Top Law Schools

I'm a 1L at CCN, and my first semester grades place me in the top 15% or so. I wanted to do corporate before law school and loved contracts this past semester, but unfortunately, contracts was my lowest grade (a B+, which is the median grade for any given class).

Given the above, would I have trouble getting offers from the sorts of firms I would be competitive for based on my overall grades (I guess V10 or so) if I expressed a strong interest in doing corporate?

Anonymous User wrote: Given the above, would I have trouble getting offers from the sorts of firms I would be competitive for based on my overall grades (I guess V10 or so) if I expressed a strong interest in doing corporate?

No.

Anonymous User wrote:I'm a 1L at CCN, and my first semester grades place me in the top 15% or so. I wanted to do corporate before law school and loved contracts this past semester, but unfortunately, contracts was my lowest grade (a B+, which is the median grade for any given class).

Given the above, would I have trouble getting offers from the sorts of firms I would be competitive for based on my overall grades (I guess V10 or so) if I expressed a strong interest in doing corporate?

I'm a 2L at a CCN. I got a C in Contracts and will be working for the Corp Dept at an NYC V10 next summer.

Essentially, nobody cares about individual grades. Even if they did, there's a 0% chance that a B+ at a CCN would somehow disqualify you from anything.

Anonymous User wrote: I'm a 2L at a CCN. I got a C in Contracts and will be working for the Corp Dept at an NYC V10 next summer.

Wait...what? CLS or NYU gives out Cs? (I know you didn't to to UChi because they use a cryptic number-based grading system that no one understands.)

If you actually got a C in contracts at NYU/CLS, please share the story. Did you turn in a blank document for your final exam or something like that?

rpupkin wrote:

Anonymous User wrote: I'm a 2L at a CCN. I got a C in Contracts and will be working for the Corp Dept at an NYC V10 next summer.

Wait...what? CLS or NYU gives out Cs? (I know you didn't to to UChi because they use a cryptic number-based grading system that no one understands.)

If you actually got a C in contracts at NYU/CLS, please share the story. Did you turn in a blank document for your final exam or something like that?

Ha, I actually do go to Chicago. I figured nobody would understand our number system even if I posted it. Anyways, Chicago definitely gives out "C" equivalent grades (lower than 174), but they are pretty rare

Another to chime in that it is not remotely an issue. Contracts was my lowest grade in all of law school (not just 1L). Currently an associate at a V10 and had many competing offers.

CCN 1L here. Any advice for people with multiple Bs who want biglaw? I had two Bs this semester. I don't know what happened. How bad of a position am I in for corporate right now? I'm basically at median, the third grade pulled me up. But I'm concerned about multiple Bs.

ETA: Are there any practice areas that are less grade selective? If it matters, I did poorly in Contracts and well in Civ Pro.

At OCI, you won't be interviewing with any firm's specific practice area. You will be interviewing for each firm's summer program which usually involves a rotation / exposure to a range of work. With worse grades, you will want to bid on less selective firms. But for now just focus on studying in the spring and getting the best grades you can, and worry about OCI strategy over the summer.

No one cares.

You're totally fine and it will have absolutely no impact.

Anonymous User wrote:CCN 1L here. Any advice for people with multiple Bs who want biglaw? I had two Bs this semester. I don't know what happened. How bad of a position am I in for corporate right now? I'm basically at median, the third grade pulled me up. But I'm concerned about multiple Bs.

ETA: Are there any practice areas that are less grade selective? If it matters, I did poorly in Contracts and well in Civ Pro.

Also interested in this.

Anonymous User wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:CCN 1L here. Any advice for people with multiple Bs who want biglaw? I had two Bs this semester. I don't know what happened. How bad of a position am I in for corporate right now? I'm basically at median, the third grade pulled me up. But I'm concerned about multiple Bs.

ETA: Are there any practice areas that are less grade selective? If it matters, I did poorly in Contracts and well in Civ Pro.

Also interested in this.

The bottom line GPA is what is going to matter most, not that you got a couple Bs. If you are at median it's obviously not the greatest spot, but use this next semester to boost it up a bit. CCN median should give you a very solid shot at biglaw and nobody is going to parse individual classes. Having said that, I think one could make a case that transactional is less selective than litigation, but it almost might be the pool of applicants themselves. With corporate, I don't think you are getting the pool of applicants trying to clerk etc. Grades can be a shock sometimes, but if you step back and look at your situation, it's really not that bad IMO.

Would it make sense to drop corporations because of a bad contracts grade? I don't know how off-base this is, but I was thinking a bad contracts grade might portend a bad corporations grade, and a bad corporations grade could be fatal during OCI. Or am I overthinking this?

