Why are law firms looking at grades?

Possible Reasons:

Regardless of the substantive meaning of the grade, the firms may simply be looking at some quantifiable metric in order to make their jobs easier.

This is a simple explanation, but probably is too naïve. It is probably not reasonable to posit that grades have no meaning to law firms. Although some of the value of the grade is probably in its role as a quantifier, it is likely that it is quantifying something of value to those that use it in hiring calculations.

Another possible explanation here is that grades (and law schools) are valued by law firms because they are valued by the law firms’ customers. Value in this case could come from a Veblen-esque understanding of high grades and elite schools as signifiers of _. A cultural understanding of highly graded and _ individuals as being indicative of social status and value could lead law firms to hire individuals that matched this _, allowing their customers to show _ while hiring. Although this may help explain the law firms’ hiring focus on schools and grades, it again does not foreclose the possibility of schools and grades making some substantive difference for the firm. A Michigan study has shown a strong correlation between high grades in law school and law firm retention. While it may be possible to explain some of this in terms of the lower grade-ranked associates responding to negative expectations by the firm, it is much more likely that grades are actually measuring something substantively usefully for firm hiring. Therefore, we are left with the proposition that the grades given by the law school are most likely quantifying something valuable to the law firm hiring process. Studies on this topic are scarce, however we can make conjectures given the structure of law school exams and associate work. Very broadly, a law firm is probably focusing on three broad characteristics of a potential hire: The ability to perform legal work at a certain level of effectiveness; the ability of the hire to follow the cultural and codified rules of the firm; and the tendency of the hire to stay at the firm. The first

Law firms: what are they looking for? - Someone who will perform with meticuliousness and compitance. - Someone who will be comfortable with the (im)moral implications of their work - Someone who will not leave - Someone who is good at figuring out and adapting to the rules of an institution - Someone who produces work at the bequest of an external motivation. - Someone who is susceptible to social value settings - Someone who is insecure - Someone who wants to belong - Not too smart - Not too dumb - Tests measuring ability to adopt the reasoning and language of a particular area of law, and draw small conclusions without questioning the framework of the question.