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Why do you want to lateral into biglaw if you’ve “succeeded in the real legal world?”
Never made it to big law. Successful in house career. A lot of networking, clawing, and luck
A5 and SC1: Love it. Way too much emphasis on “top law schools,” “Big Law,” “my gpa,” etc. You guys can actually get things done!
I went to a bottom tier school with a below median GPA. I made $750k last year doing plaintiff personal injury. I would say I have less than a zero percent chance of getting that type of job if I wanted it.
My point to this is that even though I am “successful” and had bad grades at a bad school, for big law type of jobs, relevant experience is paramount
The General Counsel at my company barely graduated law school it took him 4.5 years and got a DUI 6 months before graduating and as the accounting manager at my company I know for a fact he makes 850K base plus stock bonuses. How you did in school does not determine how successful you can be.
Network network network. Some firms have strict numbers but some don’t
I’m in BigLaw and very involved with recruiting. Odds are extremely unlikely. One because there is a huge bias against midlaw and small firms, but more importantly two because the type of work that non-BigLaw firms generally do is not very relevant to what BigLaw firms do, so even though you’re successful at one it doesn’t mean you can do the other.
Even if you had a massive book of business for example, a BigLaw firm still wouldn’t take you if that book of business is in a line of work that the firm doesn’t do. I’m not saying there isn’t zero crossover or zero examples of it happening, it’s just very rare.
The one exception might be among litigators if you are very successful in commercial lit and can make the argument that your experience is similar enough, or if you happen to end up doing a ton of white collar crime and can try to come over and do that. Most other practices I can think of either aren’t relevant to biglaw or are not done at a level of sophistication that would prepare you for biglaw.
To be clear, it’s not about the 3.0 per se. It’s about starting outside of BigLaw meaning you’re unlikely to ever get in. If you had shitty grades or went to a low tier school, but somehow managed to start in BigLaw against all odds, you could then move up and lateral around BigLaw without too much trouble.
I had a 2.8 and made 378k total comp last year. What’s the deal with everyone frothing over big law?
I made it in. Key is to get into a practice area with a pathway in, and lateral to a feeder firm
Yep if you are in a niche practice it’s totally doable.
If you have a $1M+ book of business, you can find a spot somewhere in BigLaw despite your school or your grades. Clients is the success they care about.
It’s not considered intrusive or inappropriate to ask partner candidates for the estimated value of their portable business. Many prospective partners welcome the opportunity to offer their clients the ability to service a variety of their work on a biglaw firm’s platform. The key concern of course is rate sensitivity.
Short answer:
Yes. You are.
Long answer:
Big Law culls 3Ls/recent graduates based upon their GPA, class rank, and law school rank for a reason. That reason is the same as the law school admission process: the metrics of your likelihood of success.
Big Law is not interested in your actual success after law school precisely because you failed their initial litmus test. They want ”yes men/women” who do whatever it takes to succeed immediately.
Aside from that, why on God’s green earth would you want to work for Big Law if you couldn’t “succeed” in law school? “Success” in law school translates directly to “success” for Big Law (i.e. billable hours far exceeding the minimum requirements, high-percentage case successes, impeccable client satisfaction, etc.) You are far better served by continuing your success after law school than you would be chasing the “gold standard” of slaving away for Big Law. Especially since—even if Big Law were to take you in—they would almost certainly use you, abuse you, never promote you, and wouldn’t think twice about aging you out.
I’ve been practicing for 14 years now, I love what I do, and I am very (VERY) well-compensated for my work. Keep crushing it in the real world and forget the nonsense about how Big Law is your only ticket to success after law school. You’ll be a lot happier for it.
I’m pretty sure once you make partner no one cares about GPA anymore. So you definitely are not locked out forever.
Or have clients they don’t want and/or can’t or don’t want pay Biglaw rates
No, I had a 3.0 in law school and lateraled into big law 6 years in
Congrats!
Depends how far below and how much/what type of success.
Can’t speak for big law as never worked there, but networking is huge and GPAs by themselves don’t define an attorney. I just interviewed at a midlaw firm and they didn’t even ask for my GPA. I guess it would depend on the firm and practice area? I’m sure people in firms will have better insight. But that said, if you’ve made it, are successful and happy, what would the move to big law bring that would be added value?
The odds are very much against you, but grit and networking can swing them in your favor. And firms are much more open to non-traditional paths than they were 10-15 years ago.
Yes. Who cares? Find your space.
I was an LLM with relatively average grades and I still made into into V10 big law and had no issues lateraling out further. Bad grades can only set you back from like the initial screening and stuff but if you got good interview skills and real legal skills, I’m proof that grades don’t matter.
Was a 3.0 student - never had an issue. Just network and do good work. But I’m in-house now so grades def never looked at.
After year 6 or 7 it honestly shouldn’t even matter.
I'm convinced many rainmaking partners have below a 3.0 and wont tell you that They aren't necessarily the smartest, BUT they know just enough to convince you that they are. And they communicate well and read people well. Make people feel good about themselves and you'll earn clients.
I had a 3.2 undergrad, a 2.447 law school.
I started at $45k in 2015, bumped to $65k by moving firms in mid-2016, bumped again to $95k by moving firms again in late 2018, moved to another city and another firm in late 2019 for a bump to $115k.
In early 2021, moved to a mid-law firm for $135k. Got bumped to $195k for 2022 and got a $10k bonus. Got bumped to $205k and a $15k bonus for 2023.
Moved to big law at the start of 2024, accepting a class year cut to 5th year.
Now I’m 10 years out of law school, classed as a 6th year.
So no, you’re not blocked, but it’s hard work, learning law and people, escaping toxic when it makes sense, sticking out and making the most of shit situations when necessary, and so much more.