Top Law Schools

As the title suggests, I'm a 3L who is well below median at HYS, with three discretionary LP grades throughout the course of my law school career. However, these LP grades were also offset by 7 Hs throughout this period as well.

Some of you may obviously deem this as a fake post, but there were a lot of issues for me regarding mental health throughout law school (all of these issues have been dealt with through psychiatric supervision, although I understand that this does raise some concerns for my post-law school plans).

In addition to worrying about possibly having my offer rescinded at this point, even if that doesn't occur, I'm concerned about my post-biglaw options. I'm not interested in clerking and ideally I would like to either eventually transfer in-house or begin working for one of the firm's clients, if possible.

Is the possibility of having my offer rescinded at this point highly likely? FWIW, I spent 2 summers at the firm and received great reviews from all of the attorneys with whom I worked. Also, are my opportunities for employment outside of biglaw without 5+ years of experience ruined because of those grades?

What exactly is the question

Clemenceau wrote:What exactly is the question

OP here. Sorry, I should have stated that more clearly in the initial post.

Is the possibility of having my offer rescinded highly likely at this point? I also edited the above post to note that I spent my 1L summer at the firm, too, and received great reviews from all of the attorneys with whom I worked and built great relationships within the firm, in general.

Anonymous User wrote:

Clemenceau wrote:What exactly is the question

OP here. Sorry, I should have stated that more clearly in the initial post.

Is the possibility of having my offer rescinded highly likely at this point? I also edited the above post to note that I spent my 1L summer at the firm, too, and received great reviews from all of the attorneys with whom I worked and built great relationships within the firm, in general.

Have your grades dramatically changed from 1L --> 2L --> now? From the sounds of your post that you have gotten LP's throughout and not all during 3L. Presumably, the firm knows your grades to date, and have accepted them and hired you (twice). I don't think you have anything to worry about. Clerkship may be a different story - but I don't know enough to comment there.

RaceJudicata wrote:

Anonymous User wrote:

Clemenceau wrote:What exactly is the question

OP here. Sorry, I should have stated that more clearly in the initial post.

Is the possibility of having my offer rescinded highly likely at this point? I also edited the above post to note that I spent my 1L summer at the firm, too, and received great reviews from all of the attorneys with whom I worked and built great relationships within the firm, in general.

Have your grades dramatically changed from 1L --> 2L --> now? From the sounds of your post that you have gotten LP's throughout and not all during 3L. Presumably, the firm knows your grades to date, and have accepted them and hired you (twice). I don't think you have anything to worry about. Clerkship may be a different story - but I don't know enough to comment there.

My grades haven't dramatically changed throughout the years, but the firm also hasn't asked for grades since my 1L year. Someone asked if they needed a transcript after the summer and the legal recruiter just told them nonchalantly "nope, not until you graduate."

This feels very much like flame but the after graduation transcript is generally just to prove that you graduated.

What T3 schools don't give letter grades and give H/P/LPs instead?

I thought that was exclusively a upper end T-14 thing.

favabeansoup wrote:What T3 schools don't give letter grades and give H/P/LPs instead?

I thought that was exclusively a upper end T-14 thing.

Pretty sure the OP is using T3 = HYS, not T3 = TTT.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

favabeansoup wrote:What T3 schools don't give letter grades and give H/P/LPs instead?

I thought that was exclusively a upper end T-14 thing.

Pretty sure the OP is using T3 = HYS, not T3 = TTT.

I have no advice for the OP, but just chiming in to say that I wish these forums observed some sort of standardization on these issues, lol: T3 vs TTT vs HYS, DC vs AIII vs D.Ct. ..... very confusing for us newcomers

Weirdly, I think the only people I've seen use T3 this way are people at HYS - it's not that common.

Ins't that the reason why you go to HYS, so you're basically guaranteed biglaw with bad grades? Don't really get the point of this thread. obviously OP is smart because he/she got into HYS. Firms know this, and more likely than not, OP will succeed in his/her career as a lawyer barring any major personality/ mental problems.

Don't know if they're TTT but Northeastern doesn't use traditional grades.

HillandHollow wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

favabeansoup wrote:What T3 schools don't give letter grades and give H/P/LPs instead?

I thought that was exclusively a upper end T-14 thing.

Pretty sure the OP is using T3 = HYS, not T3 = TTT.

I have no advice for the OP, but just chiming in to say that I wish these forums observed some sort of standardization on these issues, lol: T3 vs TTT vs HYS, DC vs AIII vs D.Ct. ..... very confusing for us newcomers

If OP meant HYS, then not to offend anyone, but I couldn't care less about this sob story. OP seems to forget his privilege at being at the top law schools in the world, and how people near the bottom of the class routinely (like very very often) get biglaw jobs from these schools all the time.

