Bio page lines such as summa v. magna or COA clerkship count will help in a Biglaw firm but marginally. Most partners don't really care between those distinctions. There are partners that won't staff associates who graduated from lower tier schools (I know it seems silly once you're all in the same firm, but trust me, I've seen it happen), but I don't really think they'd say "Oh that associate only had a single COA clerkship instead of 2" However, it may make it marginally easier to be staffed on a case. I don't know if it would change in the different style firms.Anonymous User wrote:pereira6 wrote:I read about 80% of what was in both threads, and I'll echo the thanks by the other posters.
Sorry if I missed the answers to these questions:
Did you have work experience before your current job? If so, how much did it help land you the job? For those without work experience (read: me), what can they do to make up for it besides grades?
Also, what was your undergrad major? Did it help you with your writing skills that you say are very useful now, or was law school the primary source for acquiring good writing skills?
Thanks!
How much do you think the "bio page resume lines" help the development of a biglaw career? Summa cum laude vs. magna cum laude; and two CoA clerkships vs one CoA; are my primary questions (and the reason I made this post anonymous - mods, please don't un-anon-ize me). Does the answer change depending on whether you work at a "Free market" or "Cravath-style" firm with respect to work assignments (i.e., are partners going to be more willing to give the guy with more resume lines work when s/he knocks on the partner's door on day one)? My intuition is "probably not", but I've heard mixed things.
What advice would you give to someone who was hired as a 3L/during the clerkship year for his/her first day to quickly start building relationships with people who will give him/her work? I'm concerned that I'm going to show up at the firm as an entirely unknown quantity, and that I may have a harder time shaking down work as a result.
How soon did you start feeling pressure to specialize? How long is it possible to avoid specialization without having a negative impact on your ability to get work/career prospects? Do you think holding off and being more of a generalist makes it easier to land an in-house gig, but more difficult to make partner?
Are you trying to make partner?
Do you think trying to write/publish articles during a clerkship year will be beneficial from a career standpoint?
Do you think publishing shorter pieces/client notices/blogs helps people drum up business, or at least improve their visibility?
Since you're in Chicago - do you know anyone who works at Bartlit Beck? Is it really all it's cracked up to be?
My advice is not to sweat it, a lot of people come in off those situations and are a little slow to start, and it's very natural. They'll get you staffed and working and once you get your first assignment, it's all about work product at that point.
Around your 3rd year is when they start asking about specialization here, and whether or not it's a good thing for in-house totally depends on what you want your specialization to be and what type of in-house position you want. It could go either way depending. I think specializing helps your track to partner because you work closer with a group of partners and you need people willing to go to bat for you when you're up. Being too much of a generalist may not give you that same group.
I'm still on partner track doing the partner track things.
If you have time to do it, write/publish, it can't hurt.
Maybe marginally, but it's only if you start to be recognized in a field. However, if you want to go into academia eventually it will be very helpful. I feel like you have that in the back of your mind (maybe I'm wrong) if that's the case, write and publish as much as possible.
Yes and yes.