Checking Out After 1L Year Forum

[Anonymous User]

Say if one secures a summer associate big law position in fall OCI, would one be able to "check out" school/grades wise for 2L and 3L year and be fine? I'll still attend classes and do some of the reading, but that's it.

I don't intend or expect to stay in big law forever. Do legal employers care about one's grades after that first job after law school? I'm at a T1 school if this matters.

[Npret]

Say if one secures a summer associate big law position in fall OCI, would one be able to "check out" school/grades wise for 2L and 3L year and be fine? I'll still attend classes and do some of the reading, but that's it.

I don't intend or expect to stay in big law forever. Do legal employers care about one's grades after that first job after law school? I'm at a T1 school if this matters.

No you can't check out. Get an offer in hand first. If you get no offered you will need grades. If the firm is looking for a reason to no offer someone, grades are an easy excuse.

Other people might disagree.

[Jchance]

I agree with the above poster. Sure you can check out early but that's the risk you'd take. In the legal profession, law school grades aka Latin honors is a safety net for when unexpected things happen in your career, such as biglaw layoffs (go read above the law, it happens to many people, no exception for special snowflakes)

[cron1834]

Agree with the above. You can do it, but it's an unnecessary risk. Not saying you have to gun, but at least, like, plateau instead of crater.

I also feel like you have less room for error if you're outside the T14. In theory, someone who busts ass and successfully hits the top of the 1L curve at a T1 or T2 school is probably a better hire than a median T14 student... but firms probably aren't worried about getting bad PR at a school they barely hire from, especially if you're not going to graduate with latin honors.

But, yeah, unless you're at one of the truly top-of-the-foodchain firms with genuine confidence in 100% offer rate, why run the risk? Just take easier classes, and that way you can slack off a little and still protect your GPA.

[ughbugchugplug]

I agree with everyone above. Plus, common sense suggests it's better to have good grades. Law has special circumstances with big law and oci stuff the first few years, but for a lot of the profession its just like everything else: what you've accomplished before makes people think you can accomplish again.

[Lacepiece23]

I sort of checked out. I did well 1L year then coasted towards median. May not have been the smartest move, but law school honestly turned into a two year vacation. I'm not unhappy with my decision at all. But it was a risk.

[genericwit]

If you want to be that lazy, cruise control. Check grade distributions and take classes where work is minimal and grades are high. It sounds to me like you don't really care what you could get out of law school. I'm looking forward to clinics and taking fun topics I won't see again. If I'm paying the tuition (or rather, if whoever's endowment funded my scholarship), I'm not going to waste that.

But I dunno. That's the work ethic I was raised with. If you don't care, then do the bare minimum. It's probably what most of my classmates are doing here. But then, their rationale seems to be that we're safe at a T14. Your move is definitely riskier.

[cron1834]

If you want to be that lazy, cruise control. Check grade distributions and take classes where work is minimal and grades are high. It sounds to me like you don't really care what you could get out of law school. I'm looking forward to clinics and taking fun topics I won't see again. If I'm paying the tuition (or rather, if whoever's endowment funded my scholarship), I'm not going to waste that.

But I dunno. That's the work ethic I was raised with. If you don't care, then do the bare minimum. It's probably what most of my classmates are doing here. But then, their rationale seems to be that we're safe at a T14. Your move is definitely riskier.

So proud of you and your work ethic. And humble, too.

[Anonymous User]

If you want to be that lazy, cruise control. Check grade distributions and take classes where work is minimal and grades are high. It sounds to me like you don't really care what you could get out of law school. I'm looking forward to clinics and taking fun topics I won't see again. If I'm paying the tuition (or rather, if whoever's endowment funded my scholarship), I'm not going to waste that.

But I dunno. That's the work ethic I was raised with. If you don't care, then do the bare minimum. It's probably what most of my classmates are doing here. But then, their rationale seems to be that we're safe at a T14. Your move is definitely riskier.

You actually enjoy studying law?

OP here BTW. Thanks for your responses.

[Yugihoe]

If you want to be that lazy, cruise control. Check grade distributions and take classes where work is minimal and grades are high. It sounds to me like you don't really care what you could get out of law school. I'm looking forward to clinics and taking fun topics I won't see again. If I'm paying the tuition (or rather, if whoever's endowment funded my scholarship), I'm not going to waste that.

