How hard was it to get a law firm job after failing 8 classes?

So I failed 8 classes in law school, and I’m not going to sugarcoat this:

It was hard to find a job.

You see, most law firms I had applied for had requested an academic transcript.

Although I will never know for sure, it did feel like they decided on whether they’ll proceed with your application based on your grades.

Should grades really matter, though?

In my opinion, grades don’t reflect how good you’ll be in the workplace. It doesn’t fully reflect on how good an employee you’ll be. And more importantly, it’s not the only thing that determines how good a lawyer you’ll be.

This is because the skills you need as a lawyer (e.g., people skills like speaking with clients) don’t come from getting good grades in law school. Instead, they come from actual work experience, regardless of whether it’s in a law firm or not.

All the skills that I built as a lawyer now come from my past work experience, training, and learning on the job. My grades in law school did not contribute to that.

The brutal reality…

The brutal reality for me was that I had 8 failed classes on my transcript, and they were always going to be on my transcript.

That’s why it made finding a job a lot harder than it already is.

From the time I finished law school to finally getting a job, adding up all job applications, LinkedIn cold messages, cold emails to firms, and general networking, it was about 100+ in total (I lost count after 100). I went through many rejections and ghosting on my job applications.

How I ended up with the job I have now

With full transparency, I’ll share with you how I ended up getting the job I have now.

I did my practical legal training (PLT) with a provider who offered the option for them to arrange your mandatory PLT placement for you on your behalf. Of course, I had to choose this option because I was moving states at the time, and it lifted the weight off my shoulders for trying to find a placement in a short timeframe. After all, I really wanted to be a lawyer as soon as possible.

It so happened that at the end of my PLT placement, I got offered a job with them, and I have worked with them ever since.

And here’s the thing, I also submitted my academic transcript to them as well.

When I started my PLT placement, I wanted to show them what it would be like if I were added to their team. Not for the purposes of getting hired afterwards, but to benefit myself and see what potential I have. Plus, even if I hadn’t been hired, I would’ve at least gotten a good reference to put on my resume.

I truly believe that when I got hired, it had absolutely nothing to do with my grades. Instead, it was the work that I did and the skills that I had that led me to getting that job opportunity. My grades were not the determining factor in their hiring me, and it was my work and skills.

To Wrap Up

Although there may be employers or recruiters out there that may see your grades as a dealbreaker, we can’t control any of that.

But what we can control is how we represent ourselves as a potential employee through our resumes/CVs and cover letters. We can control whether we give up or not. Just focus on things you can control to put your best foot forward.

And if a law firm finds that not having the best academic grades is a dealbreaker, then you’ll find a firm that will look beyond your grades and look at your work experience and skills.

Remember, giving up doesn’t speed up the process. Yes, it can feel difficult, but the way to get to where you want to go is to keep going <3

-Lauren 🙂

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