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 Tuesday.

Q:My friends have told me that if I receive an offer for an in-house position and do not make a counteroffer, it will be viewed by the company as a poor business decision on my part. Is this true?

One Fine Gentleman

Dear One Fine Gentleman: My advice to you would be to get some new friends. OK, just kidding! But seriously, what kind of advice is this?

I find it hard to believe that every single in-house offer should be counteroffered. It just doesn't make sense to me. Your situation indicates to me that you have not received an offer as of yet. And still, even without an offer in hand, you are contemplating countering this offer. To me, that is the poor business decision. I really do believe that your friends are giving you bad advice. Why don't you wait to see, first of all, if you do get an offer and then see if it is even necessary to make a counteroffer? Perhaps the offer will be spectacular!

First off, when a future employer makes an offer, one would hope that it is in good faith and in keeping with your compensation requirements. If that offer is simply a test to see if you are stupid enough to accept it "as is," I would surely question whether or not this is the type of employer for whom you would want to work.

Indeed, sometimes an offer is lowballed and there is some room to negotiate. But then again, there is always the danger that when you try to get more money, you might lose the offer. You have to be willing to take that risk if you are going to go out on a limb and ask for a higher salary. In that instance, I don't really think of it as a counteroffer but rather as a compensation negotiation. You need to think carefully about what you are willing to accept as your total compensation package and then know when to accept or back out of the deal.

If you have read previous columns then you know my standard advice in negotiating a higher compensation package is based on whether or not you really want the job. If you do, I have found the most successful place to come from in a negotiation is to tell the potential employer that you are almost there in accepting the offer but would be just a bit happier if there could be some room in the total dollar amount. The employer, generally, is willing to talk this out with you when you are coming from a genuine interest in the opportunity.

I mentioned above that I really didn't look at this as a counteroffer but rather as a compensation negotiation. In my book, a counteroffer is when you go to give notice and your current employer counters the offer from your new employer. And oh boy, that is where the trouble begins! A counteroffer is so tempting -- and as we all know about temptation, it can only lead to ruin.

From time to time I have quoted from one of my favorite articles about accepting a counteroffer. The article, basically, discusses the fact that accepting a counteroffer is, in many cases, a direct road to career suicide.

In this article the word counteroffer is defined as an "inducement from your current employer to get you to stay after you've announced your intention to take another job." Interestingly enough, studies have shown that of the employees who have accepted a counteroffer, after one year only 20 percent of them still remain with that employer.

Why is that? Well, you must consider the reasons why the counteroffer was made to begin with -- unless you are really screwing up on the job, it is never a good time to see an attorney give notice. One less person in the department means a greater workload on everyone else, especially in a particularly busy practice group. Your partner/supervisor may be so desperate to keep you on board until s/he can find a replacement that just about anything might be said such as;

• "You're going to join what firm/company?"

• "I thought you were happy. Let's sit down and see if we can make you happier."

• "I didn't want to tell you this yet, but you are on a definite partnership track."

And as the article goes on to say, "It's human nature to want to stay unless your work life is abject misery. Career changes, like all ventures into the unknown ..." are very difficult, and your partner/supervisor knows that by saying the right thing to you -- pressing the right buttons -- he or she might be able to keep you around.

But before you even consider accepting that very tempting counteroffer, I strongly urge you to think about the following:

• Did you have to get an offer from another firm/company before your current partner/supervisor would talk to you about partnership/promotion, better work or something along these lines?

• When (if) your name does come up for a partnership vote, you will be remembered as the person who was disloyal -- the one who actually tried to quit the firm at one time and had to be offered something to stay.

• You might decide to stay, but more than likely, you will not get the plum assignments you used to enjoy, and headhunters will be called to find a new "superstar" to hire into the department.

• A well-managed law firm or corporation doesn't make a counteroffer -- it might ask if there is anything it can do to change your mind to get you to stay, but in the long run it will shake your hand, tell you to keep in touch and wish you the best.

• Last but certainly not least, whatever caused you to start looking in the first place still exists. Whatever or whomever it was has not gone away. Keep that in mind when the extra money or promises of a fast partnership track are dangled in front of you.

I know there are some of you out there who have had success with accepting a counteroffer, but I submit to you that the majority of people who succumbed to temptation still regret that decision.

And to our Fine Gentleman, wait until you get an offer before you decide whether or not you need to counter it with your own counteroffer. You might be pleasantly surprised with what this potential employer thinks about you and has to offer!

Best wishes!

Sincerely,
Ann Israel
President, Ann Israel & Associates