But I dunno. That's the work ethic I was raised with. If you don't care, then do the bare minimum. It's probably what most of my classmates are doing here. But then, their rationale seems to be that we're safe at a T14. Your move is definitely riskier.

lol this guy

[LaLiLuLeLo]

If you want to be that lazy, cruise control. Check grade distributions and take classes where work is minimal and grades are high. It sounds to me like you don't really care what you could get out of law school. I'm looking forward to clinics and taking fun topics I won't see again. If I'm paying the tuition (or rather, if whoever's endowment funded my scholarship), I'm not going to waste that.

But I dunno. That's the work ethic I was raised with. If you don't care, then do the bare minimum. It's probably what most of my classmates are doing here. But then, their rationale seems to be that we're safe at a T14. Your move is definitely riskier.

Lmao, this is probably one of the more obnoxious posts I've seen.

[runinthefront]

Genericwit's post was obnoxious, but OP's question was pretty dumb (and one that is asked ad nauseum on this forum).

[ausimpv]

If you want to be that lazy, cruise control. Check grade distributions and take classes where work is minimal and grades are high. It sounds to me like you don't really care what you could get out of law school. I'm looking forward to clinics and taking fun topics I won't see again. If I'm paying the tuition (or rather, if whoever's endowment funded my scholarship), I'm not going to waste that.

But I dunno. That's the work ethic I was raised with. If you don't care, then do the bare minimum. It's probably what most of my classmates are doing here. But then, their rationale seems to be that we're safe at a T14. Your move is definitely riskier.

You remind me of one of those students who think they're smarter than everyone but are never quite able to realize that everyone else can't stand them. Intelligence is nice, social skills are better

[ernie]

Do legal employers care about one's grades after that first job after law school?

Depends. Some will, some won't. What else do you plan to do other than biglaw? Clerk? Fed gov? Impact lit? In house? More detail would help.

[runinthefront]

Do legal employers care about one's grades after that first job after law school?

Depends. Some will, some won't. What else do you plan to do other than biglaw? Clerk? Fed gov? Impact lit? In house? More detail would help.

The notion that employers within a particular subsect of the legal industry are uniform in their approach to grades and lateral hires is one of the worst myths on TLS.

The answer should always be, "some will, some won't"--full stop.

[ernie]

Do legal employers care about one's grades after that first job after law school?

Depends. Some will, some won't. What else do you plan to do other than biglaw? Clerk? Fed gov? Impact lit? In house? More detail would help.

The notion that employers within a particular subsect of the legal industry are uniform in their approach to grades and lateral hires is one of the worst myths on TLS.

The answer should always be, "some will, some won't"--full stop.

Of course employers aren't uniform, but some practice areas are consistently more grade conscious.

[HonestAdvice]

An unrecognized cost is it's not easy to just check back in. Odds are, dropping your study time 80% will negatively impact but your grades, but not to the extent you think. Cockiness induced by not dropping substantially can be more damaging than dropping substantially, because your grades don't matter but at some point the consequences get big again. Even if you get away with understudying for the bar, you can't game practice. if you have a good thing going, don't burn yourself out but don't change it.

[JGMotorsport]

If you want to be that lazy, cruise control. Check grade distributions and take classes where work is minimal and grades are high. It sounds to me like you don't really care what you could get out of law school. I'm looking forward to clinics and taking fun topics I won't see again. If I'm paying the tuition (or rather, if whoever's endowment funded my scholarship), I'm not going to waste that.

But I dunno. That's the work ethic I was raised with. If you don't care, then do the bare minimum. It's probably what most of my classmates are doing here. But then, their rationale seems to be that we're safe at a T14. Your move is definitely riskier.

You actually enjoy studying law?

OP here BTW. Thanks for your responses.

I love it myself. I like law and legal practice. I hate the way this profession organizes itself however. Why is everything all or nothing? You either do well for one semester and fall in line at some high end firm with great exit options, or you scrounge for work for years.

