Effect of Quitting Law Review on SA and Potential Clerk Opp Forum

[Anonymous User]

Any thoughts on how bad this would hurt me. I currently go to a middle of the pack school and I am 3rd in my class. I have a decent SA lined up at a firm with 400 attorneys and I want to clerk before I start full-time there.

I am just sick of law review. It is adding nothing to my skill set and the articles and things I work on appear to have no practical application. I seriously think I could become a better lawyer by spending my 3L year working on my weaknesses and doing practical things. Working on writing memorandums and motions at a USAO or something similar. Something I will use in the real world.

What say you?

[California Babe]

Not sure about your SA, but I'm pretty confident that it will sink any clerking opportunity you might otherwise have. The presumption will be you quit because it was too much work, which looks bad, and I'm not sure you can successfully spin it any other way.

[mrloblaw]

I agree that it couldn't possibly signal anything to a judge other than "I couldn't handle the workload that literally every other person you're interviewing managed just fine."

[zomginternets]

I think clerking is actually one of the few instances where LR experience has a lot of practical relevance, at least in terms of cite-checking. I'm externing at a circuit court right now, and everything gets cite-checked 3-4 times. You don't want to send out a bench memo or an opinion with sloppy bluebooking and get it back from other chambers with a laundry list of revisions.. makes your chambers look bad.

And +1 to what the above poster said.

[rbgrocio]

dont quit!

[Anonymous User]

OP Here:

I agree with the message it sends. But I have the quickest BB in the East and I just feel next year is going to be futile and I do not care much for academia.

Can anyone who has pulled this move confirm its a death sentence as to clerking? Or have the people who quit, and wanted to clerk, already kicked the chair out from underneath their feet?

I know the effect on SAs is completely different, but many associates and even partners joked to me about law review and its relevancy.

[traydeuce]

You go to a "middle of the pack school." Chances are slim you'd get a clerkship from such a school w/o LR. But quitting would be fatal, unless you intend to hide that you ever were on law review. There are just too many great candidates to give an interview to the law review quitter from the mediocre school, regardless of your class rank.

[California Babe]

Can anyone who has pulled this move confirm its a death sentence as to clerking? Or have the people who quit, and wanted to clerk, already kicked the chair out from underneath their feet?

It is a death sentence as to clerking. If you really understood the message it sends, you wouldn't be asking this question. Clerking is extraordinarily competitive. Each judge will have applications from hundreds of students as or more qualified than you who did not quit LR.

You obviously don't want to hear this answer, but it's still the answer.

[mrloblaw]

Can anyone who has pulled this move confirm its a death sentence as to clerking? Or have the people who quit, and wanted to clerk, already kicked the chair out from underneath their feet?

It is a death sentence as to clerking. If you really understood the message it sends, you wouldn't be asking this question. Clerking is extraordinarily competitive. Each judge will have applications from hundreds of students as or more qualified than you who did not quit LR.

You obviously don't want to hear this answer, but it's still the answer.

This. I'm not sure how, knowing that you're a borderline marginal candidate already and that this would raise a huge red flag, you can still ask how bad it would be to your clerking prospects.

[Tangerine Gleam]

I don't understand how judges would know OP was ever on law review to begin with. It wouldn't be on his/her resume.

[California Babe]

I don't understand how judges would know OP was ever on law review to begin with. It wouldn't be on his/her resume.

I guess I don't know how every school does it, but here it's on your transcript. I also wonder about professor recommendations—it seems like they would be sure to find out a student was on LR then quit.

But yeah, it might be possible for OP to hide the fact that they quit LR. If a judge is interviewing a potential clerk who is #3 in the class, I would think "Why didn't you do Law Review?" would come up, and OP would have to lie or admit they quit.

[traehekat]

Yes, this will significantly hurt your clerkship chances, whether it shows up that you quit or not. Also, don't think that just because attorney's at your firm joked about law review means they won't care if you quit. I'm obviously not saying you will be no-offered, but quitting LR can't HELP your chances of receiving an offer, that's for sure.

So yeah, this would be a horrible idea. Whatever practical experience you think will gain in place of LR for a year will be pretty minimal and in the grand scheme of things won't mean much. LR on the other hand will be on your firm bio for the rest of your life.

[CanadianWolf]

How quitting law review affects your chances with respect to clerking and law firms may vary. At the very least, quitting raises two concerns: Whether or not the work is too much for you & whether you work well with others in a structured environment. Additionally, some may question your interest in legal research & writing.

[seatown12]

I am just sick of law review. It is adding nothing to my skill set and the articles and things I work on appear to have no practical application.

That's why it's good prep for being an associate. The only skills you need are efficiently completing mindless work and doing what you're told.

