Robert Major, Jr., a legal recruiter in San Francisco, had introduced a candidate to his client, a financial services company in the Bay Area. A seventh-year associate at a San Francisco law firm, the candidate went through two interviews with the company and seemed genuinely interested. But four days before her final interview, her law firm gave her a $50,000 raise. Suddenly, says Major, she decided that maybe she couldn’t afford the $120,000-a-year in-house job after all.

For many lawyers, money alone is not enough to change their minds about about the kind of job they seek. But for others, lucre’s lure is hard to ignore.