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How hard is it to lateral firms with bad grades?

It depends on how bad your grades are, which school you went to, which firm you're currently working at, and how much experience you have when you try to lateral. It also depends on how specialized your skillset is. If you're some general commercial litigator at a V50 with less than 3 years of experience and shitty grades, there's no way in hell you're going to get much traction in the lateral market.

Julio_El_Chavo wrote:It depends on how bad your grades are, which school you went to, which firm you're currently working at, and how much experience you have when you try to lateral. It also depends on how specialized your skillset is. If you're some general commercial litigator at a V50 with less than 3 years of experience and shitty grades, there's no way in hell you're going to get much traction in the lateral market.

So working in a niche practice area would work to your advantage then.

i happened to know someone who is not remarkable: class of 2009, T30, no honors, D & A piper
s/he lateraled to another T50 after a year and a half.

s/he lateraled to an asian office and s/he speaks korean though.
I don't know if that is a so-called special skill set.

Anonymous User wrote:

Julio_El_Chavo wrote:It depends on how bad your grades are, which school you went to, which firm you're currently working at, and how much experience you have when you try to lateral. It also depends on how specialized your skillset is. If you're some general commercial litigator at a V50 with less than 3 years of experience and shitty grades, there's no way in hell you're going to get much traction in the lateral market.

So working in a niche practice area would work to your advantage then.

Depends if your niche is desirable.