Top Law Schools

HYS. Blew off the writing competition. But I have a SA at a NYC V20. No interest in clerking and really want to do corporate; however, I noticed that the vast majority of the partners at my firm were on L.Rev. or some secondary journal. If I get cum laude will this "make up" for my lack of journal, in terms of how it looks on the website with respect to client pitches, etc.

I'm under the impression that once you get into the "ultra elite" schools they do not really care about journal. I mean you have a SA offer, so it did not really affect you at all....

I think going to HYS will make you a strong pitch..., but getting good grades can always open doors.

No IMO. Cum laude is not that impressive, but neither is a secondary journal membership. But what you're seeing is some extreme self selection. People who make it to partner in biglaw are ultra intense. As a general rule, they are very unlikely to blow off write on...

On the other hand, a client won't care. If you want to do something worthwhile, publish in a journal or magazine in your topic area.

All the partners have journal because almost everyone does journal. There is zero chance it makes any difference during private practice. Nobody cares. I bet nobody even notices you weren't on it.

anonymous2012 wrote:No IMO. Cum laude is not that impressive, but neither is a secondary journal membership. But what you're seeing is some extreme self selection. People who make it to partner in biglaw are ultra intense. As a general rule, they are very unlikely to blow off write on...

On the other hand, a client won't care. If you want to do something worthwhile, publish in a journal or magazine in your topic area.

Cum laude is most certainly impressive at HYS. Being the top 15 percent of the 1% is a fantastic stat line. Walking onto any old journal means nothing compared to that.

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:

anonymous2012 wrote:No IMO. Cum laude is not that impressive, but neither is a secondary journal membership. But what you're seeing is some extreme self selection. People who make it to partner in biglaw are ultra intense. As a general rule, they are very unlikely to blow off write on...

On the other hand, a client won't care. If you want to do something worthwhile, publish in a journal or magazine in your topic area.

Cum laude is most certainly impressive at HYS. Being the top 15 percent of the 1% is a fantastic stat line. Walking onto any old journal means nothing compared to that.

+ 1

No one cares about secondary journals.

guano wrote:No one cares about secondary journals.

Hey! I know a certain bullet point that would be very lonely without his friend Environmental Business Sports Journal.

guano wrote:No one cares about secondary journals.

This about sums it up. Grades are even more important than LR (I would trade my LR membership for 10% in a second). And no one cares about secondary journals (although can be useful for networking).

You have an SA position already, you really shouldn't be focusing on amassing additional credentials unless you aim to clerk, which you don't.

zweitbester wrote:You have an SA position already, you really shouldn't be focusing on amassing additional credentials unless you aim to clerk, which you don't.

Caveat would be if there is some activity that seems to be big around the office. If everyone at the office was really into mooting and you don't even participate in one, you aren't doing yourself any favors.

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:

zweitbester wrote:You have an SA position already, you really shouldn't be focusing on amassing additional credentials unless you aim to clerk, which you don't.

Caveat would be if there is some activity that seems to be big around the office. If everyone at the office was really into mooting and you don't even participate in one, you aren't doing yourself any favors.

I assumed I was speaking in the context of his post. OP wants to do corporate. Pretty sure there's nothing to be accomplished by doing a journal or clerkship if you want to practice in that area.

Outside of that context, I can't speak too much.

zweitbester wrote:

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:

zweitbester wrote:You have an SA position already, you really shouldn't be focusing on amassing additional credentials unless you aim to clerk, which you don't.

Caveat would be if there is some activity that seems to be big around the office. If everyone at the office was really into mooting and you don't even participate in one, you aren't doing yourself any favors.

I assumed I was speaking in the context of his post. OP wants to do corporate. Pretty sure there's nothing to be accomplished by doing a journal or clerkship if you want to practice in that area.

Outside of that context, I can't speak too much.

Junior V20 corporate associate. I agree with bolded 110 percent. I have talked to corporate partners about clerking and was told it could actually hurt you. Clerking doesn't give you useful corporate experience and wastes a year you could be learning corporate work. Law school doesn't prepare you for corporate work at all. You'll join your firm as a second year but not know a thing about corporate. Being on a journal at least won't hurt you but I don't think it will help much except for teaching you the importance of proofreading.

I was speaking in context as well. The office I am working for has an insanely high ratio of graduates from my school that did Law Review and held an Executive Board position. They really hold it in high regard. So, while I did not really intend to, I will be taking an Executive Board position because it is part of the culture at the firm.

