Negotiating (mostly) remote position? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I have a fairly strong resume (HYS, 2+ years BigLaw) and will be coming off of a COA clerkship. My family lives near a "secondary" Midwest city (i.e., not Chicago) and I will more likely than not relocate soon after my clerkship to be near them. However, I'm comparing the litigation opportunities at Chicago-based firms and firms in my to-be-local market and ... the level of respective excitement I feel is just not close. (I am motivated by "interesting" litigation, prestige, and $$$.) My dream is to swing a mostly-remote position with a Chicago office where I come in maybe once or twice a month, and also not be working at Quinn. (Unless the Quinn Chicago experience is very underrated? anyone?)

Is this a pipe dream, especially given the current state of the hiring market? If not, how do I even begin this kind of conversation with firms? Thank you all in advance!

[Anonymous User]

Quinn seems like the obvious answer here, how dead set are you on not working there? Can a firm of 1000+ attorneys really be uniformly that bad (or worse than biglaw generally)?

[Anonymous User]

I don't think any firm will hire you on the basis of your not following attendance policies. Those days are over and the trend is to bring people back. You have good credentials but you're ultimately just another fungible midlevel.

You might be able to find a firm where you can de facto not show up that much. There's a bunch of firms that aren't as strict about attendance, or it depends on the group. You have to network and find those groups. But the firms won't give you an official get-out-of-RTO-free card.

[Anonymous User]

Quinn seems like the obvious answer here, how dead set are you on not working there? Can a firm of 1000+ attorneys really be uniformly that bad (or worse than biglaw generally)?

OP here. I'm not categorically opposed to working at Quinn (let alone Quinn Chicago), but Quinn's reputation as a sweatshop, disproportionately high percentage of toxic partners to work with (so I hear), and the 2100 billable requirement all give me considerable pause. I'll try not to turn this into another Quinn thread, though.

I've heard that GDC is in practice extremely remote-friendly. If anybody can share insights, either about GDC or more generally, I'd appreciate it!

[Anonymous User]

Do you want to be remote-only in a firm where everyone else is in the office? I feel like that would really limit my ability to advance in the firm if everyone else was in person.

[emc91]

Dunno what others are talking about. You can def negotiate fully remote with your credentials. Just get some offers from firms that seem open to it and see what happens. I’m fully remote with way worse credentials in corporate lol and my firm (V30 ish I think) has fully remote folks in every group.

[Anonymous User]

Do you want to be remote-only in a firm where everyone else is in the office? I feel like that would really limit my ability to advance in the firm if everyone else was in person.

I'd prefer to be mostly-remote at a firm where there's a strong norm of remote work as opposed to mostly-remote at one without that norm, yes. But as long as I can stick around for a few years, collect some resume lines and cash some fat checks I'm good. (I get that the first two things are easier where I don't stick out for not showing up a lot.)

Dunno what others are talking about. You can def negotiate fully remote with your credentials. Just get some offers from firms that seem open to it and see what happens. I’m fully remote with way worse credentials in corporate lol and my firm (V30 ish I think) has fully remote folks in every group.

Thanks, this is helpful to know. Do you have any advice on how to broach the topic, and when? Definitely not at the screener stage, but pre-offer? Post? How to pitch it? I'm all ears....

[Anonymous User]

Do you want to be remote-only in a firm where everyone else is in the office? I feel like that would really limit my ability to advance in the firm if everyone else was in person.

I'd prefer to be mostly-remote at a firm where there's a strong norm of remote work as opposed to mostly-remote at one without that norm, yes. But as long as I can stick around for a few years, collect some resume lines and cash some fat checks I'm good. (I get that the first two things are easier where I don't stick out for not showing up a lot.)

Dunno what others are talking about. You can def negotiate fully remote with your credentials. Just get some offers from firms that seem open to it and see what happens. I’m fully remote with way worse credentials in corporate lol and my firm (V30 ish I think) has fully remote folks in every group.

Thanks, this is helpful to know. Do you have any advice on how to broach the topic, and when? Definitely not at the screener stage, but pre-offer? Post? How to pitch it? I'm all ears....

I started remotely (was living in a city without an office) and then basically asked to never move after working there for 4 months because personal circumstances changed (was going to move to a city with the office I interviewed with and then didn’t). Others I know brought it up at the offer stage.

[Anonymous User]

You should go to Quinn. I love it. No other firm you would be interested in allows WFH. You will not bill much less than 2100 hours at a peer firm. At least Quinn has a transparent minimum while its peer firms who don’t will make sure you are working at least 2100 if not more. Cravath for example has no minimum but they all bill upwards of 2700.

[Anonymous User]

You should go to Quinn. I love it. No other firm you would be interested in allows WFH. You will not bill much less than 2100 hours at a peer firm. At least Quinn has a transparent minimum while its peer firms who don’t will make sure you are working at least 2100 if not more. Cravath for example has no minimum but they all bill upwards of 2700.

I guess it's got to be on the table, based on the relative dearth of accounts of mostly-remote arrangements I'm hearing from people.