My daughter just finished her first year at U of Florida Law School. She ended up with a 3.87 GPA which was good enough for a class rank of 4 out of 240. Additionally she had the best grade in her section for Contracts, Torts, Con Law and legal writing. She is currently doing an internship with a USDC judge. She was asked to be a TA for legal writing next year.
UF has a “grade on” acceptance to law review if you are in the top 5 GPA of your section (which obviously she was based on being 4th overall) so long as you complete a blue book exam and essay with a “good faith effort”. Somehow she not offered law review and instead offered a secondary journal. They will not release any information about the scoring and how she did not make a “good faith effort”. I am a lawyer and I have read the essay and it was good. Certainly showed someone who spent the time to write a thoughtful essay. She is obviously devastated as she worked so hard to get the GPA she did and not get law review. But that said there is nothing that can be about that.
My question is how will the lack of law review impact her ability to get a big law summer job in light of her other academic accomplishments in her first year. Any insight greatly appreciated
Checking Law School Transparency, and you’ll see the top quartile has an average salary of $81k, which means most of the top quartile go into small law, i.e., UF doesn’t place well into Big Law in general. (And part of that may be geographical preference – Florida grads don’t want to leave?)
if she really wants BL, target NYC, the “easiest” place in which to make the big bucks. Of course, she’d have to make a strong case as to why a Floridian would want to move to NY.
I don’t think being in “the” law review will matter for corporate/transactional BigLaw teams based in Florida, who know the quality and rigor of UF, especially if he has other “special” skills such as a foreign language or an undergrad science background and in view of her GPA and rank. Feel free to DM me if you want to discuss further.
She is actually from Pittsburgh. She went to University of Florida for the full ride and living expense stipend. I told her that 2 of the largest 15 law firms (Reed Smith and K&L Gates) are Pittsburgh based and she is going to apply to both of them. I just wondered how those types of firms would look at the top GPA and class rank but no Law Review
Her GPA and rank are strong enough to overcome not being on law review. Being on any journal will look good. She should get some interviews from FL offices of big law firms headquartered elsewhere and will have to show a connection to offices in other states to get interviews outside of FL. Most of the UF hires my firms have made are for Florida offices. There is no salary differential, however. They earn the same lockstep salary as those in NYC.
Well I guess you all were right. Daughter has received 2 offers from big law firms for 2L job. One from a firm with a relatively new office in Miami and one from a firm in Pittsburgh where we live. I am hoping she picks the one here in Pittsburgh but I am keeping my mouth closed. Oh unless somewhat jokingly saying she can take over the family Steeler season tickets if she comes back to Pittsburgh is putting pressure on her……The money being offered to first year associates is astounding.
“The money being offered to first year associates is astounding.”
The flip side to that is the billable hour requirement and expectation that you are always available. I worked for a big firm that wanted me to work on my first week off in a year. My D burst into tears. That’s easier for young single people. I prefer small firm life.
Biglaw life is not for everyone. Some like it, some don’t. Law students who think they are interested in it like the OP’s daughter should give it a try and see what they think for themselves. Every summer I see SAs who decide it’s not for them at the end of the summer. And many commit to it for 2-5 years, make and save a ton of money, and move on.
OP, I hope your DD has a great 2L summer next year. Firms have generally gotten more serious about making the SA experience more balanced to give students a more realistic look at biglaw life. Back in the day, it was very little work, and all wining and dining.
Yes I like the small firm life as well. Having switched to doing plaintiffs work for the past 25 years after 10 years of billable hours…I love never filling out a time sheet. Being an owner of my small firm I also have the flexibility to coach me kid’s sports and work my own hours etc.
But D wants to try the Big Law thing for a few years and as @itsgettingreal21 said “make and save a ton of money, and move on”
burghdad - congrats to your D. My D is also interested in law school, working hard in undergrad. Can I ask if your daughter did anything particular that seemed to help w/the full-ride offer? Everything I’ve read says gpa, lsat, and D is also doing a few law-related extra-curriculars and summer work. Thanks for any thoughts…
I recently found “The Good Wife” on Paramount Plus. I am addicted to this show. What kind of law is this?..edit: I am sure it is about as real as ER was back in the day.
It really comes down to the numbers. Most schools work hard on trying to improve the numbers so as to improve their USNWR rankings, the largest component of which is the LSAT scores and GPA. My daughter applied to a few T14’s and was waitlisted at them. But in the range of 20-30 she received full tuition scholarships to 3 school and then UF threw in a living stipend which clinched the deal for her.
So my advice would be seriously study for the LSAT. Also apply early say no later than October. It’s basically rolling admissions and schools will put money out there to try to lock in early enrollees. My daughter did not apply until the November December range and it definitely hurt her with the T14 schools.
My sister is a partner at a Top 5 law firm in NYC. She’s interviewed hundreds of kids and says that almost everyone she interviewed went to a T10 law school.
I understand that may be true for New York offices. But my daughter got offers from Sidley and Winston & Strawn’s Miami offices and Jones Day and Reed Smith’s Pittsburgh offices coming from University of Florida. And the salaries for those firms was the same as the firm’s other offices.