Bonus season has an unintended effect when associates wait until they’ve collected the annual bonus before giving their two-week notice. If you are an associate planning to stick around, how does this affect you?
A lot of case assignment and re-assignment occurs during the months of January and February. This is not mere coincidence. When associates leave, the firm needs people to fill those places. Sometimes, case staffing gets rearranged entirely, with a lot of behind-the-scenes angling by partners who try to retain their favorite talent.
As someone who plans to stay, you need to be alert of what’s happening around you. First, if you’re happy about the cases that you are currently working on, then try to find out if any rearranging will affect you. This has to be done through the grapevine. Usually, senior associates are more plugged in to what the partners are doing, so try to find out from them.
Second, if you are not currently happy about one or more cases, this might be a great opportunity to try to get switched off a case without offending the partner that you are currently working for. This works especially well if you happen to know that one of your fellow associates is planning to leave and is working on a sexy case that you’ve been eyeing for the past few months. Have him or her get you knowledgeable and “up to speed” on the case informally, and put in a good word for you when s/he has officially given notice and needs to transition the case. This guarantees that you’re a step ahead of anyone else. It makes you attractive because partners hate to write off time to get a new associate informed about a new case. And the former partner with the decidedly un-sexy case? He or she is generally more understanding that re-assignments occur during bonus season.
Third, if you don’t have enough work (a realistic position to be in given the continued deplorable state of the economy), look at this as a chance to get more work. It always helps when you have insider’s knowledge of an imminent associate departure. A lot of associates won’t even tell fellow associates until they’ve officially given notice, knowing how quickly work can spread and not wanting the partnership to know prematurely. But if you’ve gained someone’s trust, you’ll likely know ahead of everyone else. Use that to your advantage if you don’t have enough work and want to inherit the case.
Good luck, and happy hunting!
