Top Law Schools

There are none.

/thread

graduation?

I'm sure courses like Law and Literature will make me a much better lawyer.

Julio_El_Chavo wrote:There are none.

/thread

If you go to a school that allows you to take classes at other graduate programs, you can learn some awesome stuff that will make you happy/help you prepare for your practice.

TaipeiMort wrote:

Julio_El_Chavo wrote:There are none.

/thread

If you go to a school that allows you to take classes at other graduate programs, you can learn some awesome stuff that will make you happy/help you prepare for your practice.

Time would be better spent practicing. Less debt, more on point learning.

Julio_El_Chavo wrote:There are none.

/thread

Do you mean in a "we should get rid of 3L and move to a different model" way, or a "why should I not skip all of my classes and put in just enough work to barely graduate" way?

If the former, there are none at all. 3L is retarded.

If the latter:

1.) Firms that will no-offer based on 2L grades can yank offers based on 3L grades. Not many firms in this category, but make sure yours isn't one.
2.) Having impressive resume lines will make your life somewhat easier if you're going to a free-market firm: everyone I have talked to at Kirkland agrees with that. This applies only early in your career, and it's not as important as the quality of the work you did over the summer, but it still matters.
3.) Grades still matter if you try to lateral out relatively early in your career.
4.) Grades still matters if you decide to try to enter the alumni clerking market, etc. etc.
5.) If you're clerking, and want to try to "trade-up" in firms post-clerkship, your 3L grades will matter for that.

I also think that having certain resume lines might nominally improve partnership chances, in that the firm thinks it might make your firm bio page more attractive to prospective business. The impact here would be *incredibly* slight, though.

ToTransferOrNot wrote:

Julio_El_Chavo wrote:There are none.

/thread

Do you mean in a "we should get rid of 3L and move to a different model" way, or a "why should I not skip all of my classes and put in just enough work to barely graduate" way?

If the former, there are none at all. 3L is retarded.

If the latter:

1.) Firms that will no-offer based on 2L grades can yank offers based on 3L grades. Not many firms in this category, but make sure yours isn't one.
2.) Having impressive resume lines will make your life somewhat easier if you're going to a free-market firm: everyone I have talked to at Kirkland agrees with that. This applies only early in your career, and it's not as important as the quality of the work you did over the summer, but it still matters.
3.) Grades still matter if you try to lateral out relatively early in your career.
4.) Grades still matters if you decide to try to enter the alumni clerking market, etc. etc.
5.) If you're clerking, and want to try to "trade-up" in firms post-clerkship, your 3L grades will matter for that.

I also think that having certain resume lines might nominally improve partnership chances, in that the firm thinks it might make your firm bio page more attractive to prospective business. The impact here would be *incredibly* slight, though.

Wrt #3, I assume firms that you lateral to have grade cutoffs similar to those used for hiring 2L SAs, is this right? If so, I would think a top 25% person at a T10 doesn't have much to worry about. I'm not counting on lateraling to W&C, Covington, SullCrom, Susman, or Cravath. Also, UVA doesn't give latin honors (although "Order of the Coif" is given to top 10% people, but this would be a longshot for me). I'm not planning on clerking. I seriously doubt the veracity of your final point because I've heard from several partners that grades don't matter by the time you've worked for 8-10 years. I think I'll be just fine wrt #2 because of my pre-law work experience. Finally, I'm not at a firm like those #1 would apply to.

Julio_El_Chavo wrote:

ToTransferOrNot wrote:

Julio_El_Chavo wrote:There are none.

/thread

Do you mean in a "we should get rid of 3L and move to a different model" way, or a "why should I not skip all of my classes and put in just enough work to barely graduate" way?

If the former, there are none at all. 3L is retarded.

If the latter:

1.) Firms that will no-offer based on 2L grades can yank offers based on 3L grades. Not many firms in this category, but make sure yours isn't one.
2.) Having impressive resume lines will make your life somewhat easier if you're going to a free-market firm: everyone I have talked to at Kirkland agrees with that. This applies only early in your career, and it's not as important as the quality of the work you did over the summer, but it still matters.
3.) Grades still matter if you try to lateral out relatively early in your career.
4.) Grades still matters if you decide to try to enter the alumni clerking market, etc. etc.
5.) If you're clerking, and want to try to "trade-up" in firms post-clerkship, your 3L grades will matter for that.

I also think that having certain resume lines might nominally improve partnership chances, in that the firm thinks it might make your firm bio page more attractive to prospective business. The impact here would be *incredibly* slight, though.

Wrt #3, I assume firms that you lateral to have grade cutoffs similar to those used for hiring 2L SAs, is this right? If so, I would think a top 25% person at a T10 doesn't have much to worry about. I'm not counting on lateraling to W&C, Covington, SullCrom, Susman, or Cravath. Also, UVA doesn't give latin honors (although "Order of the Coif" is given to top 10% people, but this would be a longshot for me). I'm not planning on clerking. I seriously doubt the veracity of your final point because I've heard from several partners that grades don't matter by the time you've worked for 8-10 years. I think I'll be just fine wrt #2 because of my pre-law work experience. Finally, I'm not at a firm like those #1 would apply to.

Not just talking firm laterals WRT #2, talking non-firm options.

I mean, these are all minor points. 3L grades really don't matter for very much- they're just not entirely valueless. Resume lines never hurt anyone. The combination of no honors + out of coif range does make it pretty tough to care, though.

ah im taking a bunch of classes im interested in.

Um, one more year of being a student instead of a member of the workforce.

Party time.

/thread

smokyroom26 wrote:Um, one more year of being a student instead of a member of the workforce.

Party time.

/thread

Unless you don't have loans, this is an unmitigated terrible thing.

ToTransferOrNot wrote:

smokyroom26 wrote:Um, one more year of being a student instead of a member of the workforce.

Party time.

/thread

Unless you don't have loans, this is an unmitigated terrible thing.

I have loans. I was being cheeky.