Only a few months into your official legal career, and sometimes even before that, you inevitably start asking yourself and discussing with friends: what kind of job do I want?
Do I want to go into big law? What about boutique firms? I want to be the best advocate I can be, but how do I get there? How will I ensure I have options for my future career path? Do I have to get the best grades? Should I get an internship?
While those questions might remain largely unanswered for a majority of your law school career, the constant pressure of knowing you do want a job in law — which requires more than just simply showing up to class and doing the bare minimum — can be overwhelming.
Many Choices, Many Opportunities
As a law student myself, I felt as if opportunities for growth in my budding legal career were endless. From joining moot court to being top of the class, I was confused about where to dedicate my time. It became apparent that I couldn’t say yes to every single opportunity that presented itself.
So where did my priorities need to lie?
Only a few months into my 1L year, I started to realize that I was going to have to choose: straight A's or legal experiences — I simply wasn’t going to be able to accomplish both.
At my core, and no doubt at the core of many law students, is the need to be perfect. That includes perfect grades. In college, straight A's were a nonissue. I had stellar grades from the day I started school to the day I graduated.
But law school was different. Everyone who got great grades from K-12 and beyond was now put in one room, set to compete against one another for only a select number of A's to be handed out. I was burning myself out just to receive a letter on a transcript that would mean nothing to my future clients.
My Choice: Experience
Practically, growing up in a small rural town in Wisconsin led me to lean toward gaining experiences to further my career, because grades were a nonissue for me — and frankly, ignored. I grew up on mindsets like “who you know matters,” grades will only get you so far, school doesn’t teach you everything you need to know about life and the career you will have, etc. Therefore, my gut instinct was to lean into experience in the legal career.
However, in law school, a majority of my classmates felt differently. Everyone was starving to get the straight A's and CALI awards in every class, but with classes on a curve and full of students, it was impossible for everyone to achieve that goal.
Being the realist that I am, I set my sights on experiences. I wanted to be as knowledgeable in real-life practice as I could be and wanted to market myself as such to future employers.
What I Did – and the Results
So I stacked my schedule: I took classes that focused on drafting pleadings, writing agreements, arguing contracts. I signed up for clinics through my law school to not only work alongside real attorneys but to start managing my own cases and clients as a certified legal intern. I participated passionately in extracurriculars that put me arguing in front of some of the biggest names in the areas of law I cared about. And I worked each and every school break with new firms and courts to try to build my exposure to a wide range of jobs in the legal field.
Ultimately, the priority I placed on those experiences started to benefit me. I began getting asked to be involved in more prestigious activities at school. And as a budding 3L, the job offers started rolling in.
Did I have the straight A's I thought I originally needed? No — but I had options nonetheless. At times, I noticed I had more choices than a lot of my friends with better grades, and I could talk intelligently about how the court system and practice really worked, in lieu of citing cases or statutes.
Meeting My Goal: Becoming a Better Lawyer
All of this is to say that while law school might make it feel like straight A's are a must, you can and will most definitely succeed in this industry with practical experience instead of those grades. In fact, almost two years into my practice, my experiential learning still benefits me — whether it be in how I speak to clients or in the arguments I make before judges.
Looking back, even if getting straight A's and CALI awards in every class were an option for me, I would still choose to take the path I did, because it made me a stronger lawyer in the end and a better advocate for my clients. Ultimately, that was my goal in the first place.
This article was originally published on the State Bar of Wisconsin’s Law Student Blog, Just the Facts. The State Bar offers a variety of resources to help law students connect with the legal profession, including finding mentors and clerkships. Find out more on Wisbar.org.
