching for an employee if something comes up in the interim.
If you were going to stretch the truth with contingent offers, the one tactic I might use is to never state that you’ve accepted a contingent offer, only that you have one. Accepting a contingent offer and holding the offer really aren’t any different, except that one makes people act like you’ve committed to a job.
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ouij Reply:
January 14th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
@John, “desirable, yet available” is nice on Friday night, but on Monday morning, I’d rather be employed and paid.
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ouij Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 10:45 am
@ouij, I suppose I’d take “desirable, yet available” over “available.”
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Josh Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 10:46 am
@ouij, Whoa, weird bug there. I’m gonna have to check on that code when I get home.
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ouij Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 8:12 pm
@Josh, Yeah, that was a little weird right there. I’m not used to being a sock-puppet :P
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I wish I had even a contingent offer. As matters stand, I’ve got–oh, that’s right. No offers.
Bitterness aside–Contingent offers are old hat for me. In the UK, university admissions depend on contingent offers: “We are pleased to offer you a place, provided you score at least X on your upcoming examinations.”
Someone with a better grasp of game theory might be able to give you optimal advice here, though.
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