Ask A Legal Recruiter: How To Disclose A Class Cut, Deal With A Recruiter That Ghosted You, And Buy Some Time Before Responding To An Offer

For almost two decades, Kinney Recruiting has been a top international legal recruitment agency and home to some of the most professional legal recruiters in the world. With vast market experience and our trademark “no BS” approach, Kinney’s recruiters are favorites among candidates and clients in the legal industry. We are keen to share some of what we have learned with more people, so we have launched Ask a Legal Recruiter, an opportunity for our recruiters to answer your questions. Do you want to know more about how legal recruiting works or what lateraling looks like? How about our take on the market? If you have a question, email askarecruiter@kinneyrecruiting.com and we will get back to you with our take!

Question: I took a class cut at my current firm and am looking to lateral. Is the cut something I should disclose during interviews if I am not specifically asked?

Katherine Loanzon: If you don’t want to continue your career with the cut in class year, then this is not something you would offer up if not asked during the interview, ESPECIALLY if you feel you deserve to be given your true class year at the new firm. If you feel like your responsibilities are comparable to your true class year, then a new firm will give you the opportunity to get paid what you deserve relevant to your experience. Partners can determine your class year relative to similarly situated associates at the firm you are interviewing with and will do their best to properly place you in the right class year.

Question: What should I do when a recruiter I’d sent my resume to ghosts me? As a third year, I’m getting a good amount of contact from other legal recruiters. Can I just move on and start working with a new recruiter?

Joshua Shirley: This won’t happen with any recruiters at Kinney! If this has happened to you with another agency my advice is to send them an email asking that your resume materials not be shared with anyone or any other firm moving forward. Make sure you keep that email. Get a list of places your materials have been sent (hopefully you’ve already been keeping track of this) and reach out to someone at Kinney ASAP.

Question: How would I go about letting a firm know that I need some time before responding to an offer (when in actuality I want to wait to see if the other company has an offer as well)?

Jessica Chin Somers: This is a tricky situation and one that we deal with all the time. The truth is that a candidate who is ready to accept an offer will do so within a few days of when an offer is made (provided that the offer is in line with expectations). When a candidate asks for more time, the firm already knows the candidate is either waiting on another offer or overcoming some sort of personal roadblock (i.e., spouse does not want to relocate). The best thing to do is be honest with us and let us do the messaging. Remember, the prize for getting more time and accepting an offer at the last minute is… working with the folks who made you the offer! So the more honest you can be, the more understanding they will be and the better likelihood of a good working relationship going forward.

Have a question of your own? Email askarecruiter@kinneyrecruiting.com and we will get back to you with our take!