What do big law firms look for in associates?

Skills & experiences There are a number of basic competencies which recruiters from all firms look for during interviews. These include leadership, entrepreneurship, teamwork, communication, self-motivation, maturity, problem-solving ability, creativity, collegiality, writing skills and community involvement.

Do big law firms care about grades?

Firms can also decide how much they like you. But in terms of judging how serious you are about law school, and how much aptitude you show for the practice of law, grades are generally the most important criterion that firms use in the hiring of law students.

Do law firms look at your grades?

It’s not surprising then that strong transcripts and grades are critical. “Not all the firms have the same weighting scale, but if you’re talking about the top Bay Street firms, they will almost always look for top grades, which indicate you have the ability to work hard and produce good results.

What grades do you need for big law?

In fact, many prestigious law firms have “hard” GPA cutoffs for hiring law students during the summer: the most elite firms are looking for candidates with 3.7 GPAs and higher; firms right behind them are looking for candidates with 3.5 GPAs or higher.

Who are BigLaw clients?

Biglaw firms tend to offer comprehensive legal services in corporate law practice areas, rather than focusing on a specific niche, like personal injury or criminal law. Clients are large corporations, investment vehicles, family officers or wealthy individuals.

Does GPA matter Law School?

There’s no doubt about it — your law school GPA is important for your first job (or two) after law school graduation. At times, employers will even specify a GPA cut-off in the application process. They will indicate that they will not consider any applicant whose GPA is not at least, for example, a 3.0.

Does law school GPA matter after first job?

Pretty much every professor told us that law school grades would not affect us after we had practiced law for a while. Most professionals at my law school told us that grades would only have a substantial impact on the first jobs we were offered after graduating.