Does Cum Laude Matter at All for Firm Lateral Ops Forum

[Anonymous User]

They can. Latham outright rejected be solely because of my grades. I went to Berkeley and didn't have enough HHs to meet their firm-wide grade cutoff. I received mostly HHs during my first year, but very few during my 2L and 3L years.

I did get offers at other V10 firms, and I ended up lateralling to one of them.

Again, going back to my earlier point, it's not accurate to say "Latham" outright rejected you solely because of grades. It was the partner in charge of making hiring decisions who did this. Who knows what would have happened had your application been considered by someone else at Latham who didn't care as much about grades. In most cases, the importance of grades is a person by person determination, not a firm by firm one.

No, my statement was completely accurate. HR runs your grades through a process that determines whether you meet the cutoff. You CANNOT get past the cutoff unless you have the appropriate grades. I know this because I had two good friends on the recruiting committee, and they never got a shot at even looking at my resume because the HR person screened me out before sending it on.

[84651846190]

They can. Latham outright rejected be solely because of my grades. I went to Berkeley and didn't have enough HHs to meet their firm-wide grade cutoff. I received mostly HHs during my first year, but very few during my 2L and 3L years.

I did get offers at other V10 firms, and I ended up lateralling to one of them.

Again, going back to my earlier point, it's not accurate to say "Latham" outright rejected you solely because of grades. It was the partner in charge of making hiring decisions who did this. Who knows what would have happened had your application been considered by someone else at Latham who didn't care as much about grades. In most cases, the importance of grades is a person by person determination, not a firm by firm one.

No, my statement was completely accurate. HR runs your grades through a process that determines whether you meet the cutoff. You CANNOT get past the cutoff unless you have the appropriate grades. I know this because I had two good friends on the recruiting committee, and they never got a shot at even looking at my resume because the HR person screened me out before sending it on.

The larger point I was trying to make is that you shouldn't assume an entire firm has a given grade cutoff. They often vary from office to office and (sometimes) partner to partner. I would be surprised if Latham's DC office had the same cutoff as their NY office, for example.

[keg411]

Solution:
1) Take uncurved classes or classes with generous curves*
2) Make sure they look somewhat relevant to BigLaw and aren't just "Law and Basketweaving"
3) 3LOL
4) Walk away with honors (or at least a respectable enough GPA)

Win-win.

*Note: if your school doesn't have this option, then that just sucks .

[Anonymous User]

At my firm (V10), when we interview laterals, grades absolutely matter. There are no hard cutoffs, but I've seen multiple folks dinged for grades. Now, that could just be b/c my practice group head cares about grades, but I'm sure there are others like her elsewhere.

FWIW, good grades can also help within a firm - i.e., getting chances to work in the most attactive practice areas.

[Anonymous User]

FWIW, good grades can also help within a firm - i.e., getting chances to work in the most attactive practice areas.

Just lol. This is absolutely not the case at my (also V10) firm, and I'd be pretty surprised if it actually was at yours.

[Old Gregg]

FWIW, good grades can also help within a firm - i.e., getting chances to work in the most attactive practice areas.

You're an idiot.

[09042014]

You guys just don't appreciate his scholarship.

[thesealocust]

My firm assigns practice areas based on performance in legal research & writing, journal cite checking, and the bar exam.

[Old Gregg]

My firm assigns practice areas based on performance in legal research & writing, journal cite checking, and the bar exam.

You forgot to include credit report. How can you manage the transfer of money when you can't manage your own money???

[Anonymous User]

Someone told me cum laude is a near de fact requirement at some of the V10. A quick search for new partners at DPW from 2010 to present and it looks like almost everyone who made it had latin honors, fwiw.

[Old Gregg]

Someone told me cum laude is a near de fact requirement at some of the V10. A quick search for new partners at DPW from 2010 to present and it looks like almost everyone who made it had latin honors, fwiw.

Come on man. You took the LSAT. You know better than to imply the point you're trying to imply.

[Anonymous User]

FWIW, good grades can also help within a firm - i.e., getting chances to work in the most attactive practice areas.

Just lol. This is absolutely not the case at my (also V10) firm, and I'd be pretty surprised if it actually was at yours.

Original Anon here. When we pick first year associates to staff, I get a PDF with the resumes and transcripts of everyone who expressed interest, and I am instructed to try to work with folks with good grades or LR, etc. Again, this could just be my practice group head's preference; its not necessarily global. But, now that I think about it, I know that another practice group within my firm does something similar.

This is not to say that grades matter for crap once people actually have a chance to look at your work product, but when it comes to getting your foot in the door, they matter, at least for some people.

[thesealocust]

Our industry is so pants-on-head retarded that nothing would surprise me anymore.

It's not so much that I doubt the above anecdote so much as it makes me want to spend even more time than usual today curled in the fetal position and furiously sobbing at the abject horror of the world I have found myself in.