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Please don't quote. It's probably not too hard to guess which poster I am.

At this point, I'm pretty sure I struck out. Did 30+ screens (24 confirmed dings), 2 CBs (radio silence but it's been 2 weeks). I mass mailed everywhere since July and no success there either.

Some important stats
-I'm a 2L
-I got to a school ranked 25-35.
-Top 20%, no LR.
-Secondary journal, Moot Court
-Right now, I'm working at a tax agency and can work there next semester and summer there as well.

Goals: Biglaw, midlaw, any law firm, Big 4 Accounting

So here is my plan: Try to get top grades (top 10%, top 5%) to put myself in contention for 3 LOLCI/mass mail. Hustle like mad for big law during 3L year and hope one firm gives me the chance. If that doesn't work out, apply to Big 4 Accounting firms for a tax counsel position. If all else fails, pass the bar, hope I did a good job at my current job, and hope they hire me (a decent chunk of attorneys at this agency hired former interns after they passed the bar).

Grades
After essentially striking out and wallowing in sorrow for the last month, I am back to studying. I handpicked my first semester courses to include corporations and pretty much tax (like fed tax) and accounting courses. What's important is that at my school, very few people take tax and tax related courses so they have very generous curves. I pretty much have higher than a 50% chance to get an A in these classes. In addition, I go to the kind of school in which around 7-8% transfer out after 1L year (and we don't get many transfers). This means that by next semester, I can see a huge jump in class rank (assuming I don't fuck up). I know a guy that jumped from top 20% to very well within the top 10% last year after just ONE semester.

Biglaw
Yeah, I know I'm pretty much out of the running here. I mean what can I say, no LR and that ain't gonna change. Assuming I can get my grades up, would I stand a chance? I know once you strike out at OCI, your chances are slim to none, but I figured it would be worth it to try and mass mail during 3L year. If all goes according to plan (which I know there's no guarantee), I hope to be mass mailing everywhere in early July 2016 with top 10%/top 5% on my resume. I know that this whole top 5% thing is overly optimistic, but right now, being hopeful is all I have.

Midlaw, Small firm
Yeah, I have no idea how they hire. I'm pretty much just going to mass mail and hope my grades will get me an interview.

Big 4
No accounting background so I know that hurts me. In the meantime, I'm taking a crap load of tax courses, am working at a tax agency, and will be doing volunteer tax stuff throughout the semester (like VITA). Surprisingly, this is the one kind of firm in which I have established a network. I know a handful of people that work at these firms right now. Did a mock interview with an alum who is a Big 4 tax counsel manager the other day. Had a very good conversation and he even went through my entire resume with me with some edits. Gave me some very useful pointers on my interview and the lowdown on the interviews next year when his firm comes to my school's 3L OCI. Honestly, I'd be quite happy at one of these firms doing tax. (I actually have an interview for a summer tax internship with one of them later, but I'm not banking on that at all since I heard that they're super selective).

Tax Agency
If none of the above work out, hopefully I did good work and this place hires me after I pass the bar.


Critiques? Any serious issues with my plan? Anything I leave out that I should be doing?

This is a decent plan. You should be in pretty good shape for Big 4 jobs. They hire lots of JDs without accounting backgrounds. The interest you've already shown in tax puts you ahead of many people applying for those jobs.

keep your grades up. plenty of big 4 hiring in 3L year. very doable to go from big 4 to big law. biglaw and big 4 accounting back door possibilities via NYU tax llm as well.

Work part time during 3L. At a minimum you'll gain experience. Ideally you can leverage a job offer (quite a few friends of mine and I ended up with offers from places that otherwise werent hiring when we started). Alternatively if you make good impressions, they might be able/willing to help you find a job elsewhere.

I know it's not listed in your "goals," but a lot of big multinationals have large tax departments staffed with lawyers. Maybe it's not sexy enough work, but it pays well, and I know more than one person I went to school with who has a stable job with the likes of Shell, etc. I'm no tax specialist, but it seems this kind of experience would make it possible to jump ship to outside counsel jobs, given the specificity of the work and the client contacts you'd develop.

Tax agency ? Is this a government agency ? Tax prep ? Tax resolution ? EA ?

OP here. Thanks for ther replies everyone! I wasn't sure about the whole grades thing since I've heard grades don't matter after 1L year. I figured good grades at this point will turn some heads...even if it's not a lot of heads.

Jen: Yeah, I'm going to be working part time no matter what.

BeenDidThat: I'll definitely look into that! At this point, I'm looking at anything I can get my hands on. I pretty much just want to be employed. Thanks for that info.

To the above poster: government admin tax agency.