what happens if you do everything right but get screwed over Forum

[senorhosh]

It seems like there are a lot of ways to get screwed over in law school.
1. Firm downsizes, you get fired as a 1st year associate. No marketable skills.
2. You get no offered/cold offered
3. You don't even get an SA position because firm dissolves (Howrey?)

It kind of sucks when you get good grades, plan everything out, but you get screwed over for things that are out of your control (arguably. Maybe not the no-offer). It makes the whole "law school is a lottery" statement so much more true.
Is biglaw pretty much out for you unless you get really lucky?

Anyone been/know someone in this position and how are they doing now?

[Julio_El_Chavo]

Most people only work in biglaw for five years or less. Many of the people who leave biglaw never end up matching their biglaw salary. People on this site seem to freak out about not getting biglaw, but the reality is that the vast, overwhelming majority of graduates who DO get biglaw spend the vast majority of their practicing years doing things other than biglaw and usually making less money than they did in biglaw. Many people who don't get biglaw end up in the exact same (or better) position as people who get biglaw. So this "biglaw or bust" mentality is really unjustified.

So chill the fuck out and do the best you can with the opportunities that present themselves to you based on your grades and experience. If you are gunning for biglaw and you're at a T14, odds are good that you'll get it. If you're not at a T14, you shouldn't have gone to law school expecting to get biglaw in the first place and you can't complain if you don't get it.