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Hello fellow Fishes I have an offer from persistent. Need some clarity on same. I want to know the grade system in persistent. What does 7.1 mean? Is 7.1 a right fit for an total experience of 10+ years? What is the appropriate CTC for an architect designation? I want to know if I am getting it as per experience.
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Broadly, racism. Less broadly, financial issues, inaccessible schools, tough competition with other white associates who have had more training and more mentorship.
Proper mentorship and the old heads having the mentality that if they had to do it, we should ( making our experiences harder), when our white counterparts are getting stuff fed to them.
And with big law, I’ve had a couple of interviews, but my grades weren’t great. Had no guidance throughout law school. Everything is always good until my grades. Lol That is why I mentor a black law student from my law school.
Just because firms hire diverse students doesn’t mean they treat them well once they get there. Many of my friends who have been hired through diversity programs had terrible experiences once at the firm. They’re treated as the diversity hire, so it’s assumed they don’t deserve the position and that they’re just there for the firms image.
I personally think it takes minority students more time to adjust to law school. Currently, I run the externship program at my company and have noted throughout multiple cycles that Black law students typically do worse in their first year. But, that could also be due to implicit or overt bias, racism, etc. I think big law focuses primarily grades and credentials (law review or any journal, summers at big firms, etc.) despite the fact we all know a great law student ≠ a great lawyer.
Pro
white supremacy....Let's not kid ourselves that there is any bigger issue.
Law firms love to make it seem like finding qualified black attorneys are as difficult as finding a pig with 6 pack abs.
You are 10000000% right. White privilege will awlays make it really hard.
Cultural fit. If you didn’t grow up in a diverse environment and/or are introverted, it is EXTREMELY hard to be successful in a primarily white field. And then, if your firm is male dominated and you’re a woman, it’s even harder to fit in. Not fitting in means you get less work, less general help and advice from others, less feedback, and less support, and all of those things are what makes it possible to succeed.
And by not diverse, I mean if everyone around you was black your entire life and then suddenly you’re in corporate America surrounded by white people, it’s hard to understand their humor and conversation topics while monitoring yourself and your tone, etc. without accidentally being off putting
Poor network. Most Black Partners don't help at all. I found more help from white partners than from any black partners in big law
White people
Grades. Very proud of my brothers and sisters who do get good grades.
But grades are a gatekeeping scheme in big law. Black students are more likely to be first generation students, and we don’t realize what the first year of law school will really be like. We went from competing with ourselves for good grades to competing with our whole class for a grade.
Grades are the foot in the door. It’s easier to write us off without them being labeled racist when we don’t get the grades to even qualify.
This is a bullshit excuse. These law firms would hire kids from t100 law schools but reject diverse candidates from t14. Grades don’t matter. If it did matter in this case no students from a t100 school could be hired in big law — because someone in the top 5% of a bottom ranked law school would probably not have similar grades in a top law school
F
Implicit bias