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What are my prospects of getting a career outside of law with terrible law school grades from a prestigious school?

Will employers in business and consulting focus on my 1L grades? I have no background in finance, but plan to take business courses during 2L. 1L was HELL for me for reasons legitimately beyond my control that have nothing to do with academics. There is nothing I can do to change that now. Is there any redemption in law? If I get a job in biglaw and get median or better grades 2L year, will I likely have more options at 3L OCI? I somehow have a few callbacks, but I got the invites later than my classmates and my grades will still be a hurdle to overcome in hiring. The firms that gave me callbacks have in common: interview with a partner with clout who was impressed by me BEFORE seeing the transcript. How do I impress an entire team of attorneys at a callback interview? How do I convince them that hiring me is not a risk, even though on paper it seems to be?

If I were hiring at a top firm, I would think long and hard before hiring someone with my transcript. My guess is that hiring someone at the bottom of a tippy top school carries a similar level of risk as hiring someone at the top of a poorly regarded law school. Any partners or recruiting/HR people out there willing to share the actual decision making calculus? Thanks to everyone for listening and for any credible feedback. Please be honest and kind. I realize I screwed up. I am doing my best to fix it.

Anonymous User wrote:What are my prospects of getting a career outside of law with terrible law school grades from a prestigious school?

Will employers in business and consulting focus on my 1L grades? I have no background in finance, but plan to take business courses during 2L. 1L was HELL for me for reasons legitimately beyond my control that have nothing to do with academics. There is nothing I can do to change that now. Is there any redemption in law? If I get a job in biglaw and get median or better grades 2L year, will I likely have more options at 3L OCI? I somehow have a few callbacks, but I got the invites later than my classmates and my grades will still be a hurdle to overcome in hiring. The firms that gave me callbacks have in common: interview with a partner with clout who was impressed by me BEFORE seeing the transcript. How do I impress an entire team of attorneys at a callback interview? How do I convince them that hiring me is not a risk, even though on paper it seems to be?

If I were hiring at a top firm, I would think long and hard before hiring someone with my transcript. My guess is that hiring someone at the bottom of a tippy top school carries a similar level of risk as hiring someone at the top of a poorly regarded law school. Any partners or recruiting/HR people out there willing to share the actual decision making calculus? Thanks to everyone for listening and for any credible feedback. Please be honest and kind. I realize I screwed up. I am doing my best to fix it.

Banking/VC or consulting are all possible but not easy to get. I know for a fact McKinsey is recruiting from T6 right now, and a few people from T14 transferred to banking or VC, however those were all from networking and hustling and probably begging the business school's career services.

Unrelated but do you mind sharing how much later than your classmates you received callbacks (timeframe from screener)? I am in sort of a similar situation and know of people getting callbacks at firms I interviewed at but I have not been dinged.

Anonymous User wrote:Unrelated but do you mind sharing how much later than your classmates you received callbacks (timeframe from screener)? I am in sort of a similar situation and know of people getting callbacks at firms I interviewed at but I have not been dinged.

4-5 days. I imagine it could take longer though Good luck!