Top Law Schools

Reprisal wrote:

Guchster wrote:tl;dr. can you provide a summary?

fly away, shithead

Coolgrnmen wrote:

Reprisal wrote:

Guchster wrote:tl;dr. can you provide a summary?

fly away, shithead

@admin...these types of posts should bring the ban-hammer quicker in forums where professionals in the field are doing the users of TLS a favor, IMHO. (Reprisal...not Guchster)

rupret1 wrote:I'm a mother who went back to school because it has always been a goal and desire to study law. What's your opinion on talking about having children in an interview? To this point i've tried to avoid it because of a lack of certainty how employers will view that info, but it seems to come up naturally. For instance, most of my volunteer activities on my resume relate to my kids' schools, and a large part of why I chose the law school i did was because of schooling for my kids. That also plays a big role in where i want to live/work after law school.

I have significant work experience in accounting/finance. I've worked full time with kids and I'm top 10% at a t-14 with kids. In my mind it should be a positive thing that I've accomplished it all while being a mom, but I don't know if that's how it's viewed by firms.

Thanks!

ph14 wrote:When looking at laterals, what is most important to you? i.e., practice group of the firm you're working at? what projects they were involved with and what roles they had? selectiveness/reputation of the original firm? etc. etc.

Anonymous User wrote:I didn't land an SA position at a firm for this summer, but I did land a job with a legal services office where I will actually be handling a full case load and getting REAL litigation experience (everything from interviewing clients to arguing motions to trial advocacy).

I really want a firm job when I graduate within a litigation practice. I would also be fine with a corporation practice, but litigation is preferred.

To the point: when looking for entry-level positions with firms...will they look at my actual litigation experience and give me a leg up over the next guy, or will they see me on the same level as someone else where the firm will still see it as them needing to train me just as much as them?

Recommendations aside...

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I didn't land an SA position at a firm for this summer, but I did land a job with a legal services office where I will actually be handling a full case load and getting REAL litigation experience (everything from interviewing clients to arguing motions to trial advocacy).

I really want a firm job when I graduate within a litigation practice. I would also be fine with a corporation practice, but litigation is preferred.

To the point: when looking for entry-level positions with firms...will they look at my actual litigation experience and give me a leg up over the next guy, or will they see me on the same level as someone else where the firm will still see it as them needing to train me just as much as them?

Recommendations aside...

I'm OP of quoted...hope LFR wasn't turned away by the unprofessionalism...

Anonymous User wrote:Lawfirmrecruiter, thanks for taking questions.

My question is: do all big law firms conduct background checks? If so, what types of things will get someone dinged?

I'm #1 in my class at a T25 school, but I have a pretty tainted criminal background (two misdemeanor theft charges and multiple minor alcohol misdemeanors). How will this affect my employment opportunities with law firms?

Any information is appreciated.

Thanks.

Anonymous User wrote:Thank you for taking questions.

I have a undergrad GPA of 3.2 from HYS and a 1L GPA of 3.9 at a top 20 law school with four years of strong work experience after college as well as strong extra-curriculars, both in undergrad and in law school.

Should I take my undergrad GPA off my resume because it is so much lower than my law school GPA or would taking it off make employers think that it's even lower than it is?

rupret1 wrote:I'm a mother who went back to school because it has always been a goal and desire to study law. What's your opinion on talking about having children in an interview? To this point i've tried to avoid it because of a lack of certainty how employers will view that info, but it seems to come up naturally. For instance, most of my volunteer activities on my resume relate to my kids' schools, and a large part of why I chose the law school i did was because of schooling for my kids. That also plays a big role in where i want to live/work after law school.

I have significant work experience in accounting/finance. I've worked full time with kids and I'm top 10% at a t-14 with kids. In my mind it should be a positive thing that I've accomplished it all while being a mom, but I don't know if that's how it's viewed by firms.

Thanks!

Anonymous User wrote:This may have already been asked, but law school students seem to be obsessed with rankings... do firms know about them just as much?

Obviously I'm sure you know the very elite schools, but what about those that fall outside of that reign

For example... are you more impressed by schools such as University of Minn / Boston University than Case Western / Pitt or do they kind of all become grouped together as schools that are decent but below the top schools?

jarofsoup wrote:What do you think with transfer students?

ph14 wrote:When looking at laterals, what is most important to you? i.e., practice group of the firm you're working at? what projects they were involved with and what roles they had? selectiveness/reputation of the original firm? etc. etc.

Anonymous User wrote:I didn't land an SA position at a firm for this summer, but I did land a job with a legal services office where I will actually be handling a full case load and getting REAL litigation experience (everything from interviewing clients to arguing motions to trial advocacy).

I really want a firm job when I graduate within a litigation practice. I would also be fine with a corporation practice, but litigation is preferred.
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To the point: when looking for entry-level positions with firms...will they look at my actual litigation experience and give me a leg up over the next guy, or will they see me on the same level as someone else where the firm will still see it as them needing to train me just as much as them?

Recommendations aside...

Anonymous User wrote:What is your firms grade cutoff for emory and similarly ranked schools? (but really just emory)

lawfirmrecruiter wrote:

jarofsoup wrote:What do you think with transfer students?

Transfers are fine but I do like to know why they wanted to make the move.