Big Law questions Forum

[AnswersForJD]

Hi All,
I am a 2L student at a Tier 2 law school in the Midwest. My GPA is a 3.1 and my class rank is in the high 50th percentile. While my grades and rank are not great, my work experience and network may be helpful. I have worked at a small law firm working on matters relating to real estate, business formation, insurance, and other areas of law. I have a year's worth of experience at a large financial regulatory organization (similar to the SEC) doing securities regulation and this summer will be working at a large prominent financial exchange in their legal department doing M/A and securities regulation. Further, I have several strong connections with partners and associates at law firms throughout the Midwest (Schiff Hardin, Greenburg Traurig, Polsinelli, and similar firms to those). Do you think I have a shot at any of these firms or the like? I am really hoping that my connections will help out, but am worried regarding my GPA. Any thoughts?

[Wubbles]

Wrong forum so you might not get much help here, but I would say your chances are slim (at least coming out of law school) because connections and non-law experience only go so far. That GPA from a tier 2 will almost certainly hold you back, especially if you are a 2L currently without an SA and little chance to bring the GPA up

[AnswersForJD]

Thanks for your help. What forum should I post to?

[Wubbles]

Thanks for your help. What forum should I post to?

My bad, originally thought this was in law school admissions but see it's in law school students section. Legal employment section might be better either way as some people who would be interviewing law students hang around on those threads

[SlipperyKipper]

Thanks for your help. What forum should I post to?

My bad, originally thought this was in law school admissions but see it's in law school students section. Legal employment section might be better either way as some people who would be interviewing law students hang around on those threads

It originally was posted in the law school admissions section. I moved the topic to law student forum but, you're right, the legal employment section would be the best place for it. It has been moved there. Sorry for the confusion.

[AnswersForJD]

Thanks for the help!

[AnswersForJD]

BTW I am located in Chicago!

[2013]

I think you have a slim chance. Are you in a large city (like Chicago)? If you’re at a T2 that places “well,” I would start by seeing how some of the non-honors graduates ended up at the jobs they have.

[AnswersForJD]

Yes, I am in Chicago. The law school places decently well through out Chicago.

[Anonymous User]

Honestly, I think you have a good shot. I'm class of 2015 and went to a T50 and I have quite a few friends with admittedly better grades than yours but a similar path. One friend did compliance at a big bank-->Biglaw, one did Compliance at a big bank -->small law firm-->Midlaw, another did insurance firm-->compliance-->legal/compliance in-house. I had a boss who did FINRA-->Biglaw. Working at an exchange is pretty prestigious. In your job, you will develop relationships with many lawyers. You will also develop a viewpoint on the market and accompanying regulation that comes from a position of power (don't forget that exchanges also function as regulators). I think you would have a decent shot of going in-house from the exchange or to Midlaw. You could also consider moving to a regulator. Honestly, I think this is a great job in and of itself (I'm in the industry) and will be viewed favorably. Just make sure you find mentors, work your ass off, and make and maintain real connections. Learn as much as you can while you're there. You'll be fine.

Edited to add: If you end up there, after a few years, you won't be Mr./Mrs. T2 with 3.1 GPA. You'll be XYZ lawyer at NASDAQ/NYSE/CME, specializing in capital markets/mergers/whatever. It mostly won't matter where you went to school.

[AnswersForJD]

Honestly, I think you have a good shot. I'm class of 2015 and went to a T50 and I have quite a few friends with admittedly better grades than yours but a similar path. One friend did compliance at a big bank-->Biglaw, one did Compliance at a big bank -->small law firm-->Midlaw, another did insurance firm-->compliance-->legal/compliance in-house. I had a boss who did FINRA-->Biglaw. Working at an exchange is pretty prestigious. In your job, you will develop relationships with many lawyers. You will also develop a viewpoint on the market and accompanying regulation that comes from a position of power (don't forget that exchanges also function as regulators). I think you would have a decent shot of going in-house from the exchange or to Midlaw. You could also consider moving to a regulator. Honestly, I think this is a great job in and of itself (I'm in the industry) and will be viewed favorably. Just make sure you find mentors, work your ass off, and make and maintain real connections. Learn as much as you can while you're there. You'll be fine.

Edited to add: after a few years there, you won't be Mr./Mrs. T2 with 3.1 GPA. You'll be XYZ lawyer at NASDAQ/NYSE/CME, specializing in capital markets/mergers/whatever. It mostly won't matter where you went to school.

How likely is it to land an in-house job at an exchange after law school? From my research, it seems that most attorneys are hired to this exchange after several years of experience in the industry. However, I have noticed some attorneys are hired as staff attorneys out of law school. These individuals went to T2 schools.

[nealric]

I hate to say it, but your chances of working biglaw right out of school are quite poor. Biglaw recruits outside of 2L summer associate classes extremely rarely, and when it does, it is mostly students who had 2L summer associate gigs elsewhere. The GPA will also result in an uphill battle- a 3.1 from a T14 wouldn't be a slam dunk in biglaw.

The regulatory agency is a good start. An ideal situation would be a permanent full time offer. Alternatively, if you can find a smaller firm that does that sort of work, it's the sort of situation where you could eventually build a biglaw resume. At the same time, you may find you don't really want to do biglaw. The biggest reason to do it is the starting salary an initial training. If you have already had good baseline training and have moved up on salary, biglaw is less compelling.

Keep up your connections in biglaw. While they likely won't be enough to get you in the door as a fresh graduate, they could be helpful if you are in a situation to lateral to biglaw, or just as general business contacts.

[SFSpartan]

Your chances of working in biglaw right out of law school are slim to none. Your best bet is to lateral into biglaw, either by working for the regulatory agency you mentioned, or by working for the exchange (which, based on your location, I assume is the Chicago Mercantile Exchange)

[impactplayer]

Did you not do OCI? That would have been your best shot at getting in. You should have done OCI and/or mined those networking connections back then. I think your odds are pretty low since you're going to have to get hired on as a 3L. As some others are saying, your best shot may be to lateral into biglaw.