Work or Take $100K to Wait? Cooley Associates Face Tough Choice

Cooley’s offer to pay incoming first-year corporate associates $100,000 to defer start dates for a year presents an interesting quandary for them—take the money, or work in a different practice group come January.

What should they do? The differing opinions Cooley associates receive—should they ask for them—will leave them feeling as stumped as the toughest question they faced in their bar exam.

Associates should accept the offer to defer, as they now lack leverage over their careers as newly minted law school graduates and soon-to-be-lawyers, said Katherine Loanzon, managing director of Kinney Recruiting. “The current market conditions, ...