Career Clinic: Should I turn down a promotion to stay in London?

Hedge your bets

If this is about plugging a gap, see if you can get them to treat it as a secondment. If you can get a commitment (in writing) that you can return to the London office after six months or a year, you could consider being a weekly commuter to Brum, your partner could stay in London and you could return at the weekends.

Ted -11 Nov 2010 | 13:47

Trust

Do you trust your existing firm? The mere fact that you are even asking the question suggests not. In which case, turn it down (except as a fixed short-term secondment) and get your CV honed and ready just in case your firm suddenly turns "nasty" when you pass on this "wonderful opportunity". Suddenly finding out that you have a close relative who is fragile and who needs your nearby support might help ease things. Good luck.

SimpleSimon -11 Nov 2010 | 15:38

Why don't you and your partner move to North London so as to enable you to commute to Birmingham? The obvious place is Watford, from where there is a fast rail service to Birmingham.

Anonymous -11 Nov 2010 | 16:09

I currently live a half-hour bike ride away from the office in a lovely area not far from Greenwich. Somehow I think a move to Watford and 3-4 hours (minimum) commuting every day is not going to do much for my work/life balance.

Original poster -11 Nov 2010 | 16:40

How much £££££?

You are being asked to demonstrate a degree of commitment to the firm and make quite considerable sacrifices in return for which you’re being offered something. You need to decide if it's a fair deal but it doesn’t sound great to me. Promotion to senior associate is the sort of thing that comes up with the rations around your PQE stage anyway if you’re half-decent. Plus it’s cheaper and no big deal to hand out titles rather than extra cash in a recession.

You should find out what’s on offer financially – would you be getting moved onto a regional pay scale? London associates probably earn more than Birmingham senior associates. Is there talk of relocation allowances etc?

If you are valued by your firm you should be able either to decline the offer or extract agreement to do it temporarily on terms that suit your personal circumstances. If you are being managed out, read the signals and get ready to jump.

Young Fogey -11 Nov 2010 | 17:42

Think Very Hard

I would endorse the views of previous posters. Take the role but live in London and commute. After six months, you'll probably know which way things are going. The problem is, if you relocate and things don't work out as you were led to believe (which, let's face it, can happen), you're opportunities to get your career back on track in the Midlands will be nothing like as good as they are if you're London-based.

Best of luck, whatever you decide.

Anonymous -11 Nov 2010 | 19:52

They must think you were born yesterday...

Being given additional pay and responsibilities and (possibly) a new title because you've done well and your boss wants to open the door to the next level is known as a promotion.

Being sent to Birmingham with a new name badge because they're short-staffed is known as "polishing a t**d".

Unless you're 100% red-hot convinced this is a real advancement, a polite but firm refusal is in order. If anything, moving to a new office where no one knows you or your work is more likely to hinder your career than help it, name badge or not.

Anon -11 Nov 2010 | 21:01

Anonymity

I'm not meaning to have a go, but do think your employer might possibly read this here Career Clinic blog? There can't be too many people in your situation, and I think they may just work out who you are.

Worried, of Chancery Lane -12 Nov 2010 | 10:07

What is Birmingham?

US Associate -12 Nov 2010 | 12:29

No commercial sense

No. You have to ask the question?

Ron Jeremy -12 Nov 2010 | 12:32

What is so wrong with Birmingham for God's sake? Lord Digby Jones has not done badly for a solicitor who practised out of Birmingham for many years in a household name firm.

Birmingham is a dynamic legal centre and culturally it really has come on. I know people who have come to Birmingham from the south to live and practise law and they have never looked back and wished they were down in the smoke. The legal scene is not all like the Birmingham Law Society AGM which featured on RollonFriday recently.

I've spent most of my life in the West Midlands and I am proud of it. Give Birmingham a try. You might enjoy it more than you expect.

high street solicitor -12 Nov 2010 | 13:49

There's nothing wrong with Birmingham, but there might well be something wrong with your firm's office there. It will certainly have a very different culture from the one you are used to, and they might need people to go there because of failings in the team there, and not because of having more work than they can handle.

Don't accept the offer until you've checked the office carefully and you're sure that it's a decent place to work with real prospects to develop your career. It's easier to go from one London firm to another than to get back in to London from Birmingham.

Anon -12 Nov 2010 | 15:51

What a nerve.

You are being managed out. Run! Get your CV out. They are not serious about keeping you. They are giving you the boot. Moving to Brummie means you will face an almost vertical uphill struggle to get back in London. Say no. Bide your time n move. It is almost a demotion.