[Anonymous User]

OP Here:


Thanks for the insight it confirmed my suspicions. But I am reminded of how important your law school years are as to development. As a student you have the time to deliberately focus and improve. A luxury that does is not found in practice. I just want to use this period to make of most of myself and LR seemed to take up a disproportionate amount of time compared to the gain I felt I was receiving.

[traehekat]

OP Here:


Thanks for the insight it confirmed my suspicions. But I am reminded of how important your law school years are as to development. As a student you have the time to deliberately focus and improve. A luxury that does is not found in practice. I just want to use this period to make of most of myself and LR seemed to take up a disproportionate amount of time compared to the gain I felt I was receiving.

Nobody joins LR for a practical or useful experience, because it's not. But for whatever reason, firms and other employers want to see it though, so you just suck it up and do it.

[California Babe]

OP Here:


Thanks for the insight it confirmed my suspicions. But I am reminded of how important your law school years are as to development. As a student you have the time to deliberately focus and improve. A luxury that does is not found in practice. I just want to use this period to make of most of myself and LR seemed to take up a disproportionate amount of time compared to the gain I felt I was receiving.

Nobody joins LR for a practical or useful experience, because it's not. But for whatever reason, firms and other employers want to see it though, so you just suck it up and do it.

This.

And OP, LR might be a time sink where you could be doing other interesting things instead, but you're vastly overstating the experience you'll acquire as a 3L compared to as a young attorney.

[Anonymous User]

I deeply appreciate the emphasis.

[traehekat]

OP Here:


Thanks for the insight it confirmed my suspicions. But I am reminded of how important your law school years are as to development. As a student you have the time to deliberately focus and improve. A luxury that does is not found in practice. I just want to use this period to make of most of myself and LR seemed to take up a disproportionate amount of time compared to the gain I felt I was receiving.

Nobody joins LR for a practical or useful experience, because it's not. But for whatever reason, firms and other employers want to see it though, so you just suck it up and do it.

This.

And OP, LR might be a time sink where you could be doing other interesting things instead, but you're vastly overstating the experience you'll acquire as a 3L compared to as a young attorney.

Yeah it's like, I dunno what you think you are going to do OP, but chances are you will be just as disappointed that you aren't gaining the experience you want. Not saying you may not enjoy it more than law review, but that really isn't saying much.

[2LLLL]

I wouldn't automatically say that quitting LR will have no effect on your SA either. If you're at a firm that doesn't hire a million SAs, or at a smaller office of such a firm with only a few SAs working there, there's a good chance that someone in HR will send out an e-mail with your bio after you start. When the HR person sends you the e-mail to review for accuracy, you're going to either have to tell him that you quit LR, or lie. Also, partners who worked on your LR may ask you about the experience- I know I had a conversation with one about my experience last summer.


When it comes down to it, there's a good chance that the firm hired a certain number of SAs and can't give out offers to all of them for economic reasons, or maybe the firm just intentionally over-hired. If you're known as the guy who couldn't even follow through on LR, do you think that increases your chance of getting one of a limited pool of offers?

[Anonymous User]

OP Here:

Thanks GTL and everyone.

[howell]

I wouldn't automatically say that quitting LR will have no effect on your SA either. If you're at a firm that doesn't hire a million SAs, or at a smaller office of such a firm with only a few SAs working there, there's a good chance that someone in HR will send out an e-mail with your bio after you start. When the HR person sends you the e-mail to review for accuracy, you're going to either have to tell him that you quit LR, or lie. Also, partners who worked on your LR may ask you about the experience- I know I had a conversation with one about my experience last summer.

To anyone contemplating quitting law review: check your school's rules on what you have to do. At my school, we are required to tell all employers and/or potential employers if we quit or are kicked off of law review. This includes any employer we have applied to where the hiring decision has not been made yet.

I would question the OP's happiness during his/her first few years at a 400 attorney firm if the concern is having time to work on practical skills.

Doing LR and working on other, useful skills are not mutually exclusive options. Yes, the time spent on LR is time that could be spent elsewhere, but there is nothing stopping one from doing LR, moot court, internships, working, and other things all at the same time. I have known a lot of people that have wanted to quit LR - mostly people who didn't secure anything coming out of OCI - but most of those people really appreciated sticking through it and even found some usefulness from the experience.

[Anonymous User]

OP Here:

Do not worry about my happiness.

[Old Gregg]

disproportionate amount of time compared to the gain I felt I was receiving.

The gain you received was that job you got. Law Review is a credit card that you charge at OCI and during clerkship applications that you spend 2L and 3L years repaying. It provides absolutely no other benefit that a secondary journal can't provide.

[traehekat]

OP Here:

Do not worry about my happiness.

But! But!