I got biglaw as a below-median 3L from a lower T14. AMA.
Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 1:44 am
Hi everyone,
TLS has helped me a lot over the last 4 or so years, and I would like to give back. I landed a big law offer during my spring semester at a lower T14 with below median grades. I’ll try to impart as much advice as I can, with the hope of helping at least a few of you in your job search.
I had below median grades 1L and spent my 2L summer at a mid-sized firm in mid-sized city. My grades stayed roughly the same during 2L. So how did I get biglaw?
1. GRADES – FIND THE CURVE DOCUMENT!
It’s unfortunate, but it’s true: big law firms care about one thing – grades. I once received an inadvertent email from a firm’s HR department saying that my 3.x GPA was lower than their desired 3.y GPA. I spent a good many hours bitching about how unfair this was, since I knew – like many of you know – that grades are not always a fair representation of one’s intellectual capacity or ability to become a successful lawyer.
I still don’t think it’s fair, but the system isn’t changing anytime soon. So what can we do about it? Learn how to play the game!
I found out during fall of 3L that a curve document was circulating around a few of the law reviews around school. A friend of mine had access to it and sent it to me. The document listed about 40 classes along with their grade distributions. Many classes’ curves differed sharply from my school’s suggested 1L curve. Ex: some professors didn’t give out anything below an A-, and many didn’t give out anything below a B+! As someone with a below-B+ GPA, this curve document was a godsend.
I enrolled in as many classes as my law school would allow. All of them, save one, had amazing curves. (An adjunct professor who I wanted to network with taught the one course that didn’t have a good curve.) One of my professors gave 66% of the class A’s and 33% A-‘s (no B’s!!!!!!). By comparison, the professor with whom I wanted to network gave only 10% A’s and 20% A-‘s. My 3L spring semester GPA was about .5 higher than my 1L and 2L GPAs. Did my intellectual abilities improve? Nope. But, I finally found a tool to help me play the game. If I had known about the curve document as a rising 2L, I am sure I would have received a biglaw offer sooner.
Bottom Line: Your chances of landing biglaw will increase if your GPA increases. So, get your hands on those precious curve documents ASAP!!!
2. COVER LETTERS – SKIP HR & BE CREATIVE!
After mass mailing a few hundred HR reps and getting nowhere, I started crafting personalized cover letters to partners. After all, the partners are the decision makers at the firm. HR has grade cutoffs and won’t look past that. Partners, on the other hand, can look past poor GPAs/other resume blemishes -- you just need to craft an email that catches their attention. How to do this?
(a) Geographic Connection. Cast your geographic net far and wide, and don’t be afraid to exploit it! My husband is from country X, so I applied to all big law firms in that country, explaining that my husband was from there and that we were looking forward to settling down there after I graduated. I also applied to all big law firms in country X’s region, saying we were excited about moving to the region. I spent a few years of my childhood in country Y, so I emailed every firm in country Y and region Y telling them how excited I was about moving back. I reached out to partners at every big firm in every city, country and region to which I had a legitimate, convincing connection. Was I lying about my excitement to move to countries ABCXYZ…? No, I was excited about the prospect of moving anywhere…anywhere where I had a job offer!
(b) Practice Area/Resume Connection. Find an area of expertise of yours that stands out on your resume. Once you have decided which geographic regions to focus on, find partners who specialize in the areas in which you have experience. This will grab their attention and help you establish a connection with them if they agree to talk to you.
Look for anything you have in common with the partners. Did you go to the same school? Do you share any of the same hobbies?
Has the partner published any articles or videos? If so, see if you can diplomatically bring up a quick point about the article or video in your email to them. I once reached out to a partner who had published a youtube video about some legal topic, and I told him that I would love the opportunity to work with someone with his expertise and clarity of expression. He was excited by the fact that I found his youtube video, and I’m sure he didn’t mind the ass kissing either.
(c) Foreign Language Abilities. Do you have foreign language abilities? If you do, prove it. Send your cover letter in English + whatever language you claim to speak. Only do this to partners who also speak the other language.
I tried this and got several replies. I think the key here was that I did something to make myself stand out from the hundreds of other desperate law students sending similar cover letters. I also demonstrated that I had valuable language skills, as well as creativity. Unfortunately, my GPA was still too low to snag many interviews at the time, but perhaps this tactic will work for some of you.
Bottom Line: Establish a connection. Make your emails concise and catchy. Be creative!
3. BE RESILIENT!
This sounds cheesy, but it’s true. Getting rejection after rejection hurts, and it may feel impossible to get biglaw or any job at times, but it IS possible, and you CAN do it.
I sent out literally over a thousand resumes. I got just as many rejections, minus one. My ego was wounded, and I was tired. Some days were especially bad. I met with a professor (the one I mentioned above whose class I took because I wanted to network with him) who told me that the only way I would have the slightest hope of getting biglaw would be by leaving the country. He suggested moving to a small country in Africa “because they definitely need lawyers there” and he gave me the contact information of a lawyer who “may or may not still be operating a one-man shop in Mongolia.” I kid you not. I went home and cried, thinking I was a failure with no chance of establishing a successful career. The next morning, I decided my professor was an asshole and I was going to prove him wrong. I sent out 20 resumes that day, and I refused to give up until I found my job.
Also, for every asshole who tells you you can’t do it, there will be ten more people telling you that you can and trying hard to help you succeed! I encountered so many people who were willing to go out of their way to have coffee with me, give me advice, and reach out to their contacts on my behalf.
I really hope that some part of this spiel will be helpful to some of you. I would be happy to answer questions if I can be of any help.
