Law Firm's 'Ban' On Ivy League Law School Grads Is Dumb

A close look at a small law firm's "ban" on Ivy League law school grads reveals pure puffery.

Of all the dumbass clickbait BS — I know it’s the summer and news is slow so everyone has to have a “hot take” to attract page views, but Adam Leitman Bailey‘s piece, “Why We Do Not Hire Law School Graduates from the Ivy League Schools” is just pure drivel. In it he details the reasons why his 20+ person real estate firm absolutely, positively refuses to hire summer associates from Ivy League schools. In a week where Elie Mystal wrote that law firms are better off without women in charge, this is still the stupidest thing I have read all week.

First of all, any hard and fast hiring rule is stupid. “Oh, we only hire grads from Harvard” is equally as dumb as Bailey’s ban on all top-tier law grads (despite the title, he clarifies he won’t hire any graduate from a top law school, so sorry, Joe Patrice, you and your NYU Law degree are SOL). Despite frequently being treated like chattel, lawyers are individuals and many of the characteristics Bailey imputes to “successful” candidates applying to his law firm are found by the bucketful at T-14 law schools. But the nuances of top-tier candidates be damned, Bailey has a broad brush and he intends to use it to combine all the students at top law schools into a single prototype. This article is a case study in logical fallacies and the most blatant attention seeking.

Let’s take a look at the kind of qualities Bailey claims to seek in an associate:

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. We do not hire our clients’ sons and daughters unless they demonstrate the same merits as any stranger to our family. The candidates we recruit are those who have been battle tested in one manner or another. They have been forced to compete against their peers to rank at the top of their law school and college classes.

Ummm, ok? There are zero warrants as to why these characteristics are necessarily absent from the T-14. Bailey claims to be looking for “hungry” attorneys, but I say what he really wants are “late bloomers.” Because there are tons of “hungry” attorneys from the Ivy League (we call them gunners, and I know the Harvard gunners could go toe-to-toe with the thirstiest applicants out there). And a middle or lower class upbringing is not verboten at a top law school, they just used the “grit” Bailey claims to prize in order to get into the law schools Bailey now shuns. (Jesus, the aforementioned Joe went to a football school for undergrad for f**ks sake.)

But looking closer at the essay it becomes clear that it’s a mere exercise in puffery:

So why are we not hiring from the best credentialed law students in the world? First, the top students from these law schools have no interest in applying for a job at our firm.

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Ha. Yes. Now that has the ring of truth to it. On a related note, let it be known that I categorically refuse to have sex with any Academy Award winners — granted, they aren’t knocking down my door, but let it be known nevertheless.

Secondly, many of these law schools either fail to rank their students or do not even grade them at all.

Dude, even Yale Law grad David Lat admits Yalies are the worst.

Ergo, the students have no incentive to work hard and learn when they have guaranteed summer associate positions and guaranteed job offers. Their students typically have no incentive to get the best grades in their classes. They also have no incentive to squeeze as much learning as possible out of the law school experience. Most importantly, the real world simulation of dealing with the pressures of a case or deal may be removed when the students do not need to compete for a job in a difficult market.

Holy assertions, Batman. Even in schools that have forsaken the traditional grading system (which, to be clear, is not universal among the Ivy League or the T-14), competition is far from dead. There’s Law Review, journals, Mock Trial, scholarships, publication, and numerous other mechanisms for competition. Remember, these are students who have spent their entire lives immersed in academic competition. That’s just not something you quit overnight.

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Third, no matter how mediocre the student’s performance, the statistics show that almost every large law firm offers all of the summer associates full time jobs. In order for the top law firms to attract the brightest students they must also show that in past years all of the candidates received job offers.

So, you refuse to take on employees that have other (read: better, more secure) options? This just sounds like a tragic case of low self-esteem.

Fourth, these students may become a United States Supreme Court Justice or a future President of the United States so political theory and international law and classes on capital punishment may be extremely important to them. However, we need our street lawyers ready for battle and taking trial practice, corporations, tax, civil procedure and any real estate and litigation course offered.

Are there a rash of T-14 students NOT taking Corporations? Pretty much everyone, everywhere takes Corporations. Unless you enjoy gambling with the bar exam. And Civ Pro? Come on man, that’s CORE. Get a better excuse. Also, it’s totally reasonable to prefer candidates — regardless of school — who have taken certain classes, but that isn’t a reason that Cornell’s Tax class makes you less “street ready” than Hofstra’s Tax class.

Listen, I get it — a ban on Ivy League lawyers is a sexy title that Bailey probably hopes will spark a conversation about why grads from outside the T-14 are undervalued. That’s a fine and fair point. However, this offense against top-tier law schools isn’t the way to get there.

Why We Do Not Hire Law School Graduates from the Ivy League Schools [Huffington Post]

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