How much do specific grades matter for specific practice areas? Forum

[Pickles312]

I came into law school with no idea what area of law I would want to practice. Over the course of the year, I really gravitated towards litigation and criminal law. Unfortunately, Civil Pro and Criminal ended up being my two worst grades of the year. So, looking at my transcript, you'd think I was interested in totally different things.

How much do individual grades matter when going for jobs/practice areas in their related fields? Will lower grades in these classes prevent me from getting, for instance, litigation at a firm, or an AUSA job down the line?

[Anonymous User]

I came into law school with no idea what area of law I would want to practice. Over the course of the year, I really gravitated towards litigation and criminal law. Unfortunately, Civil Pro and Criminal ended up being my two worst grades of the year. So, looking at my transcript, you'd think I was interested in totally different things.

How much do individual grades matter when going for jobs/practice areas in their related fields? Will lower grades in these classes prevent me from getting, for instance, litigation at a firm, or an AUSA job down the line?

This only might be an issue during OCI in the fall of 2L or when you're applying to things with only your first-year grades on your transcript. But even then, it's very unlikely that a law firm is going to look at your specific grades in specific first-year classes and make generalizations about your aptitude in specific areas of the law. Most people understand that the idiosyncrasies of the curve make such generalizations suspect.

After two years of law school, the odds of it mattering decrease significantly. And once you've graduated from law school, no one is going to look at your 1L Civ Pro and Crim grades and conclude that you should have just gone into transactional work or something like that rather than be a criminal litigator. There are so many other relevant considerations in hiring someone for a job at a firm or USAO.

[Anonymous User]

I feel for you OP, and I worried/worry about the same. I went into law school undecided and not from any legal family to help me "get it." 1L was rough and my lowest grades were in writing, crim, and civ pro. I didn't even know then that I wanted to be a litigator. By the end of 3L, I got district and court of appeals clerkships, with good writing samples. Keep your head up and take good substantive courses if you can that relate to those 1L classes or that are advanced versions of them. If you get good grades in criminal procedure or some kind of advanced civ pro class, that could dispel any worry. (These last two sentences might apply more for clerkship applications though. My chambers would look at specific grades.)

[CanadianWolf]

Do well in Evidence (and in Federal Courts) and civil litigation should be an option for you despite less than a stellar grade in Civil Procedure.

Practice in the area of Tax Law typically requires high grades in tax courses.

[Anonymous User]

FWIW, I do know of some federal judges look closely at your fed courts grade.

[Anonymous User]

I’m an AUSA, and I think Crim was my second-lowest law school grade. I’ll admit I don’t have experience in the most selective offices, but I don’t think any USAOs will care. (I never even took Crim Pro and it’s not been a problem, so I don’t think they’re parsing transcripts that closely.)