Legal industry notes
LawRiot’s notes from the 2010 National Asian Pacific American Bar Association Convention:
On Hiring, Reading Your Resume:
(1) Where you went to law school matters most
(2) Then they look to where you went for undergrad, any other grad degrees
(3) Then they look at your grades and activities (don’t bother writing Moot Court if you didn’t win any external competitions, it carries little weight without some standardized method of ranking)
(4) Then they look at experience, especially technical experience if patent-related position sought
It’s troublingly fascinating that the brand name of not only your law school, but also your undergrad school, appear to outrank how well you actually did at law school when lawyers consider who to hire.
Biglaw bonus season has started, and with Cravath having announced yesterday (and Skadden having matched today), it will be as anemic as last year. Which can only be an almighty kick in the face for those that billed in the high 2000s (or more), because profit per partner figures are expected to rise from the nadir of 2009 and bonus compensation at most biglaw firms is lock-step.
8:08pm 