If he's concerned about his post biglaw exit options, I also couldn't care less. He is walking into the world with a degree from schools many of us even in biglaw could only hope for. Maybe he should put his life in perspective.

To OP, realize the extremely privileged situation you are in. Even with bad grades, you are considered a superior commodity than the majority of people currently in biglaw given the school you are graduating from. You will not get your offer rescinded, nor will you experience any problems with post-biglaw employment.

favabeansoup wrote:

HillandHollow wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

favabeansoup wrote:What T3 schools don't give letter grades and give H/P/LPs instead?

I thought that was exclusively a upper end T-14 thing.

Pretty sure the OP is using T3 = HYS, not T3 = TTT.

I have no advice for the OP, but just chiming in to say that I wish these forums observed some sort of standardization on these issues, lol: T3 vs TTT vs HYS, DC vs AIII vs D.Ct. ..... very confusing for us newcomers

If OP meant HYS, then not to offend anyone, but I couldn't care less about this sob story. OP seems to forget his privilege at being at the top law schools in the world, and how people near the bottom of the class routinely (like very very often) get biglaw jobs from these schools all the time.

If he's concerned about his post biglaw exit options, I also couldn't care less. He is walking into the world with a degree from schools many of us even in biglaw could only hope for. Maybe he should put his life in perspective.

To OP, realize the extremely privileged situation you are in. Even with bad grades, you are considered a superior commodity than the majority of people currently in biglaw given the school you are graduating from. You will not get your offer rescinded, nor will you experience any problems with post-biglaw employment.

This is a silly and sort of bitter post. Going to Harvard doesn't make your career or future forever secure. And pining about how someone elses law school is ranked as a practicing attorney seems immature and irrelevant. Anyone with three LPs would have concerns about their options. True, they still have many and there are V100 market paying firms that will hire them. But its not 'privileged', a word I think you're misusing here. 'Privileged' is the person whose parents are paying their entire law school tuition at whichever school they choose and whose family has connections to judges that secure early clerkship interviews. Getting into and attending an Ivy league law school is a privilege, sure, but it doesn't make you pejoratively 'privileged' relative to peers at non-T14 schools.. people worked hard to get to where they were (usually), and made choices (taking on more debt in exchange for more cushion, ect.)

But it's also a little paranoid-sounding for a HYS student who has an offer from a firm they worked for for 2 summers with great reviews really to worry that their non-letter grades which haven't changed much since 1L are so bad that they might get their already-received offer rescinded. (The concern about the long-term impact of grades seems more reasonable.)

jbagelboy wrote: This is a silly and sort of bitter post. Going to Harvard doesn't make your career or future forever secure. And pining about how someone elses law school is ranked as a practicing attorney seems immature and irrelevant. Anyone with three LPs would have concerns about their options. True, they still have many and there are V100 market paying firms that will hire them. But its not 'privileged', a word I think you're misusing here. 'Privileged' is the person whose parents are paying their entire law school tuition at whichever school they choose and whose family has connections to judges that secure early clerkship interviews. Getting into and attending an Ivy league law school is a privilege, sure, but it doesn't make you pejoratively 'privileged' relative to peers at non-T14 schools.. people worked hard to get to where they were (usually), and made choices (taking on more debt in exchange for more cushion, ect.)

Yes you are right I apologize for any bitterness in my post there OP. Definitely overused the word "privileged". I never meant to imply that the people attending HYS aren't deserving of their positions, clearly they have all worked hard in life and had their own personal achievements to get them where they are. People who are at HYS deserve to be at HYS. So OP, I'm sorry for any animosity you may have felt in my earlier post.

I am more generally pushing back on the idea though that OP should be worried about how his grades will affect his future employment, especially given the context of his HYS degree. Will he be going into academia? No. Will he be competitive for a lot of other biglaw exits? Absolutely. The importance of grades fade as someone's practice matures for all but the most exclusive of positions. The law school name someone went to is always there drawing people's interest, however, and HYS just simply draws more interest than other schools do. I'm not saying HYS always will beat out other people, I'm just saying that this particular aspect of their pedigree will make them stand out a little more.

"And pining about how someone elses law school is ranked as a practicing attorney seems immature and irrelevant"

I 100% agree, but the fact remains that the chase for prestige is still an inherent part of our life as attorneys. What firm you are at and what school you went to play a role in how people both inside and outside the profession view you. I think it is incredibly dumb, but attorneys and non-attorneys alike still do it.

HLS grad from within the last 6-7 years. I had similar grades to OP (less LPs same Hs). He's probably fine. But I will say that coming off a COA clerkship, I was asked about the LP in 2 interviews. And I had 3-5 years litigation experience pre-clerkship (fudging years because I don't want to put myself). One of these people was cracking a joke the other seriously asked me about it. OP is probably fine, but for at least 1 prestige whore interviewer it will make a difference.