Ann Israel is the legal profession's Dear Abby. A New York legal recruiter since 1979, Ann is a past president of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants. Advice for the Lawlorn is updated every week.

Q: I read your response to the question from the associate who stated that he had a 50-50 chance of making partner. My only issue with your response is that I think it is dangerous to put any faith in "guarantees" of making partner two years from the date of the statement. Don't you?

Dear Faithful: Um, yes, I surely do. In fact, not only is it dangerous to put faith in those guarantees, I think you have to be in la-la-land to believe in guarantees of partnership at all, especially those made so far from the election date.

The stories I could tell ... over the years I have met so many midlevel to senior associates, and I had the perfect opportunity for them. They would be ready to accept the offer, but then they realized that partnership in their current firm was all but "guaranteed," and/or they were a "lock" for partnership, so they decided not to make the move after all.

Nine times out of 10 when their turn for partnership came around, they were not voted in, and by then, they were too senior for the opportunities that had come their way several years earlier -- those other firms where the partnership track was more realistic or the in-house opportunities where by now they would most likely be general counsel.

Your question happens to be very timely because just earlier this month Anthony Lin, one of the top reporters for the New York Law Journal, wrote about a New York associate's lawsuit that had to do with this very subject. It seems this associate claims he was PROMISED that he would be brought into the partnership of his firm. Unfortunately, when the time came for the vote to be cast, not only was he not voted into the partnership, he actually was fired from the firm. Hoeffner v. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, 602694/05.

As Lin wrote in his article, "The highly unusual suit has attracted attention within the profession because large firms frequently hold out the carrot of partnership to associates, even as hundreds are passed over for promotion every year."

So, what does this all mean? The bottom line here is that nothing in life is for sure (I know, except birth, death and taxes), so if you are smart you will always keep your options open. Yes, you may very well be a lock for partnership, but if an opportunity happens to fall in your lap, you owe it to yourself -- and to your future -- to take a look at it. Sometimes the grass isn't greener, and you will be glad that you looked and then came back to your firm and waited to see if that "guarantee" might be real. Because, sometimes it is.

But then again, what harm is there in taking a look? Perhaps Hoeffner might have thought twice about those two offers he turned down because he believed in that guarantee. Who's to know? Life really is a gamble.

Best wishes!

Sincerely,
Ann Israel
President, Ann Israel & Associates