Related Posts
Does publicis sapient have RPA-Uipath projects?
Argentina 🇦🇷 don’t do a Brazil!
a High School Algebra Teacher
How’s working at Ogilvy? How are they doing?
Has your company made vaccine mandatory?
Additional Posts in Law
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
Here’s the downside - departures get stale and awkward if they last too long. Please explain the special circumstances.
Also a chance they let you go earlier once you give notice.
Yes, which is fine with me, because my alternative is putting in my 2-week notice now.
I always do 30 days notice and they eventually tell me to leave and pay me.
I gave two months notice because the old firm was always very pissy when someone only gave two weeks, I wanted to cover a partner’s vacation towards the end of the two month period (which they were grateful for), and I was an opportunistic hire at my new firm so they didn’t need me to start right away. I recognize it’s unusual to give that much notice but it worked for me and kept me on very good terms with them.
You might get let go immediately or before that date. They don’t have to let you serve out your notice period. If you have savings to cover 6-8 weeks no pay, sure. But if not, stick to two weeks.
I agree… and don’t forget health insurance! If they cut your notice period short you may have a gap in coverage depending on when the next job is set to start.
I moved to another city and gave 6 weeks notice to close out or delegate matters. While doing so helped the firm, for which the partners were appreciative, my presence after three weeks became very awkward and started to bring down morale with the staff and lawyers who liked me a lot. In retrospect, I should have worked remotely after 3 weeks. To date, I remain close to my former colleagues.
I gave 5 weeks notice when I left my last role, but only because I was extremely close with my team. I announced I was leaving at the end of November, but offered to stay through year-end because of Q4 deal volume. The sr partner was very grateful & shes still a mentor of mine many years later.
I gave a month when I left for DOJ. Although the partners I was close to and asked for LORs had probably 6 months notice
6-8 weeks? I’ve never heard of that. I would do 30 days tops.
Yes a month when I was a prosecutor
I gave a month, though my main partners knew before because they were my references. A longer notice period gets tough especially if you also want some time off because the new place presumably has some need for you.
I just gave 4 weeks. I share responsibility for my group’s work with only one other person, who is great and who I didn’t want to leave in a bind. I’m finishing up projects that I could have just as easily told them to handle after I left but I’m not looking to burn any bridges. So yeah, if circumstances warrant it, give more than 2 weeks.
I left my firm on good terms to go in house. The firm asked me to stay for 2 months to wrap some things up. My new job was fine with it, so I stayed. It worked out and I still have a good relationship w my old firm.
I’ve only put in two weeks and I’ve usually been asked if I wanted to finish out one week (but still get paid for 2). Unless you have a trial within 30 days, 2 weeks of time is plenty to transfer responsibility of matters. Giving the firm 6-8 weeks to hire someone else will just give them license to move slow on the hire and won’t help anyone.
I gave 6 months notice to give them a chance to replace me. All went well and I ended up going back 4 months after quitting.
I've done 6 weeks but it was a government to government lateral with an understaffed office, so they were fine with it. I've heard private sector can be a bit more suspicious
I once gave 1 month notice because it was in my employment agreement, but they became very resentful I was leaving after having been there a year, even though I got a mid-year bonus and raise. Turns out the managing partner had a sensitivity to rejection and the firm had a high turnover of associates. It was an extremely uncomfortable month, even though I’d waited to give notice until a newly hired associate (they were aiming to expand) started. I also offered to work with the new hire as a mentor and created a transition plan for all of my matters, which I explained in detail at a partners’ meeting. There’d never been any animosity at work with them until I gave notice and then it was just an extremely miserable month. Never again.
For anyone following along, my longer notice was accepted and appreciated, so now we’ll see how it goes! Thanks for the feedback.
I did 30 days when I left my firm to do a fed clerkship, but a couple partners had closer to 2 months notice. It was a "pay me or I'm leaving" situation. They didn't increase me to where I wanted, so I left. Judge was just confirmed to the bench, I was a third clerk replacing a secretary so it was a short notice hire, and the judge gave me express permission to use the offer as leverage.
30 days made it so I left on great terms, I went back to the same firm after the clerkship, and I'm making more now than I would've been had they just paid me what I asked for at the time, including the temporary drop during the clerkship.
Tl,dr: giving plenty of notice affords the firm flexibility they'll appreciate.