GPA requirements going into full time (biglaw)? Forum

[prospectivelawyer]

Hi everyone! Just a quick question: do any New York biglaw firms have a GPA requirement for full-time employment? As in, are there any firms that ask you to maintain your GPA at a certain level during 3L year after having completed your summer associateship there?

[The Lsat Airbender]

If you get through your 2L summer without any complaints, you'd have to majorly ruin up your transcript in 3L (multiple below-curve grades, academic probation) for firms to care, and even then that doesn't necessarily mean you'll get canned. Talk to ten V5 associates about law school and about three of them will openly brag about how they got lucky with 1L grades and then coasted for the next 30 months or so.

(At a handful of very elite places, missing the Latin honors cutoff could plausibly hurt one's partnership chances, I guess.)

[QContinuum]

It may indirectly hurt for lit, in the sense that lit associates are generally expected to clerk at some point, and obviously grades are important there. Corp. won't care at all (barring something extreme like academic probation or delayed graduation). Like, I wouldn't try to rack up the off-curve bad grades, but it really doesn't matter.

[dabigchina]

I have always heard that Gibson cares, but I've never gotten a definite answer about how much.

[justanotherlurker]

It may indirectly hurt for lit, in the sense that lit associates are generally expected to clerk at some point, and obviously grades are important there. Corp. won't care at all (barring something extreme like academic probation or delayed graduation). Like, I wouldn't try to rack up the off-curve bad grades, but it really doesn't matter.

Just wanted to add that most lit associates do not clerk, and it is not expected that most lit attorneys clerk at some point. Obviously, different for certain practice areas or job tracks (e.g., appellate litigation, competitive USAO, certain government jobs, etc.). But if clerking (or appellate litigation, etc.) isn't your dream, agree with the other advice here -- grades barely matter, as long as they don't precipitously drop.

[QContinuum]

It may indirectly hurt for lit, in the sense that lit associates are generally expected to clerk at some point, and obviously grades are important there. Corp. won't care at all (barring something extreme like academic probation or delayed graduation). Like, I wouldn't try to rack up the off-curve bad grades, but it really doesn't matter.

Just wanted to add that most lit associates do not clerk, and it is not expected that most lit attorneys clerk at some point. Obviously, different for certain practice areas or job tracks (e.g., appellate litigation, competitive USAO, certain government jobs, etc.). But if clerking (or appellate litigation, etc.) isn't your dream, agree with the other advice here -- grades barely matter, as long as they don't precipitously drop.

Turns out I accidentally conflated the OP with LSAT's post above. I do think that for the V5/equivalent firms LSAT refers to, clerking is commonly expected. Obviously, not every lit associate actually ends up clerking in practice, but at that caliber of firm, there is at least an expectation. But I see now that OP was asking about BigLaw generally. And so, yes, for BigLaw generally, obviously most lit associates do not clerk.

[FND]

keep in mind that when you try to lateral, plenty of firms will ask for a transcript, and while grades matter less and less the further out you go, it can still be a potential issue years down the line.

[QContinuum]

keep in mind that when you try to lateral, plenty of firms will ask for a transcript, and while grades matter less and less the further out you go, it can still be a potential issue years down the line.

Very true! I have heard tell of people experiencing difficulty due to grades even when lateraling as midlevels. Grades probably stop mattering at all ~5+ years out, but many will want/need to lateral before then, and lateraling as a ~second-fourth year, many firms actually do look at and care about law school grades.

[Anonymous User]

keep in mind that when you try to lateral, plenty of firms will ask for a transcript, and while grades matter less and less the further out you go, it can still be a potential issue years down the line.

Very true! I have heard tell of people experiencing difficulty due to grades even when lateraling as midlevels. Grades probably stop mattering at all ~5+ years out, but many will want/need to lateral before then, and lateraling as a ~second-fourth year, many firms actually do look at and care about law school grades.

I just want to drive this point even further. I recently had an interview with a satellite office of a firm to lateral. The interview went well, everyone I met liked me and I had gotten a verbal from the managing partner that I was going to get an offer. A few days later she called me back and apologized, the main office had reviewed my transcript and overruled the managing partner, because my GPA was too low.

[QContinuum]

I just want to drive this point even further. I recently had an interview with a satellite office of a firm to lateral. The interview went well, everyone I met liked me and I had gotten a verbal from the managing partner that I was going to get an offer. A few days later she called me back and apologized, the main office had reviewed my transcript and overruled the managing partner, because my GPA was too low.

Thanks for chiming in and sharing your very relevant (though unfortunate) experience. If you don't mind sharing, are you less than 5 years out? No pressure to answer if you'd rather not. I mostly want to see if it's possible to reaffirm, even anecdotally, that grades no longer matter 5+ years out.

[Flarmanarnar]

keep in mind that when you try to lateral, plenty of firms will ask for a transcript, and while grades matter less and less the further out you go, it can still be a potential issue years down the line.

Very true! I have heard tell of people experiencing difficulty due to grades even when lateraling as midlevels. Grades probably stop mattering at all ~5+ years out, but many will want/need to lateral before then, and lateraling as a ~second-fourth year, many firms actually do look at and care about law school grades.

I just want to drive this point even further. I recently had an interview with a satellite office of a firm to lateral. The interview went well, everyone I met liked me and I had gotten a verbal from the managing partner that I was going to get an offer. A few days later she called me back and apologized, the main office had reviewed my transcript and overruled the managing partner, because my GPA was too low.

Can someone explain to me what the logic behind this even is? Honestly, this makes no sense because you 1) already graduated law school and presumably passed the bar; and 2) have worked at another firm already that deemed you "fit" to work there.....it's literally so dumb to continue to place such a high weight on your GPA at that point [at least in this case where they liked you, wanted to give you the offer, but still had to say no]