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Hi All,

I just found out today that I didn't make it onto any journals at CCN. I have a good excuse as to why, but I'm afraid it would out me if I repeated it here because it was a fairly uncommon occurrence.

My grades are at median or just below.

I have a few questions:

1) How will this affect my job prospects? I am hoping to go into NYC BIGLAW for at least a few years after graduation. I don't really care about firm prestige but would like to make market, if possible.

2) What else can I do to show employers that I care about my legal writing skills and that it wasn't laziness that kept me off of journals.

3) Am I completely screwed?

scared_ccn wrote:Hi All,

I just found out today that I didn't make it onto any journals at CCN. I have a good excuse as to why, but I'm afraid it would out me if I repeated it here because it was a fairly uncommon occurrence.

My grades are at median or just below.

I have a few questions:

1) How will this affect my job prospects? I am hoping to go into NYC BIGLAW for at least a few years after graduation. I don't really care about firm prestige but would like to make market, if possible.

2) What else can I do to show employers that I care about my legal writing skills and that it wasn't laziness that kept me off of journals.

3) Am I completely screwed?

Done. Pack it in. Listen, being on a journal would be helpful, but it's not the end of the world. CCN will help more than the journal, in the grand scheme of things. Median can be scary, but median at CCN is not as bad as it sounds. Good luck!

if your excuse regarding no journals is actually good and won't make an interview extremely uncomfortable... I'm guessing the no journal thing won't really be counted against you.

What else can I do to show employers that I care about my legal writing skills and that it wasn't laziness that kept me off of journals.

They will ask you about it in every interview, so be sure to have an answer. As booya said, if it's not something that would scare your interviewer, give the reason. If you can, try to do something like moot court, a big pro bono project, or being on the board of a student group, instead of a journal. Most employers don't care very much about the journal itself; they just want to see that you're involved in something serious other than classes.

Hi there,

Journals don't really show anything to employers about your legal writing and researching skills - just that you're capable of cite checking and source gathering. Your LPW memo and brief will be far more important as samples of your legal writing skills (also any briefs and motions you write over summer).

There are journals that keep spots open for transfer students so if you're really worried you should email every single journal you have not applied to see if they have any spots open. Which journals did you apply to? You can PM me if you want; my journal might be one of the undersubscribed ones.

Also, externships and clinics taken during the school year will provide far more interesting and practical experiences than being a staffer of a journal

PS Of course you're not completely screwed! Far from it; median or the top 60% at CLS is still a decently comfortable place to be for OCI.

picotin wrote:PS Of course you're not completely screwed! Far from it; median or the top 60% at CLS is still a decently comfortable place to be for OCI.

I guess "decently comfortable" is in they eye of the beholder.

KMaine wrote:

picotin wrote:PS Of course you're not completely screwed! Far from it; median or the top 60% at CLS is still a decently comfortable place to be for OCI.

I guess "decently comfortable" is in they eye of the beholder.

+1. I'd say top 1/3 is decently comfortable.

Oh please, the pretending that less than Kent/Stone at CLS is so terrible is just annoying. Are we completely incapable of dealing with a little bit of uncertainty at 22-25?

Whatever.

picotin wrote:Oh please, the pretending that less than Kent/Stone at CLS is so terrible is just annoying. Are we completely incapable of dealing with a little bit of uncertainty at 22-25?

Whatever.

no one said it was terrible.

booyakasha wrote:

picotin wrote:Oh please, the pretending that less than Kent/Stone at CLS is so terrible is just annoying. Are we completely incapable of dealing with a little bit of uncertainty at 22-25?

Whatever.

no one said it was terrible.

I love your new tar with a passion. Although I think I liked the enjoy dla piper version better...

Thank you for the responses. Regarding e-mailing the journals I didn't apply for (incidentally that's most of them) how do I approach the subject? Should I just tell them what happened to my writing competition, why I didn't apply to them in the first place and ask them if they are understaffed and could use an extra set of eyes?

Thanks.