They pay tuition, too

It is an article of faith among many law students that the career services office exists only to serve the highest-ranking members of the class. Career services help the elite secure spots in BigLaw, the school gets to brag about its alums at Skadden and Latham, and eventually the elite students become rich partners who give back generously to the alma mater--all part of one big unfair cycle. "We pay tuition too," gripe the students who rank in the bottom half of the class; "what about us?"

Gary Greener, a career services dean at Southwestern Law School in L.A., led a session aimed at addressing the needs of students trapped in this mindset. Greener laid out an AAish "ten-step program" for counseling what he calls the "Top 90%" of the class. Steps include "Honesty About Goals" (e.g. "forget about being a summer associate"), "Get a Start: Foot in the Door" and "Network or Not-work."

Greener spent the most time on "Resume: Counterbalance Grades." Tactics include focusing on practical course work, getting a seminar paper published and highlighting top grades (assuming there are any). When the inevitable grade-related question does come up in the interview, Greener advised that students "never answer with a 'period'; always use a comma," i.e., break the bad news and then ("that's not really reflective of my capabilities") launch into your selling points.

I couldn't help but think of what 2007 Wall Street Journal Law Blog Lawyer of the Year Loyola 2L would make of all of this. Greener was admirably upfront about the occasional need to let a student know that he is probably best off cutting his losses and finding something else to do for a living. Too bad he and L2L couldn't have crossed paths when it still might have made a difference.

Hate to sound cynical, but it seems to me that Greener's program--as pragmatic and plausible as it is--requires a level of personal grit and discipline that is rare, and rarer still among C students.

-posted by brian