Holiday Party Invites: Are Deferred Associates on the List?

Earlier this month, we asked you if holiday parties were still on this year. Many people said that they were, albeit more subdued than the halcyon days of yore.
But one deferred associate had this question:

Aside from the question of which firms may be abandoning their holiday parties this year, it would be interesting to see which firms are inviting their deferred associates. As of now I don’t think the firm that deferred me is …

You know, it never occurred to me that firms would invite deferred associates the holiday party. At first blush, the idea sounds ludicrous. Why would they invite people who are not employees to the employee party?
I’m willing to bet that it never occurred to most firms either. But remember, deferring incoming associates is a completely new thing. There are no rules for this stuff; the legal industry is making it up as it goes along.
So, as long as we are setting new standards here, why shouldn’t a firm invite deferred associates to the party?
A discussion and a reader poll after the jump.


The argument for not inviting them is obvious. They don’t work at the firm. It’s that simple.
But there is an argument that can be made in favor of firms inviting incoming associates. First of all, firms keep telling these kids that they will be members of the firm. They have offers. Some of them aren’t even looking for other employment in reliance on those offers. Inviting these kids would be a low cost way for people to meet the new members of the firm. It would be a nice gesture that would suggest the firm isn’t just stringing its incoming associates along towards an inevitable offer revocation memo.
And then there’s the “lobster effect.” Leo McGarry (R.I.P.) explains on the West Wing: “I take my daughter to a seafood place; the first thing she does is name all the lobsters in the tank so I can’t eat ’em.”
It’s much harder to destroy something once you’ve put a name on it.
In this way, getting invited to the holiday party could really help deferred associates. It’s one thing for a firm to revoke offers to its entire class of “incoming associates.” It might be marginally more difficult, emotionally, to cast John, and Doug, and Karen, and Steve back out into the cold abyss of the breadline.
Anyway, it’s an interesting question. What do you think? Take the reader poll below.

Earlier: Holiday Parties Open Thread: Are They Happening This Year?
Open Thread: Should Deferred Associates Be Looking for Work?

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