Lateral Salary Negotiation Forum

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Lateral Salary Negotiation

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Feb 22, 2019 12:37 am

I am a mid-level associate at a v10 firm in a major market, and am moving to a secondary legal market. I currently have two offers from v100 firms in that market, and am hoping for advice on potentially negotiating up my salary or getting a signing bonus. I would love to hear if anyone has been successful on this front.

Some additional color, if helpful:

- I used a recruiter because I wasn’t super familiar with this market;

- both firms really need mid level associates in my area of practice, and my credentials are stronger than those of their normal applicants/associates (I don’t mean this to sound like a jerk. I just mean that I have work experience and academic credentials that don’t seem to be matched by many associates in this market, but that are competitive but still fairly normal in a major legal market);

- both firms have lockstep compensation through the 5th year or so, and after that salary data isn’t public (and it does not appear to be lockstep)

The offers I received are about $100k under my current compensation (salary plus bonus) at my lockstep v10. Although cost of living is much more reasonable in this secondary market, I’d still like to try to nudge that number up, especially given that salary is individualized for mid to senior-level associates.

Does anyone have thoughts on what might be doable/reasonable given that whichever firm I choose will have to pay a recruiter, too? My recruiter kind of said “the salary is the salary,” but I feel like he is incentivized to say that to close a deal and move on. I don’t think it would hurt to try to negotiate politely. Both firms have expressed their eagerness for me to join them given their urgent need for associates in this area.

Any guidance would be much appreciated!


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