First, there is the obvious strangeness to seeking out employment often two years prior to being eligible to write the bar exam… But perhaps that is the nature of the beast of the legal profession, like many other professions which require some form of apprenticeship or formalized training.

Second, although your post makes reference to almost all of the “traditional” evaluation criteria, it’s missing one: nepotism. This is RAMPANT in the recruitment process, and I have many a story for you, if you’d like to hear them some day.

Third, grades are absolutely meaningless, and the hope for “a few vowels” may even be too much. There are certain faculties out there, mine included, which pursue a policy of “B-range” grading. They are loathe to give out an A-, and an A in a course is extremely rare. I actually had a lawyer ask me in an interview if I thought grades were a reflection of how I would perform as a lawyer. My response was “absolutely not,” and that I could not see how any connection could be made between the two.

So then he asked a follow-up… “Are grades a reflection of how much you have learned in law school?” Again, my response was “Absolutely not. I can have an A- in a class where I learned very little, and simply regurgitated what the professor told me. But I can also have a B- or a C+ in a class where I feel I have learned a great deal, but because I may disagree with the professor on some fundamental issue, the evidence suggests I learned little.”

My preference would be high pass/ pass / fail. When I said this to that lawyer who was asking me all the questions, he asked me: “Shouldn’t law firms have some sort of objective standard that they can use to evaluate the candidates?” “Of course,” I replied, “but what’s more objective than pass or fail? And if objectivity is really the key determining factor in whether an applicant is offered a position or not, then what is the point of ALL THOSE ROUNDS OF INTERVIEWS? It seems to me that subjectivity plays an equal, if not more important role.” The questions from this lawyer stopped there.

And one more point on grades… How many students walk-in to law firms with the top grades, get dozens of first round interviews, only to receive no call-backs because of an inability to interact on a social level? Have you heard the horror story of the “double-dipper?”

There is a dire need for many firms to reassess their recruitment methods and evaluation criteria. But perhaps it is a matter of survival of the fittest… Only the best candidates survive… Only the best law firms survive… And the ones that do survive are the ones that are able to adapt to a changing professional environment.