Law Schools

Getting Your Grades Back In Law School

Law students, when you see your grade, there are some dos and don’ts. Please take this advice.

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Student:  I’ll just sit here and page refresh until the professor posts those grades.

(36 hours later)

Student:  Where is it?  What is taking the prof so long?

(36 hours later)

Student:  C’mon.  I have to know.  This is killing me!

Webpage:  B

Student:  OMG. (Relief or anger depending on student’s expectations)

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(Repeats with next class)

If this sounds familiar, welcome to the grading game.

We professors understand that grades are important.  We know that law firms over-rely on them to determine whether or not you deserve to work in their hallowed halls.  We know that grades can beget other signals, such as whether you get on law review (another employer favorite) or clerk.

We might give speeches to you, telling you that you are not your grades.  We think you should listen to those speeches.  An exam tells you how you did on one particular day.  It does not, without more information, tell me anything more about your ability to be a lawyer and succeed.  Having said that, we know grades are important.  We know you’ll likely want to talk with us about your grade.

But hear me out here.  When you see your grade, there are some dos and don’ts.

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Do not:  Email your professor right away.  Your professor does not want to spend 80 hours or more grading exams, submit them, and then have 20 emails wanting to discuss grades.  Your professor wants a little down time.  And maybe some wine.

Do:  Email your professor at the start of the new semester.  You can suggest you were disappointed in your performance and would like to see how you could improve.  Also, you need some time to reflect and gather more data.  Is the class out of your other range of grades?  Some reflection on the challenges of that particular course is in order.

Do not:  Email your professor in an accusatory tone, suggesting that the professor made a grave error, grades like a jerk, or was being terribly unfair.  Yes, there is some discretion in grading, but you gonna harsh the judge when you’re ruled against in court?

Do:  Set up a time to talk to your professor, and allow your prof to explain where you could have improved your exam answer.  Do listen with an open heart and mind.

Do not:  Get defensive and point out that you did address an issue your professor says you didn’t.  These conversations suck.  “See!  I wrote the word foreseeability right there!  HA!  More points for me!”   Sigh.  No.   For the really defensive, I make the student read aloud the paragraphs at issue.  Then have them explain to me what it means.  At that point, things get uncomfortable.

Do:  Mentally prepare yourself for your meeting with the professor. Getting feedback can be hard sometimes, and you might feel overwhelmed when the prof delivers to you what you think is devastating critique and your professor thinks is minor tweak.

Do not:  Take the professor’s kindness for an admission of incorrect calculation of your grade.  Maybe you really were one point away from an A.  But maybe that’s the same as missing your exit by one.  Close, but not quite there.

Do:  If it is possible, get a copy of your exam answer and a model answer.  Then, you can, in the leisure of your own home, carefully compare and contrast the two answers.

Do not:  Turn the grade meeting into an evidentiary proceeding:  Recording device?  Check.  Asked professor for grading rubric for future appeal?  Check.  Assuring that future students will no longer get a professor willing to discuss ways to improve their exam answer openly for fear of people like you?  Check.

Do:  Remember that regardless of your grade, there’s always room for improvement.  “A” answers aren’t perfect.

Do:  Remember you’ve seen your exam.  Your professor has read everyone’s exam.

Do:  Remember that you aren’t your grades.

LawProfBlawg is an anonymous professor at a top 100 law school. You can see more of his musings here.  He is way funnier on social media, he claims.  Please follow him on Twitter (@lawprofblawg) or Facebook. Email him at lawprofblawg@gmail.com.

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