Law Schools

So You Got Your Grades, Now What? (Part I: The Good News)

Take advantage of your high GPA while you can and lock in as many employment opportunities as possible.

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Well, we made it.  2019 is upon us and this column can now officially be deemed a multi-year endeavor.  The beginning of a new year also means it is time to turn the page on some issues from the previous year, so I will set aside discussion of the new NALP Principles… for now.

The onset of 2019 has been personally enjoyable because as of yesterday, I can use terms such as Speaker of the House, and the subject of veneration by children, Nancy Pelosi; Congresswoman, and pretty good dancer, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez; and unemployed while being unpopular to a seemingly impossible degree, Paul Ryan.

But for law students across the country, the end of the holiday season and the start of the new year means one thing: it is time for grades.  For 1Ls, this can be a particularly nerve-wracking period as not only will this be the first time they can see the potential fruits of their Fall labor, but also because of the outsized importance of first semester grades in the hunt for summer employment.  As I have promised now for several weeks, this is the first of a two-part series on how students, specifically 1Ls, should deal with the arrival of grades.  Today will focus on the good news, i.e., those who did well academically, while next week will discuss what do if you fell on the tail end of the bell curve.

However, before a student can know which of these two columns to read, they have to know their grades, which brings us to the first piece of advice: go ahead and look at your grades as soon as you can.  Look, I understand the impulse to try and hide from your grades.  Even if you have some level of confidence in your academic performance, until you actually take a peek at your transcript, a student can find themselves in a sort of Schrödinger’s Cat situation in which their grades can be both good and bad.  It was just this thinking that led a certain author of this column to not take a peek at his 1L Fall grades until more than a month after they were available, and then only due to the urging/mockery of friends.  Such a delay was silly, not only because my grades that semester ended up being rather strong, but more so because it put me at a competitive disadvantage in the job market — though, despite the obvious flaws of this avoidance method, I replicated it the following semester; ah, the perils of youth.

For those students who have accessed their transcript and discovered a raft of top marks, the critical next step is to try and capitalize on this early success by attempting to lock in future job opportunities.  There are several ways to achieve this goal.  Many students who want to go into Biglaw see a strong first semester of law school as only part of the way to solve the employment equation, thinking that their brilliant Fall performance must be followed by an equally strong performance in the Spring in order to stand out come 2L OCI.  But as been discussed at length in this column, the recruiting cycle continues to shorten and while that might mean hiring 2Ls in July, rather than September or October, for many firms, more importantly, there has been a significant uptick in 1L summer hiring.  In fact, some firms have done away with 2L hiring altogether, instead seeking to pull from the first-year pool and bring those students in for two consecutive summers.  Such a hiring practice places primacy on first semester 1L grades, as those will be the only bit of law school academic performance available to employers hiring in the Spring.  While I personally have my doubts about the efficacy of such a recruiting posture, it is a phenomenon that is definitely on the rise.  If you are a student who did well first semester and want to go the firm route after graduation, see if there are any employers of interest who hire 1L summer associates and apply ASAP.

Such capitalization on a strong first semester can also take place outside the confines of Biglaw employment.  While the nascent law clerk hiring plan is gaining some momentum, there are still a great many judges who hire clerks during, or immediately after, 1L.  If you know that clerking is something which appeals to you, take those strong first semester grades and apply to as many judges as possible in the Spring.  Even if you are on the fence about clerking — for those who are, go back and read my previous opus on the topic — go ahead and apply to judges and see what heretofore seemingly unreachable opportunities might now be very possible.  However, make sure you fully understand your school’s policy when it comes to turning down clerkship offers before applying to clerkships on a test case basis.

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While not directly related to employment, I will note to those students who do well in the first semester, try not to advertise that fact too loudly and be cognizant of your fellow classmates who might be coming to grips with not excelling academically for the first time in their life.  A lack of braggadocio is the best policy not only because it is the most humane way to act but also because a strong performance in one semester does not guarantee equally strong performances in subsequent semesters.

Making it through the first semester of law school mentally and physically unscathed is, itself, an impressive achievement.  For those students who have managed to not only survive but thrive academically, take advantage of your high GPA while you can and lock in as many employment opportunities as possible, be it with law firms, judges, or really any legal employers.  While it might seem strange that a single semester of high academic achievement can be enough to excel, welcome to employment in the legal sector.

Nicholas Alexiou is the Director of LL.M. and Alumni Advising as well as the Associate Director of Career Services at Vanderbilt University Law School. He will, hopefully, respond to your emails at abovethelawcso@gmail.com.

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