Les miserables -13 Nov 2010 | 00:06

Nope

Occurs to me, if you're happy in london, then this a a no-brainer which you should turn down (except for as a secondment).

Any decent firm (or for that matter, human being) would understand that you don't want to relocate your life.

Also - are they offering a pay rise? My assumption would be that even with the "promotion" to senior associate, pay is probably less than London weighting?

Brummie -15 Nov 2010 | 16:51

Don't Do it!

I lasted just over a year in Brum and soon realised that it isn't a great place to work/live. Got out pronto so my advice is don't go unless you have a ready-made social circle or family/friends in the area.

anon -15 Nov 2010 | 21:19

Was it Oscar Wilde who said?

If I die and wake up in Birmingham, I know I did not make Heaven.

Van der vaart -16 Nov 2010 | 12:51

No simple answer

The posters who said that you should commute for a few months - why does it have to be 'six months', is there a fetish with this? - are right. That is provided you return to London at the weekend to recharge, gain perspective etc. With time you'll see whether to er... embrace the change. And if it doesn't work out, then start sewing that parachute.

One caveat: Don't tell them that you will move i.e. will relocate and end up not doing so but commuting instead. They will have your guts for garters. I speak from personal experience.

Trainer -16 Nov 2010 | 13:29

I suspect...

...you are being taken for a mug. Going from associate to senior associate is not a promotion in my book. Are they offering you anything else as an incentive to move e.g. a hefty pay increase, potential prospects for partnership if you make a success of it? You don't mention anything, so I presume not.

I see some people are suggesting living in B'ham during the week and just coming home at weekends. From personal experience I would question this. You will end up living half a life in both places and not really being committed to either. It is also likely to put your relationship under considerable strain.

Birmingham is actually not a bad place to live in the longer term (again speaking from experience), but as a born and bred Londoner you might find the transition difficult, particularly if you are always thinking wistfully about moving back to London.

I would say no to your firm and hope they respect your commercial savvy in seeing through the non-deal that they are offering you, but also dust off your c.v. just in case you need to start thinking about a move to another London firm.

Anon -16 Nov 2010 | 18:23

Isn't becoming partner the only meaningful promotion in a law firm? Going from trainee - associate - senior associate is just about putting in the years and not doing anything incredibly stupid, no?

Skeptical -17 Nov 2010 | 17:28

Don't do it

What do you want and why do you want it? What message is your firm sending you by asking you to move to another office? Some corporates and most of the big accounting firms put a premium on the ability to be flexible and gain experience from moving around. Law firms are not like that. Such is the frenetic pace of most legal work, "Out of sight, out of mind." Plus, legal work is very much relationship based. By moving to Birmingham, you are going to have to start building relationships from scratch. Partnership will have to be won, again from scratch, in Birmingham.

In my limited experience, this is what has happened: There is a shortage in Birmingham. Perhaps there are too many people in London. The partners have met and discussed who they can spare in London who is least likely to resist a move to Birmingham. They have not thought about your personal circumstances. They have not thought about what message they are actually sending you.

So, what do you do? Ask yourself the questions at the beginning of this e-mail. Then talk to the partners. This is a lot to do with framing: they will say this is career enhancing (it probably is not) to persuade you to go. If you want to stay, you tell them how committed you are to the London office and how important it is for you to stay in London to build on the many and deep client relationships you have made for the benefit of the firm (lots of hidden messages there). You'll see if you want to continue to work for this firm by the way it reacts. Start looking for another job in London in earnest now, as a back-up (you are not a slave). If you have a partner (or two) who are your champions in the firm, privately ask their advice before you do anything else. Sorry this is a bit garbled but, from experience, don't be passive about this but try to turn it to your advantage. Failing that, you may find out now that the London partners have already pigeon-holed you as not partnership potential and decide what your alternatives are now.

You've been in the firm a long time and change may not be an attractive or even obvious choice but avoid being influenced by how comfortable you feel now. That feeling won't last. But think of this as an opportunity to regain some control of your life.

If you want to talk it through, I'm happy for Legalweek to give you my e-mail address.

Good luck!

Andrew Haslam-Jones -17 Nov 2010 | 18:21

Is there any suggestion of a pay cut?

Thor -22 Nov 2010 | 14:14

Brum deal

You seem to enjoy living in London and your partner does too, so why would you move to Brum for a more fancy job title that does not add up to much at all. If they were to make you a partner then that might sound more attractive. The title 'Senior Associate' sounds like the the title they give to people who try hard but aren't quite good enough to become salaried partner.

Graham -03 Dec 2010 | 17:49