A bit of a sticky wicket Forum

[Anonymous User]

Rising 2L at a T1 in a very large market.

As I'm getting ready for the bloodbath that is OCI, I've selected firms that are, from what I've been told by career services and fellow law students, less selective. I had a rough second semester (more on that later) and have finished around median for my school.

Here's the dilemma, if, during an interview, the interviewer asks why my second semester grades dropped should I bring this up:

During the peak of the second semester, my family was served with a $1.1 million civil suit in federal court. I commute from home, so I was in the thick of all the stress that came along with that. My parents, unfortunately for them, do not have $1.1 million to throw around for frivolous lawsuits and really didn't have enough money for an attorney to fight the charges in federal court. My uncle is an attorney and was able to help a bit, but I ended up doing the bulk of the research. Luckily, the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the complaint after they were threatened with a countersuit and their attorney was threatened with Rule 11 sanctions. Needless to say, this threw a wrench in my second semester, I didn't do as well on my finals as I did the first semester, and my GPA dropped from near the top 33%, to median.

I'm not one to kvetch about things, but if the question of "wtf happened during the second semester" comes up, should I tell this story? Needless to say it was a good learning experience for my legal education, but it wasn't particularly helpful for my top-law-schools.com.

Thanks in advance.

[shifty_eyed]

Are you asking if you should tell employers that you gave legal advice as a law student?

[transferror]

Absolutely do not bring this up. It may give an interviewer pause about your family since they were sued (ppl can't help but think the worst) and you run the risk of sounding like you are making excuses. Also, there's the whole it's "illegal to practice or give legal advice prior to passing the bar" thing, and you seemed to have come very close to crossing that line.

No one will bring it up, but if they do, just say you've spoken with your professors and know what adjustments you need to make to succeed in the future.

Edit: Also, don't every say the words "sticky wicket" in public

[toothbrush]

Edit: Also, don't every say the words "sticky wicket" in public

add: kvetch

[ymmv]

Edit: Also, don't every say the words "sticky wicket" in public

add: kvetch

Blatant anti-semitic trolling.

[Anonymous User]

OP here.

Obviously I didn't give any legal advice haha. It was such an odd case that I didn't even have a clue as to what the law was. I just wrote up some memos and did a lot of the West Law-ing. It was mostly "here's the law, compile the language of the cases," which, as we all know, takes a lot of time. It did help me with my memo writing and researching, which is convenient, but didn't help me with my finals. Still, thanks for the advice on not bringing it up.

I didn't even think of the law suit reflection angle. So thanks for bringing that to light. It was a SLAPP suit, but it's not like everyone would know about civil rights law.

Moral of the story, don't bring it up and if the grades come up, just say that I know what changes I need to make, etc. Thanks a lot!

As an aside, I have to agree with ymmv, Yiddish is an important part of life where I come from.

[kalvano]

That's way too much information. I would just say "family issues" or something like that if pressed for a reason why your grades dropped.

However, "sticky wicket" is a woefully underutilized phrase and I applaud your efforts in revitalize it.