The reality of the kids at the bottom of the class at a T14 Forum

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Re: The reality of the kids at the bottom of the class at a T14

Post by Anonymous User » Fri Apr 19, 2019 1:54 pm

Anonymous User wrote:
Anonymous User wrote: networking would help (edit to add: by networking, I mean asking your OCS. I would not advise doing the traditional "let's go to coffee" think with a judge.). Also, if you can intern for a judge during the school year, you will become far more attractive as a candidate for a clerkship--especially if you are interested in a niche area (like bankruptcy or tax).
Quoted anon. I was told that networking with your professors may also help, if there are people that judges would trust who can vouch for you. I personally needed more external support that my understanding of my own situation (that a difficult period was not representative) was accurate, and references who were willing to make that argument for me. I know not everyone's in that situation, but if you are, that is the advice I received from a number of sources.
Quoted anon here. I am not sure if you are asking a question? But to the extent that you have someone who is willing to go to bat for you, you should obviously take advantage of that. For others reading this, professors also have connections to firms, government, and public interest entities. They may therefore know about an job opening that is otherwise not posted. So if there is a professor whom you have a good relationship with, you should absolutely bring up your job search with them.

My edit to my original post referred to traditional networking. You should not send a cold email to a judge asking for coffee. It is a totally different question if you have a professor introduce you to a judge. In that case, I would take my cue from the person putting me in contact with the judge and let them take the lead on how to proceed.

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glitched

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Re: The reality of the kids at the bottom of the class at a T14

Post by glitched » Fri Apr 19, 2019 3:12 pm

You got this man. I struck out at my T6 and after mass-mailing, landed on my feet. Now I'm doing work in the exact practice area and industry I set out prior to law school. The caveat though is that I still regret having gone to law school. If I didn't meet my wife, I would really be beating myself up over that decision.

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Re: The reality of the kids at the bottom of the class at a T14

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Apr 20, 2019 3:07 pm

glitched wrote:You got this man. I struck out at my T6 and after mass-mailing, landed on my feet. Now I'm doing work in the exact practice area and industry I set out prior to law school. The caveat though is that I still regret having gone to law school. If I didn't meet my wife, I would really be beating myself up over that decision.
Similar here -- T14, struck out at OCI, went to a JD advantage job for a while, networked, applied, got lucky, and ended up in my target market doing what I wanted to do before law school with awesome exit options. Should I have gone to law school? Maybe...but I like what I do and, even though drudging through my last job was a slog, in hindsight it was fine and gave me good selling points for my current role (same world).

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Re: The reality of the kids at the bottom of the class at a T14

Post by Anonymous User » Sat Apr 20, 2019 11:14 pm

Hang in there OP - you can do it. I am at a lower T14 and have many friends who struck out at OCI, mass mailing, etc, but were able to find something in the nick of time. I don't want to give unsolicited advice, but your placement office has a HUGE incentive to make sure you are placed somewhere and that you have full time long term employment, especially because T14s are competing to have good placement rates. Hang around the placement office - try to get face time with the staff there. They know people and its their goddamn job to make sure youre employed.

Also what sort of job do you want? I couldn't figure it out from your original post. I find its so much easier to go for something you're excited about then something that you "should" do.

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