I recall, fairly early in my career, being in a firm on the day that most of its summer associate class started. The partner I was with, who was on his firm’s hiring committee, was understandably proud of these aspiring lawyers and spouted off all the key statistics as to how many were on law review, the percentage who were in top-20 schools, and some tidbits about those who were at the top of their class. I was duly impressed, as it was the type of class that would have been the envy of virtually any law firm.

As time has passed, I have observed the career arcs of numerous lawyers, many of whom I have known since they commenced practicing. There are many takeaways, one of which is my anecdotal assessment that there is not a direct line correlation between academic achievements in law school and high-level success in law firms.