“While studies suggest many of the country’s top law firms heavily recruit from Ivy League universities, New York-based firm Adam Leitman Bailey, P.C. is one place where graduates of the nation’s most prestigious schools do not have such good luck gaining job offers.” …
http://college.usatoday.com/2015/07/27/nyc-law-firm-wont-hire-ivy-league-grads/
I guess I didn’t realize there was such a thing as fourth tier law schools. That’s digging pretty deep. They may be gritty “street lawyers”, but do they actually know anything?
@JustOneDad: Given the bar passage rates of those schools, I’m going to say “no.”
Fun read, @Dave_Berry - thanks for posting it. The article cites Above the Law’s response, which I hope is okay to link here: http://abovethelaw.com/2015/07/law-firms-ban-on-ivy-league-law-school-grads-is-dumb/
So Adam Bailey, founder of the firm, gets what he wanted, which is publicity and the opportunity to be mentioned in the same sentence as top-tier law school grads. And get this: he won’t hire them. Gee. He must be an even better lawyer then, right?
But not so fast. His logic is … well, lacking. And at the very least we expect lawyers to have good logic skills. If he thinks this about T-14 students, then he should take a look at the frantic OCI discussions on toplawschools and elsewhere:
The courses he looks for in his hires include civil procedure, which every 1L everywhere takes, and courses related to real estate law that are certainly offered at every T14 school.
The headline (and content) are hyped to get attention, but let’s dig into this a bit more:
The firm does not want new lawyers who think that they are “too good” to work there, who will use it to build their skills and then jump ship.
I would also guess that students who graduate from Ivies and want to work in Manhattan aren’t targeting that firm, leaving any potential candidates to be those who got such terrible grades that even the Ivy name couldn’t redeem them. A less click-baity headline would be “We don’t want the Ivy League grads who aren’t good enough to go somewhere else.” To a large extent, the kid in the middle of his class at a mid-tier school, or the top of a lower-ranked school, is probably a much better bet than the kid who graduated dead last at Cornell.
There is also an element of rule-following that does not lend itself well to certain types of litigation. Many seasoned attorneys value creativity in thinking, willingness to take chances and fall on your face, and other traits that tend to be incompatible with “getting straight As in English or poli sci in college, then going to law school.”
I spent a while working in NYC, and doing real estate there. I’ve never heard of Adam Bailey.
Since the article contains a brief mention that “the top [or any, to be frank] students from these law schools have no interest in applying for a job at our firm”, that settles the matter as to why Adam Bailey doesn’t hire Ivy law grads.
I might as well write an article entitled, “Why I’ll Never Accept the British Crown” or “Why I’ll Never Accept the Job of President”, and go on and on with criticisms of the monarchy and the presidency. That would be about as well-thought as Adam Bailey’s article. Bless his heart.
He also mentions that the firm’s stable of summer/fall/etc. associates compete for one or two slots in the firm. Since not getting an offer from a place where you summer can really harm your job prospects, why would ANYONE work for him?
Agreed. So, this rather obscure, 24 member firm, that straddles the fence of mediocre (and that is being measured and diplomatic) makes some inane platitude that they won’t hire Ivy law school graduates…is like saying why a McFish sandwich doesn’t want to be on the menu at Le Bernardin.
Although the firm’s “Contact Us” site lists a “New City” address at 14 S. Main St., New York, NY 10956, Google Maps points me to 14 S. Main St., New City (no “York” between “New” and “City”), NY 10956:
I wouldn’t expect Ivy grads to work there. 120 Broadway, the firm’s other office, sure.