Good luck to you all!
TLS has helped me a lot over the last 4 or so years, and I would like to give back. I landed a big law offer during my spring semester at a lower T14 with below median grades. I’ll try to impart as much advice as I can, with the hope of helping at least a few of you in your job search.
I had below median grades 1L and spent my 2L summer at a mid-sized firm in mid-sized city. My grades stayed roughly the same during 2L. So how did I get biglaw?
1. GRADES – FIND THE CURVE DOCUMENT!
It’s unfortunate, but it’s true: big law firms care about one thing – grades. I once received an inadvertent email from a firm’s HR department saying that my 3.x GPA was lower than their desired 3.y GPA. I spent a good many hours bitching about how unfair this was, since I knew – like many of you know – that grades are not always a fair representation of one’s intellectual capacity or ability to become a successful lawyer.
I still don’t think it’s fair, but the system isn’t changing anytime soon. So what can we do about it? Learn how to play the game!
I found out during fall of 3L that a curve document was circulating around a few of the law reviews around school. A friend of mine had access to it and sent it to me. The document listed about 40 classes along with their grade distributions. Many classes’ curves differed sharply from my school’s suggested 1L curve. Ex: some professors didn’t give out anything below an A-, and many didn’t give out anything below a B+! As someone with a below-B+ GPA, this curve document was a godsend.
I enrolled in as many classes as my law school would allow. All of them, save one, had amazing curves. (An adjunct professor who I wanted to network with taught the one course that didn’t have a good curve.) One of my professors gave 66% of the class A’s and 33% A-‘s (no B’s!!!!!!). By comparison, the professor with whom I wanted to network gave only 10% A’s and 20% A-‘s. My 3L spring semester GPA was about .5 higher than my 1L and 2L GPAs. Did my intellectual abilities improve? Nope. But, I finally found a tool to help me play the game. If I had known about the curve document as a rising 2L, I am sure I would have received a biglaw offer sooner.
Bottom Line: Your chances of landing biglaw will increase if your GPA increases. So, get your hands on those precious curve documents ASAP!!!
2. COVER LETTERS – SKIP HR & BE CREATIVE!
After mass mailing a few hundred HR reps and getting nowhere, I started crafting personalized cover letters to partners. After all, the partners are the decision makers at the firm. HR has grade cutoffs and won’t look past that. Partners, on the other hand, can look past poor GPAs/other resume blemishes -- you just need to craft an email that catches their attention. How to do this?
(a) Geographic Connection. Cast your geographic net far and wide, and don’t be afraid to exploit it! My husband is from country X, so I applied to all big law firms in that country, explaining that my husband was from there and that we were looking forward to settling down there after I graduated. I also applied to all big law firms in country X’s region, saying we were excited about moving to the region. I spent a few years of my childhood in country Y, so I emailed every firm in country Y and region Y telling them how excited I was about moving back. I reached out to partners at every big firm in every city, country and region to which I had a legitimate, convincing connection. Was I lying about my excitement to move to countries ABCXYZ…? No, I was excited about the prospect of moving anywhere…anywhere where I had a job offer!
(b) Practice Area/Resume Connection. Find an area of expertise of yours that stands out on your resume. Once you have decided which geographic regions to focus on, find partners who specialize in the areas in which you have experience. This will grab their attention and help you establish a connection with them if they agree to talk to you.
Look for anything you have in common with the partners. Did you go to the same school? Do you share any of the same hobbies?
Has the partner published any articles or videos? If so, see if you can diplomatically bring up a quick point about the article or video in your email to them. I once reached out to a partner who had published a youtube video about some legal topic, and I told him that I would love the opportunity to work with someone with his expertise and clarity of expression. He was excited by the fact that I found his youtube video, and I’m sure he didn’t mind the ass kissing either.
(c) Foreign Language Abilities. Do you have foreign language abilities? If you do, prove it. Send your cover letter in English + whatever language you claim to speak. Only do this to partners who also speak the other language.
I tried this and got several replies. I think the key here was that I did something to make myself stand out from the hundreds of other desperate law students sending similar cover letters. I also demonstrated that I had valuable language skills, as well as creativity. Unfortunately, my GPA was still too low to snag many interviews at the time, but perhaps this tactic will work for some of you.
Bottom Line: Establish a connection. Make your emails concise and catchy. Be creative!
3. BE RESILIENT!
This sounds cheesy, but it’s true. Getting rejection after rejection hurts, and it may feel impossible to get biglaw or any job at times, but it IS possible, and you CAN do it.
I sent out literally over a thousand resumes. I got just as many rejections, minus one. My ego was wounded, and I was tired. Some days were especially bad. I met with a professor (the one I mentioned above whose class I took because I wanted to network with him) who told me that the only way I would have the slightest hope of getting biglaw would be by leaving the country. He suggested moving to a small country in Africa “because they definitely need lawyers there” and he gave me the contact information of a lawyer who “may or may not still be operating a one-man shop in Mongolia.” I kid you not. I went home and cried, thinking I was a failure with no chance of establishing a successful career. The next morning, I decided my professor was an asshole and I was going to prove him wrong. I sent out 20 resumes that day, and I refused to give up until I found my job.
Also, for every asshole who tells you you can’t do it, there will be ten more people telling you that you can and trying hard to help you succeed! I encountered so many people who were willing to go out of their way to have coffee with me, give me advice, and reach out to their contacts on my behalf.
I really hope that some part of this spiel will be helpful to some of you. I would be happy to answer questions if I can be of any help.
Good luck to you all!