New York Lawyer
June 26, 2001

Q:
Even though I was unhappy as a junior associate and planned to leave anyway, I was recently asked to leave the firm and given two months notice. If I�m going to work in a different kind of setting, do I have to reveal that I was let go?

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A:
This is the classic �yes, but . . . � situation, the thorniest possible �spin control� issue. In fact, how you characterize your departure may depend on what the firm agrees to by way of a reference statement.

Ethically and practically, you should avoid any material misrepresentation of fact which could leap up and bite you in a reference check or a coincidental conversation between your new employer and the associate development partner of your past law firm. On the other hand, you are not obliged to torch your own marketability, either.

If your firm says that they will give you �a positive reference,� don�t stop there and hope for the best. Try to negotiate some agreement on how your departure will be characterized: Not enough work? Not a temperamental or motivational fit? Practice area dwindling? Almost anything is better than huge bloody whacks at your technical expertise (�she knew nothing about tax�), work ethic (�just couldn�t hack the pace,� �couldn�t turn out the work�), native intelligence (�dumber than a box of hammers�) or social skills (�doesn�t play well with others,� �bridles against authority,� �hopelessly na�ve,� or �arrogant jerk�).

Many firms will agree to a benign �tale� that suggests mutual agreement that the situation wasn�t working, without flagging specific skills/knowledge deficits or fundamental work habit or interpersonal problems: �We both recognized that my long term career prospects probably lay outside a large-firm setting, and we agreed to an amicable parting of the ways.� If a questioner persists and asks, �Were you pushed or did you jump?� I believe you must acknowledge that the option to stay or leave was not yours. One way to take the sting out of this, however, is with a �they simply got me before I got them� rationale:

Generally, try to start with a broad, colloquial generalization, and see if that will satisfy the interrogator: �Well, in many ways it was a classic big-firm bad fit.� You�d be surprised at how many interviewers, particularly those that love to hate lawyers and the legal profession, will nod sagely and say, �Yes, I know what that�s like,� without having the slightest clue what you�re saying. But they may send you signals that your explanation suffices. So don�t over-explain. Be ready with progressively more detail if pushed, but don�t feel obliged to lay out an inch-by-inch litany of your descent into unemployment.

In describing your departure from your last job, remember that the real issue is whether it reflects any issues that would re-emerge in a new job in a new setting. Very few jobs, for example, �carve up life into six-minute billable increments,� so you can express a desire for a broader way of defining your value without bumming out the potential employer. I�ve had someone look me straight in the eye and say, �I recognized almost immediately that I�ll always be better suited for a generalist role than a specialist role. I�m glad I found it out so young and so soon.� It had the absolute ring of truth. Another said, �they recognized that I�d made a fundamental error in career path even before I did.� This �limited mea culpa� also met the sniff test.

The basic issue is not whether your firm let you go � after all, this is not uncommon � but why it didn�t work. You have to sound self-aware enough to communicate how your next career objective will avoid or remedy whatever issues led to your ouster. It is, however, worth thinking through a variety of answers . . . and practicing them a few times in front of the mirror. If the question, �why did you leave your last job?� makes your heart race, your knuckles whiten, and the pitch of your voice climb an octave, the interviewer may not know what you�re hiding, but he or she will sense you�re hiding something. And remember, they don�t have to explain why they�re not hiring you . . .

Sincerely,
Douglas B. Richardson
President, The Richardson Group