To answer your OP. Humble brag here followed by FML but I worked 30hrs/week and did an externship for 15hrs/week this last semester while CALIing a course and posting my best grades to date. But one friggin grade from my first semester had me strike out at OCI.

[Anonymous User]

Say if one secures a summer associate big law position in fall OCI, would one be able to "check out" school/grades wise for 2L and 3L year and be fine? I'll still attend classes and do some of the reading, but that's it.

I don't intend or expect to stay in big law forever. Do legal employers care about one's grades after that first job after law school? I'm at a T1 school if this matters.

Depends on your law school and your firm, but I did what you are asking about and it worked out very well for me. I went to a T7 that did not rank or calculate GPA, and summer associate firm hadnt no offered anyone in 4 years. I checked out 2L and 3L and focused more on my health and my personal relationships. I went to the classes I needed to (some earlier, more boring ones i basically skipped all together) and I got really good study guides from classmates/past years. I knew how to take law school tests much better, and my grades actually went up each semester during 2L and 3L. Everything worked out very well with the end of school and with my firm, and I've currently been at the firm for almost 3 years. I also am not worried in the least once I eventually make a move, as I know that the strength of my school, my firm, my interviewing skills and my experience will greatly outweigh any small discrepancy (if any) in grades. Hope this helps.

[jbagelboy]

It's called 2LOL and 3LOL. All the cool kids do it

No, but really, you can check the fuck out if you're at a 100% offer firm. I did and it paid off handsomely.** Wound up actually enjoying law school after a pretty meh 1L experience.

**to be honest, it was more easing into it; 2L I did some stuff (like 60%), 3L much less (like 20%), and I think thats fairly common for anyone stuck on LR/journal and applying to clerkships

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

LMAO at the TLS flock making sure you really hit the Fed Courts books hard in the last two carefree years of your life before 40 shitty ones in this profession.

[jbagelboy]

LMAO at the TLS flock making sure you really hit the Fed Courts books hard in the last two carefree years of your life before 40 shitty ones in this profession.

Who takes fed cts

If you are in that class then you already probably did it wrong

[cron1834]

LMAO at the TLS flock making sure you really hit the Fed Courts books hard in the last two carefree years of your life before 40 shitty ones in this profession.

What a dumb response. No one suggested this. Just take classes that are easy, or classes that get good grade distributions, or credits you can do for a Pass. That way you can slack off without cratering your GPA.

[Monochromatic Oeuvre]

LMAO at the TLS flock making sure you really hit the Fed Courts books hard in the last two carefree years of your life before 40 shitty ones in this profession.

What a dumb response. No one suggested this. Just take classes that are easy, or classes that get good grade distributions, or credits you can do for a Pass. That way you can slack off without cratering your GPA.

See, the thing is, I'm saying that he shouldn't care even if he DOES crater his GPA, because the 1% chance it ever matters for the average person (clerking doesn't matter) doesn't justify anything beyond the bare minimum required to graduate.

But law studenrs and lawyers, being the tortured souls they are, will probably feel different.

[Mickfromgm]

Say if one secures a summer associate big law position in fall OCI, would one be able to "check out" school/grades wise for 2L and 3L year and be fine? I'll still attend classes and do some of the reading, but that's it.

I don't intend or expect to stay in big law forever. Do legal employers care about one's grades after that first job after law school? I'm at a T1 school if this matters.

I can tell you definitively that unless you are going to stay at one firm and retire as a partner there, you'd be nuts to check out. No one gives a poop if you are at a T1 and had fabulous 1L grades if your gpa at graduation is 2.5. I don't care if you develop a superior expertise in some arcane area of law, with bad grades your candidacy would be scrutinized (if they bother to look at you at all) when you look for another job, BigLaw or otherwise. "Grades only matter for the first job" is the dumbest (but very common) advice you can follow. One exception: if you end up being an uber rain maker, no one cares about your grades . . . . or anything else for that matter.

Think of it this way, there are always a bunch of qualified, experienced candidates for every desirable legal job -- why would they take a chance on your 2.5 (or whatever) when they have tons of guys/gals with 3.5 and otherwise similar background as you? They wouldn't.

Trust me on this. Why take a chance on your $200,000 investment?