Do Grades Predict Your Abilities as a Lawyer? Forum

[Anonymous User]

I found it funny - not sure if it is "bad" or the "worst"
like I said it's a small firm that serves local clients.

if I were the guy, I would just put 'name of law school, [any honors & publications]
and maybe some of my interests (largely irrelevant anyway)

[Anonymous User]

if my professor gives me a big compliment - a pat on my back - I would not advertise it on the website.

earning an award, or being nominated for one, is different.

[IAFG]

Actually, I took some time and looked at the firm profiles of the top firms. Partners are more likely to have graduated with higher honors then associates from their same school. This would seem to indicate (a) a causal link between how well you do in LS and how good of an attorney you are, (b) that the same thing causing good performance in law school causes good performance in a law firm, and/or (c) partner selections depend, in part, on how the honors designation beside your name.

The biggest flaw I see in this is that senior associates often "trade down" when it's time to make partner somewhere to improve their odds, so the Cornell with magna guy at Chadborne and Park may well have started at Sullivan. Which would mean his performance relative to current Cornell alum associates at Chadbourne is meaningless.

The second major issue is that it assumes recruiting hasn't changed over time. It's possible the firm simply cannot land the top students from the school in question anymore.

[Anonymous User]

The only true statistical analysis of law firm partners, by Prof Henderson (same prof who identified the bimodal salary distribution), showed that GPA and Law Review are *negatively* correlated with making partner or being a successful lawyer.

Could you link me to that study?