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So my GPA will put me in the top 1/2 half of my class, not spectacular. For some reason I just can't get out the the B/B+ range. I interview well and I am currently an intern with a superior court judge in San Francisco. I have received less than helpful advice for OCI and future legal employment in general. Is it wrong to be bummed about my grades and standing? I'm happy I have no Cs at all and in fact my lowest grade is a B and highest an A- but still...Should I focus more on aiming for government work next summer or maybe smaller firms? I'm really interested in civil litigation, not really criminal stuff.

Not sure if this is appropriate for this thread but what about career prospects (assuming I stay exactly where I am at the next two years). I'm not looking for anything in the $160k range because I just don't think it is possible but what are my chances of landing something in the $85-110k range after graduation?

Any honest advice is greatly appreciated.

edit: n/m

thanks for the response. i am hoping i can bring up my gpa the next two years. i'm not sure what i am doing wrong. the consistency of my grades is weird. if i could crack that top 25% i would be much happier.

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LSATrocks wrote:bump. I'm curious to see what people think job prospects are worth with these credentials particularly firm work (obviously smaller to mid-size firms in the greater bay area). Any thoughts or experience?

the way this board responds to anyone outside of the T14 (and even some within it), just drop out now, or stop reading this board, it's super depressing.

Anonymous User wrote:thanks for the response. i am hoping i can bring up my gpa the next two years. i'm not sure what i am doing wrong. the consistency of my grades is weird. if i could crack that top 25% i would be much happier.

true, but if you were in the top 25%, you'd be pining for the top 15%, and so on. my guess is that 85-110k might have been possible from 00-07 but not any longer. I figure most of us that strike out at OCI will be looking at 65-75k, but I might be too conservative. And hopefully the market will improve by 2012.

General Tso wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:thanks for the response. i am hoping i can bring up my gpa the next two years. i'm not sure what i am doing wrong. the consistency of my grades is weird. if i could crack that top 25% i would be much happier.

true, but if you were in the top 25%, you'd be pining for the top 15%, and so on. my guess is that 85-110k might have been possible from 00-07 but not any longer. I figure most of us that strike out at OCI will be looking at 65-75k, but I might be too conservative. And hopefully the market will improve by 2012.

where i am at now, $75k wouldn't upset me. most attorneys i have talked to have said that after 3-5 years, class rank and grades don't matter much. performance as an actual attorney is all firms really care about at that point.

Anonymous User wrote: where i am at now, $75k wouldn't upset me. most attorneys i have talked to have said that after 3-5 years, class rank and grades don't matter much. performance as an actual attorney is all firms really care about at that point.

yeah I think that is generally correct. I mean, your situation is not so bad...you have a nice summer externship and you are still in what like the top 33-40%? OCI probably won't yield results for anybody not in the top 15% so you aren't any worse off than most of the people at Hastings.

If you look on the irlg website they have payscale estimates for smaller firms around the bay area. If I recall correctly, and I haven't looked at that site in a while, they estimate 65-80k for most small firms. Just be glad you are at Hastings and not GGU or something...those kids were screwed before but even more so now.

General Tso wrote:

Anonymous User wrote: where i am at now, $75k wouldn't upset me. most attorneys i have talked to have said that after 3-5 years, class rank and grades don't matter much. performance as an actual attorney is all firms really care about at that point.

yeah I think that is generally correct. I mean, your situation is not so bad...you have a nice summer externship and you are still in what like the top 33-40%? OCI probably won't yield results for anybody not in the top 15% so you aren't any worse off than most of the people at Hastings.

If you look on the irlg website they have payscale estimates for smaller firms around the bay area. If I recall correctly, and I haven't looked at that site in a while, they estimate 65-80k for most small firms. Just be glad you are at Hastings and not GGU or something...those kids were screwed before but even more so now.

thanks for the info. i'll check it out.

Anonymous User wrote:
thanks for the info. i'll check it out.

yeah its here:
http://www.ilrg.com/employment/salaries/#firyea

and then they have a regional multiplier that you can use to estimate your region's payscales. this is the smallest firm scale:

$44,500 - $57,000 3.6%

so lets just use Oakland's multiplier

Oakland, CA 127.5

44,500 x 1.275 = 56,737
57,000 x 1.275 = 72,575

yikes

crap those figures from above are for small firm paralegals. small firm first year attorneys are:

$50,250 - $73,000

x 1.275

=

64,068 - 93,075

...but then again these figures are for 2009 so things may be better or worse today.

General Tso wrote:crap those figures from above are for small firm paralegals. small firm first year attorneys are:

$50,250 - $73,000

x 1.275

=

64,068 - 93,075

...but then again these figures are for 2009 so things may be better or worse today.

i realized that. i did the math for san francisco firms, comes out about the same. it's not terrible. just have to work hard. hopefully i can do something to get me out of the lowest group. thanks again. this is somewhat more encouraging than the usual responses on this board.