Requesting time off during SA - ok to do? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I accepted an offer with a biglaw v50 firm in NYC for Summer 2018. I am in a friend's wedding in CA during the SA program and would probably miss two days of work for it (Thursday/Friday). If I let the firm know now, do you think they would take issue with me being gone? I don't want it to affect my chances of getting an offer to return as a 1st year associate after graduation.

[bluthmodelhome]

My firm allowed summers to take a few unpaid, pre-approved "vacation" days. I don't know anyone that used them for vacation, but I know people who took days off for clerkship interviews and got offers.

[toast and bananas]

None of us can really know whether your firm would/wouldn't care, probably not but who knows. But do you really need to take two days off for a wedding? Is it not on a saturday? If so why not just leave Friday night?

[Anonymous User]

None of us can really know whether your firm would/wouldn't care, probably not but who knows. But do you really need to take two days off for a wedding? Is it not on a saturday? If so why not just leave Friday night?

OP here. I thought about that. It is on a Saturday, but the rehearsal will be that Friday, so I thought leaving Thursday would be best. It would be great to be there for all of it, but I'm definitely cognizant of the fact that it may not be a possibility.

[Minnietron]

Reach out to HR and ask. I know several SAs at my firm who took one or two days off for vacation. I think our offers permitted two days.

[TheSpanishMain]

At my firm it wasn't an issue as long as it wasn't excessive and you let people know well in advance but ymmv.

[deepseapartners]

I think two people in my summer class took a Friday off to go to a wedding. In general, the closer you are to the person (i.e. parents/siblings/in the wedding party), the more likely you are to get the day off.

[cron1834]

Are you IN the wedding or simply attending? If the latter, why not just get an early-morning flight on Friday, and only miss one day? That should leave you plenty of time to make a rehearsal dinner. I've flown Saturday morning for Saturday afternoon/evening weddings before, and it's very doable unless you're going west coast to east coast.

With this said, someone in my summer class missed like a week and a half for a family reunion/overseas vacation thing and they got an offer, but obviously this is going to be firm-specific.

[SmokeytheBear]

Reach out to HR and ask. I know several SAs at my firm who took one or two days off for vacation. I think our offers permitted two days.

I wouldnt ask HR, i would ask the recruiting coordinator.

[Mr. Blackacre]

Reach out to HR and ask. I know several SAs at my firm who took one or two days off for vacation. I think our offers permitted two days.

I wouldnt ask HR, i would ask the recruiting coordinator.

Who is...part of HR? Lawyers and semantics...

I took 3 days off during my summer. It didn't prevent me from getting an offer. Someone I know took a full week at another firm - didn't stop them from coming back either. Just ask the HR (recruiting - whatever) people; you'll most likely be fine for two days.

[4LTsPointingNorth]

Reach out to HR and ask. I know several SAs at my firm who took one or two days off for vacation. I think our offers permitted two days.

I wouldnt ask HR, i would ask the recruiting coordinator.

Who is...part of HR? Lawyers and semantics...

I took 3 days off during my summer. It didn't prevent me from getting an offer. Someone I know took a full week at another firm - didn't stop them from coming back either. Just ask the HR (recruiting - whatever) people; you'll most likely be fine for two days.

I agree that asking the recruiting coordinator rather than HR is the right move. The recruiting department (even if it has a close nexus with HR) is still most firms' designated point of contact for incoming summer associates with respect to administrative matters. It would be odd to look up an HR rep's contact info and to email that person out of the blue. They would end up looping in Recruiting anyway.

[sublime]

Nobody can tell you but your firm. Some firms give summers vacation (mine gave me a few days) and I can't imagine anyone being too upset, but it is firm specific.

[RaceJudicata]

Will be fine. Just say you are maid of honor or best man if they give you any push back. But just take off Friday. Leave late thurs or early Friday — but definitely work on Thursday.

[Mr. Blackacre]

Will be fine. Just say you are maid of honor or best man if they give you any push back. But just take off Friday. Leave late thurs or early Friday — but definitely work on Thursday.

I disagree. Lying is never a good idea.

[rpupkin]

If I let the firm know now, do you think they would take issue with me being gone?

Don't let the firm know now. They'll just forget about it and you'll have to tell them again.

If the firm is typical, you'll start hearing from them more during the spring about your upcoming summer program. Somewhere during that time (say, April-ish), I'd call or email the summer coordinator (or whoever is sending you stuff about the summer program) and ask if it's a problem if you're gone on X dates for your friend's wedding. It almost surely won't be an issue.

[lavarman84]

At my firm, I think pretty much all of the SAs ended up missing a day or two. I missed a week. Nobody cared. I let the recruiting coordinator know before the summer started, and I let the lawyers I worked with know. As long as you're liked and do satisfactory work while you're there, I highly doubt anyone cares.

[malibustacy]

My firm provided two days unpaid, if you've gave advanced notice. They better be important to lose 1400 dollars for two days salary and travel costs lol

[OneShot2009]

I did this during my summer for the exact same reason. A very close friend was getting married. I mentioned it early, and got Thursday and Friday off (we were allowed one paid day off, so the second was them being kind.) I flew out late Wednesday night and made sure it would not interfere with work Wednesday.

I do not think this will affect your chance of getting an offer, unless there are already other things against you. Meaning, if you don't do your work or you aren't turning work in it might be another strike against you, but for a summer who otherwise is a great employee I don't think it will affect an offer chance.

[lawhopeful100]

I’m at a smaller office (maybe 22 attorneys) but one of our two summers missed two days for a similar reason. I hadn’t even remembered until reading this thread. Don’t think anyone cared, and I definitely didn’t. Just to give you one more data point.

[gta]

My firm didn't have an official vacation/leave policy for SAs but people still asked for time off for weddings, clerkship interviews, etc. To my knowledge all of the requests were approved and didn't affect their paychecks. They all got offers too.

If it were me I'd try to get the earliest flight I possibly could on Friday, or maybe the latest on Thursday so I would still be in the office that day, instead of taking two full days for a wedding. Still I doubt taking two days is going to sink you, but better safe than sorry.