# Negotiate a law firm offer or a raise

Salary negotiation practice for legal work covers two real conversations, negotiating a new offer where base pay often follows a fixed lockstep scale but a signing bonus, start date, or class-year credit are genuinely negotiable, and asking for a formal class-year adjustment after a lateral move between firms.

Big law compensation rarely works like an open salary negotiation. Most firms publish a lockstep scale tied to class year, which shifts the real conversation toward the pieces that actually move.

## The scenario: the scale is fixed, the class year isn't always obvious

In new-offer mode, a candidate is holding an offer where the base salary sits on a published lockstep scale, and the real negotiation is about a signing bonus, a later start date to finish a clerkship, or credit for prior legal experience that should count toward a higher class year. In internal-raise mode, an associate who moved laterally into a new firm at a class year that undercounts their actual experience is asking for that to be corrected, and the conversation tests whether the specific prior experience gets named clearly enough for HR to act on rather than treated as an informal ask.

## What gets covered

New-offer mode has the AI on the other end respond the way a hiring partner or recruiting director working within a fixed lockstep scale actually would, redirecting a base-pay ask toward what's genuinely flexible, bonus, start date, or class-year placement. Internal-raise mode has the person on the other end ask for the specific prior experience or matter history behind a class-year adjustment request, since firms need a defensible basis to move someone up the scale. Both modes also check whether a candidate keeps a specific ask on the table after the first redirect, rather than letting it go.

## What actually gets scored here

The penalty for an abruptly ended interview applies directly here, since a negotiation that trails off without a clear next step, a bonus number confirmed, a class-year adjustment agreed to pending HR review, scores worse than one that closes deliberately, which matters given how much of this conversation typically needs formal follow-up afterward.

## Frequently asked questions

### Can I practice negotiating a signing bonus instead of the lockstep base?

Yes. New-offer mode is built for the real conversation, and the AI on the other side responds the way a recruiting director working within a fixed scale actually would when a candidate pushes on a bonus or start date instead.

### What if my prior experience doesn't map cleanly onto a specific class year?

It still helps to state whatever specifics you have, the matter types and years of practice, since a vague claim scores worse than a concrete one even under generous calibration.

### Is internal-raise mode useful for a lateral class-year correction, not just a raise?

Yes. A class-year adjustment works the same way as a raise request, as long as the specific prior experience behind it gets named clearly.

### Does trailing off at the end actually hurt the score?

Yes. The penalty system deducts for an abruptly ended interview, and a negotiation that trails off without a clear next step or a specific number confirmed scores worse than one that closes on purpose.

### Does this work for a public interest or government legal role instead of a firm?

Yes. Both modes work regardless of setting, though the specifics differ, a firm negotiation leans on a lockstep scale while a public interest role may center more on a loan repayment assistance figure.

## Related pages

- [Legal interview questions](/interviews/legal)
- [Salary negotiation practice](/features/salary-negotiation-practice)
- [Browse open roles](/jobs)
- [Frequently asked questions](/faq)

## Rehearse the comp conversation before it's real

Practice negotiating a signing bonus on a lockstep offer, or asking for class-year credit after a lateral move, with an AI that pushes back.

Start practicing free: https://www.intervieux.ai/register · Hire with Intervieux: https://www.intervieux.ai/employers/signup