Ann Israel is the legal profession's Dear Abby. A New York legal recruiter since 1979, Ann is a past president of the National Association of Legal Search Consultants. Advice for the Lawlorn is updated every Tuesday.

Q:I graduated from a top Ivy League law school, but I am ranked in the bottom 20 of my class. What are my prospects of getting hired by the likes of Cravath, Sullivan & Cromwell and Davis Polk?

Thanks,
Marginal

Dear Marginal: The bottom 20 of your class puts you in a very difficult position, even though you graduated from a top Ivy League law school. I suspect that your chances for a job with Cravath, Sullivan & Cromwell or Davis Polk are probably not great.

The main reason for this is due to something that I have discussed in many previous columns. If you are in the bottom 20 of your class, it would stand to reason that your transcript is loaded with C's and perhaps even has a D grade from one or two of your classes.

I can tell you right now that the Davis Polks (and Cravaths and Sullivan & Cromwells) of the world are far more concerned with your transcript than with your law school.

Basically, here is how the major law firms look at potential candidates: If a candidate has attended one of the top Ivy League law schools, he or she will be interviewed with a lower GPA than someone who attended a second-, third- or even fourth-tier law school. However, there is a cutoff point, even for an Ivy Leaguer. The bottom 20 is just not going to make it for the major law firms.

If you look at the Martindale-Hubbell listings for the major law firms, you will see partners and associates from just about every accredited law school out there. However, the lower the ranking of the school, the better the transcript of the attorney.

Nevertheless, this is just a rule of thumb for interviewing potential candidates. For the most part, even the Ivy Leaguers at the Biglaw firms have outstanding transcripts from law school.

I am afraid that you are going to have just about an impossible time getting hired by the firms you have named unless you have some special skill, a major client to bring with you or some other way to get into the firm -- and that still isn't going to guarantee you a spot.

I know that at one point over the years I have relayed the story of when I was placing a small group of two very experienced and seasoned partners in their 50s. They were bringing with them around $10 million worth of portable business. It seemed as if an offer was about to be made when the potential employer asked for their law school transcripts. After all their years of practicing and with such an established and impressive book of business, their law school transcript was still carrying a tremendous amount of weight.

I don't think anyone should abandon their dreams, but in your particular situation you need to be more realistic about the types of firms that are going to be interested in hiring you. I would suggest that you ask for advice from your law school career services office as to what major law firms are more interested in where you went to law school than in your law school transcript. Those firms are out there, and your Ivy League law school degree should be very attractive to certain firms.

Best of luck.

Sincerely,
Ann Israel
President, Ann Israel & Associates