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:

anonymous2012 wrote:No IMO. Cum laude is not that impressive, but neither is a secondary journal membership. But what you're seeing is some extreme self selection. People who make it to partner in biglaw are ultra intense. As a general rule, they are very unlikely to blow off write on...

On the other hand, a client won't care. If you want to do something worthwhile, publish in a journal or magazine in your topic area.

Cum laude is most certainly impressive at HYS. Being the top 15 percent of the 1% is a fantastic stat line. Walking onto any old journal means nothing compared to that.

Since when was cum laude at HYS = to top 15%? http://www.law.harvard.edu/current/care ... index.html

Doritos wrote:

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:

anonymous2012 wrote:No IMO. Cum laude is not that impressive, but neither is a secondary journal membership. But what you're seeing is some extreme self selection. People who make it to partner in biglaw are ultra intense. As a general rule, they are very unlikely to blow off write on...

On the other hand, a client won't care. If you want to do something worthwhile, publish in a journal or magazine in your topic area.

Cum laude is most certainly impressive at HYS. Being the top 15 percent of the 1% is a fantastic stat line. Walking onto any old journal means nothing compared to that.

Since when was cum laude at HYS = to top 15%? http://www.law.harvard.edu/current/care ... index.html

Didn't look it up. Assumed it couldn't be THAT low. So 40.3% or so is Cum Laude? I am not sure I am reading that correctly.

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:I was speaking in context as well. The office I am working for has an insanely high ratio of graduates from my school that did Law Review and held an Executive Board position. They really hold it in high regard. So, while I did not really intend to, I will be taking an Executive Board position because it is part of the culture at the firm.

If you're doing corporate, it doesn't mean shit. But congratulations on all your accomplishments.

Like I said, cum laude doesn't mean much of anything, except that you weren't at the bottom of the class. It's a different cutoff at different schools.

Publish a short article in an area your interested in. Much more impressive than cum laude or secondary journal.

Anonymous User wrote:Like I said, cum laude doesn't mean much of anything, except that you weren't at the bottom of the class. It's a different cutoff at different schools.

Publish a short article in an area your interested in. Much more impressive than cum laude or secondary journal.

What is this flame?!?!

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:

Doritos wrote:

UnderrateOverachieve wrote:

anonymous2012 wrote:No IMO. Cum laude is not that impressive, but neither is a secondary journal membership. But what you're seeing is some extreme self selection. People who make it to partner in biglaw are ultra intense. As a general rule, they are very unlikely to blow off write on...

On the other hand, a client won't care. If you want to do something worthwhile, publish in a journal or magazine in your topic area.

Cum laude is most certainly impressive at HYS. Being the top 15 percent of the 1% is a fantastic stat line. Walking onto any old journal means nothing compared to that.

Since when was cum laude at HYS = to top 15%? http://www.law.harvard.edu/current/care ... index.html

Didn't look it up. Assumed it couldn't be THAT low. So 40.3% or so is Cum Laude? I am not sure I am reading that correctly.

Yeah looks like it

Like the others, I don't think cum laude is all that impressive (other than that it would be worse if you were below median), but a secondary journal isn't all that impressive either. Personally, I don't even think law review is that important except insofar as it serves as a proxy for how well you did/are doing in law school -- something more important as a rising 2L at OCI, where you don't have a lot of grades yet, than later on when your law school career is over.

Journals/law review are nice decoration on your resume, but -- basically, IMO, other than high grades, and in some circumstances publications (thinking about academia, not law firms), no one factor is ever going to be a deal breaker. You just need to have enough boxes checked that people believe you're in the club of high performers. So, go to a good school and get great grades or go to a great school and get good grades, and then after that do some sort of substantive extra curricular to show that you are intellectually curious, and ideally also have some interesting non-law related extra curricular to show that you're an interesting person. Pass that threshold, and it's about how well you do your job.

At every school I've heard of nearly everyone is on journal. Not everyone gets cum laude. That should make it simple.

Is cum laude at a school like NYU (top 25%) any more impressive, or does no one really know the difference between schools (i.e., top 40% at HLS vs. 25% at NYU) and thus not care?

Anonymous User wrote:Is cum laude at a school like NYU (top 25%) any more impressive, or does no one really know the difference between schools (i.e., top 40% at HLS vs. 25% at NYU) and thus not care?

Latter.

If I see latin honors, first thought in my mind is "did good." Last thought on the matter is "did good." Nothing more.

lol. Dead even poll. Perhaps cum laude + no secondary "makes up" for lack of journal more in corporate, than in litigation because bluebooking, etc. is less relevant to M&A.