Back In The Race: Ambition And Grit Do Not Always Come From The Top
Hunger and ambition cannot be measured by law school rank or even by grades, according to columnist Shannon Achimalbe.
Law practice is a credential-obsessed profession. This makes it difficult for the average graduate of an average law school to be taken seriously at the start of her career. I have read numerous articles condemning this obsession in theory. But in practice, especially when it comes to hiring, they continue to follow the conservative status quo.
Which is why Adam Leitman Bailey’s op-ed, Why We Do Not Hire Law School Graduates from the Ivy League Schools, caught my attention.
In order to strive to become one of New York’s best real estate law firms we do not hire law school graduates from Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Columbia or any of the other traditional highest tier schools.
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Finally! Someone who understands that top talent does not necessarily come from the top schools and practices what he preaches. While I got a euphoric high reading his introductory paragraph, the next one immediately killed the buzz:
Our hires come from the top of the classes of the second, third or fourth tier law schools. We find these men and women we take under our wing to be more ambitious and more hungry to excel in the legal profession. They are hard-working and usually grew up with a middle or lower class upbringing.
OK, so the top students of non-elite law school have more ambition, work harder, and are more hungry? How did he determine that?
Bailey then spends the next few paragraphs pointing out that students of elite law schools tend not to work hard because (1) they are not ranked or graded rigorously and (2) they will be hired by prestigious firms regardless of performance.
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Afterwards, Bailey clarifies what he looks for in potential hires:
We want lawyers who have competed for three years for the top grades and at the same time who have learned topics relevant to our real estate practice. Competition breeds character and success and greater learning. Our young lawyers have competed with their peers and have a ranking to show for it. They excelled at their classes and took classes relevant to our actual practice of law. While the top law schools take guaranteed jobs based on the name of their school, our fall, spring and summer associates compete with each other for one or two coveted spots. The top law school students missed another opportunity to conquer failure, fear and to improve their talents under pressure with constant reviews and instruction.
So Bailey seems to think that the top students of non-elite schools are more ambitious, hardworking, and hungry to excel because they won the law school grading competition three years in a row. That’s a safe theory, but what about the rest of their classmates who didn’t graduate with distinction or honors? He doesn’t mention them but it’s safe to assume that he does not think as highly of them. Now I’ll be the first to admit that a few of them don’t have the chops for legal work. But there are others among us who are just as ambitious, hardworking, and hungry (in some cases literally hungry due to prolonged unemployment), and we have the grit to succeed.
There were some responses to Bailey’s piece. ATL’s Kathryn Rubino correctly points out that any bright-line hiring rule is stupid. Over at the Careerist, Vivia Chen concludes that the hungry and scrappy tend to succeed in law these days and maybe it’s always been that way. I too have several issues with Bailey’s hiring philosophy.
Hunger and ambition cannot be measured by grades because they partially depend on a person’s attitude. Because law schools grade on a curve and professors can award only a limited number of top grades, it is possible that two people with the same amount of ambition and grit can get different grades in law school.
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Also, if an employer wants to know if he is getting the cream of the crop, he will have to compare the GPAs of the top students against the rest. A lot of times, the GPA differences between the top students and the mid-range students are not that significant, and so soft skills should play a bigger role. But how many employers will take the time to do that? I’m guessing little to none.
The top students of second-, third- and fourth-tier schools may also exhibit that scary sense of entitlement. These people were led to believe that if they graduated in the top of their class, they would get the coveted legal positions that the rest of us can only read about here. While I think they are more likely to be humble about their accomplishments, they will also take advantage of the opportunities available to them. As they should.
Finally, hiring someone based on class rank alone can create many anomalous situations. Should Bailey hire a law student with a great GPA who got there by taking as many pass/fail classes as he can get away with over someone who got an average overall GPA but got the highest grades in real estate, tax, and civil procedure? Or pass on someone who has worked in real estate transactions (and has the connections and a potential book of business) prior to going to law school?
I want to commend Adam Bailey for his piece because it sparked an important discussion. But I am hoping more boutique firms like his (and later others) will advocate using a more holistic hiring system that focuses less on past grades and more on future potential, which includes looking at an individual’s grit, hunger, and ambition. I’ll admit this might be risky. You might waste money by hiring an ambitious but unteachable twit. Or hire someone who might file an employment lawsuit against you in the hopes of a settlement that will pay off his student loans and fund his antelope urine energy drink startup. But the question is, how do you measure a person’s grit and ambitiousness?
Earlier: Law Firm’s ‘Ban’ On Ivy League Law School Grads Is Dumb
Shannon Achimalbe was a former solo practitioner for five years before deciding to sell out and get back on the corporate ladder. Shannon can be reached by email at sachimalbe@excite.com and via Twitter: @ShanonAchimalbe.