We previously suggested that since half of all lawyers in Canada are self-employed, marks have a limited impact on the creative and ambitious lawyers’ career.

We asked some of our contacts in the field what they thought about the subject.

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Eugene Rembor, Senior Partner of Rembor & Partners Ltd. in the U.K.:

If marks would matter in life, a great many man and myself would be on benefits…

Forget about marks, forget about them, what counts are your real life skills, not school wisdom.

Joseph C. Gioconda, Partner at DLA Piper:

The general consensus I have heard is that it’s a sliding scale between experience/success and grades:

Simply put, the more experienced and successful you are in practicing law, the less your grades (and even what law school you went to) matters in the long run.

Let’s be candid, I am sure we have all heard of some incredibly good lawyers who weren’t very good students, and some brilliant students who didn’t become very good lawyers.

But when you are only a few years out of law school, there isn’t as much to go by, so sometimes employers look at your academics as a proxy.

Paul Hunt, Managing Director in the Hunts’ Lawyer and Principal of the Hunt’s Group in Australia:

The best lawyers have a feel for the law which university marks are only one indicator for. But by the time you are in your thirties, lawyers need to be finders minders and grinders – find the work, manage the client and do the work. If you are doing this who cares what you got for some subject in your 20s.

Some of our friends also weighed in with an American perspective.

Sam Glover, a Consumer rights attorney and blawgger at Caveat Emptor and the SoloSmallTech blog:

My impression (in the US) is that grades and academic achievement generally matter a great deal if you want to work for a large law firm. Large firms need and want to pad the firm resume with lawyers that look good on paper.

The importance of grades as compared with actual skill matters less as you look at smaller firms. I expect this is partly because personal relationships start to matter more than the prestige of the firm as a whole when it comes to securing business, but also because a smaller room has less room for lawyers who look good on paper but are mediocre in practice.

Likewise, I expect that if you are up for partner, your experience, reputation, and (perhaps most) your client list matter more than your grades seven years back. I have never been asked for a transcript when applying for a lateral position, but maybe others have had a different experience.

Richard Cassidy, a Lawyer, Arbitrator, & Mediator at Hoff, Curtis, Pacht, Cassidy, Frame, Somers & Katims, P. C.:

Here in the U.S., grades are critical in getting that first job, and that job in turn is very important in terms of what happens afterwards.
With the exception of being “on law review,” most applicants for most first time law jobs have not much else to point to, and grades are often critical to getting on law review.
That said, once you are past the first job, few employers seem to ask about or care about grades. The further you are from school, the less it seems to matter.

Law review does not feature as prominently in Canada as it does in the U.S., which begs the question of whether marks are even more prominent here.

Duane Kidman of Kidman Law Office, Christian Entrepreneurial Mindset Mentoring and Pre-Paid Legal Services Inc.:

When I was a recent Law School graduate, I interviewed with a variety of law firms. The most common questions and discussions depended on the law firm.

Law firms that attract clients with profiled resumes focus on grades.

Many large firms follow the profiled resume stature, but are also interested in professional involvement: Public Speaking Events, Published Articles, High Profile Cases, Organizational Leadership and Committee Positions, … etc.

Then there were those firms whose focus was “What Law School you attended”. I was told at one large law firm that I would never become a Partner with them. When I asked why, the response was, “You graduated from the wrong school.” Further into the interview I mentioned that he must be due for retirement. His response was rather pompous, “They made an exception for me. Mandatory retirement is 65 and I am 72 years old.” I quickly responded, “If the firm is willing to make exceptions with established policy, then there is hope for someone like myself making Partner here after-all.” I had already decided I didn’t want to work with or for this guy.

I was rather ill during a Law School exam and did not do well on that test. During one interview with a large, international firm, the interview focused on that single grade and seemed to disregard the remainder of my transcript.

Several firms did not want graduates with exceedingly high grades. Apparently they assumed that if you graduated from an ABA Accredited Law School and passed the State Bar Exam, you qualified academically. Their search was for a personality that complimented the firm, community and professional involvement, and work ethic.

The majority of law firms considered grades as one of many factors. As your legal career matures, many law firms tend to place less weight on grades and more emphasis on what you have accomplished during your career.

My recommendation if you don’t have high marks: interview with intermediate-to-small law firms, or better yet, open your own office, remain heavily involved in professional organizations in your area of practice, write and submit articles to journals, and remain vigilant and competent while serving your clients. These are the best marks I notice.

Canada does not have the three-tier system that the U.S. does, making the school a person goes to less important here.

Madan Ahluwalia, a San Francisco lawyer that primarily handles immigration matters, estate planning (wills, living trusts) and small business matters (incorporation, partnership agreements, vendor contracts, buy-sell agreements, etc).:

In first year after graduation, a lot.

Afte that, they don’t, and your work ethics and intelligence does.

Theory in law school and practical application of law (by being a lawyer) are two different things.

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So in conclusion, marks only seem to matter early on in a law career, and even then, only if someone wants to work in a highly-competitive large firm.An emphasis on marks assumes that law students do not have previous work experience that distinguishes them from other candidates, and that all law students aspire to work in large firms.

Given the numerous other alternative legal careers, this is obviously in no way definitive of the industry itself, or an indicator of a succesful lawyer.