Anonymous User wrote:Would it make sense to drop corporations because of a bad contracts grade? I don't know how off-base this is, but I was thinking a bad contracts grade might portend a bad corporations grade, and a bad corporations grade could be fatal during OCI. Or am I overthinking this?

You need to chill the fuck out.

I hope you're right scottidsntknow, but I'd like to hear it from someone who knows what they're talking about. Any 2Ls or higher care to disabuse me of these notions? To clarify my last post which was a little vague, I'm interested in whether employers at OCI would scrutinize a corporations grade (or at least scrutinize it more than, say, property or con law). Also interested in whether the material in contracts and corporations is similar enough that performance in one is predictive of performance in the other.

Anonymous User wrote:I hope you're right scottidsntknow, but I'd like to hear it from someone who knows what they're talking about. Any 2Ls or higher care to disabuse me of these notions? To clarify my last post which was a little vague, I'm interested in whether employers at OCI would scrutinize a corporations grade (or at least scrutinize it more than, say, property or con law). Also interested in whether the material in contracts and corporations is similar enough that performance in one is predictive of performance in the other.

scottidsntknow wrote: You need to chill the fuck out.

Anonymous User wrote:Would it make sense to drop corporations because of a bad contracts grade? I don't know how off-base this is, but I was thinking a bad contracts grade might portend a bad corporations grade, and a bad corporations grade could be fatal during OCI. Or am I overthinking this?

I wouldn't worry about a connection between the two, but why take Corps as a 1L if you don't have to?

Anonymous User wrote:I hope you're right scottidsntknow, but I'd like to hear it from someone who knows what they're talking about. Any 2Ls or higher care to disabuse me of these notions? To clarify my last post which was a little vague, I'm interested in whether employers at OCI would scrutinize a corporations grade (or at least scrutinize it more than, say, property or con law). Also interested in whether the material in contracts and corporations is similar enough that performance in one is predictive of performance in the other.

2L here: Scott is right. Relax. Your overall GPA/rank is going to be more important for OCI than individual classes. Also, corps and contracts are not the same course. Performance in one predicting performance in the other is more reflective of whether or not you "get it" re: taking law school exams, not the subject matter of the courses.

utahraptor wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:Would it make sense to drop corporations because of a bad contracts grade? I don't know how off-base this is, but I was thinking a bad contracts grade might portend a bad corporations grade, and a bad corporations grade could be fatal during OCI. Or am I overthinking this?

I wouldn't worry about a connection between the two, but why take Corps as a 1L if you don't have to?

It seems interesting to me, more interesting than any of the other electives. But then again, I felt that way about contracts too before I took it. My contracts prof is a big law and economics guy and I found it particularly challenging. I don't know really know what the material in corporations is like; I'm trying not to repeat the experience.

MarkfromWI wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:I hope you're right scottidsntknow, but I'd like to hear it from someone who knows what they're talking about. Any 2Ls or higher care to disabuse me of these notions? To clarify my last post which was a little vague, I'm interested in whether employers at OCI would scrutinize a corporations grade (or at least scrutinize it more than, say, property or con law). Also interested in whether the material in contracts and corporations is similar enough that performance in one is predictive of performance in the other.

2L here: Scott is right. Relax. Your overall GPA/rank is going to be more important for OCI than individual classes. Also, corps and contracts are not the same course. Performance in one predicting performance in the other is more reflective of whether or not you "get it" re: taking law school exams, not the subject matter of the courses.

Thank you. I'm just trying to play to my strengths. If corporations and contracts aren't very similar, that's a big relief.

no one cares about anything other than what your GPA is, your ability to create a logical though obviously bullshit reason for why this firm/why business, and your ability to hold a conversation for 20 minutes with a wide range of personalities


don't stress about this, especially if it isn't a B- or below



contracts and corporations are not similar at all. ofc it completely depends on how your teacher teaches/writes exams

An individual grade on my transcript came up only once during the entire OCI/callback process. Partner laughed and said something like, "Your Torts professor kind of screwed you, huh?"

Corporations wouldn't be my choice for a 1L elective. Pick something that 2Ls/3Ls will totally blow off (i.e. literally anything else).

Any CCN student with a pulse and willingness to have no social life for extended periods of time could work in the corporate department of a V10.

Do keep in mind, though, that if you have a real stinker of a grade on your transcript, you'll get asked about it. No one gives a shit but it's an easy opportunity to make you squirm a bit and see how you hold up.

Anonymous User wrote:Do keep in mind, though, that if you have a real stinker of a grade on your transcript, you'll get asked about it. No one gives a shit but it's an easy opportunity to make you squirm a bit and see how you hold up.

Yeah this. I was asked about my b- every callback. Just make sure you take responsibility for it and don't try to blame a professor or something. I just straight up said I didn't study enough for that exam or said that the material never really clicked. No one seemed to care after that and I got multiple offers