Why do lawyers in my field insist on listing their Alma maters on their resumes, even after they’ve been practicing for

[Anonymous]

What is this little group that is getting together? That’s the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why? Clients care or no one would do it. Even a partner 25 years out. Corporate clients want to see a resume they expect. They could be open to alternatives but most want central casting. It explains who they are getting.

I am a corporate client. I do not care where my OC went to college and what they majored in. And I don’t care about their law school either. I care that they have deep SME

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is this little group that is getting together? That’s the issue.

Lawyers. All very senior. It just struck me bc I recently had to do a bio exchange for an industry event with non lawyers. Everyone highlighted their actual work.

I’d understand if it was a recent grad event.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? Clients care or no one would do it. Even a partner 25 years out. Corporate clients want to see a resume they expect. They could be open to alternatives but most want central casting. It explains who they are getting.

I am a corporate client. I do not care where my OC went to college and what they majored in. And I don’t care about their law school either. I care that they have deep SME

Ok well I do care. If it were missing it would be a red flag to me. Maybe that makes me snobby or silly but it is how I feel.

[Anonymous]

I work at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. At my agency, it is quite common for attorneys to mention in their email signature where they went to law school. Many of them also refer to themselves as “esquire.” I’ve definitely noticed that attorneys who attended poorly ranked law schools and have low prestige legal experience, such as doc review, are more likely to emphasize that they graduated from law school and are licensed attorneys. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that many of my colleagues at BVA are first generation college and law school graduates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? Clients care or no one would do it. Even a partner 25 years out. Corporate clients want to see a resume they expect. They could be open to alternatives but most want central casting. It explains who they are getting.

I am a corporate client. I do not care where my OC went to college and what they majored in. And I don’t care about their law school either. I care that they have deep SME

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people did well on the LSAT and went to a top tier law school. They have a right to be proud. Where did you go to law school OP?

This was my thought, too ... lol. OP went to a third tier law school or something.

I went to a T20 law school and a top 15 undergrad. I just don’t feel the need to lead with that after 25 years practicing. If you don’t understand this, well, I’m embarrassed for you too!

Are lawyers put law school on bio graduated from T14 but Op is from T20?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? Clients care or no one would do it. Even a partner 25 years out. Corporate clients want to see a resume they expect. They could be open to alternatives but most want central casting. It explains who they are getting.

I am a corporate client. I do not care where my OC went to college and what they majored in. And I don’t care about their law school either. I care that they have deep SME

Ok well I do care. If it were missing it would be a red flag to me. Maybe that makes me snobby or silly but it is how I feel.

No offense, but do you actually hire experienced outside counsel?

How would this info be 'missing'? Of course they went to law school and are licensed or they wouldn't be working at X firm or wherever- I assume there are HR people to screen for this- why do I care? I am hiring someone based on SME. My co has some long term relationships with certain firms, but we do go out to the market at times for other lawyers, and its often by referral (oh, you need someone who does that? I used Jane and her firm does X Y Z better than anyone else) or industry reputation. I have never looked at where they went to undergrad or even law school, and I certainly don't care what they majored in. I'm not impressed that Larla went to Yale and studied poli sci 25 years ago. If anything, it might be a signal that they haven't accomplished much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I work at the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. At my agency, it is quite common for attorneys to mention in their email signature where they went to law school. Many of them also refer to themselves as “esquire.” I’ve definitely noticed that attorneys who attended poorly ranked law schools and have low prestige legal experience, such as doc review, are more likely to emphasize that they graduated from law school and are licensed attorneys. Perhaps this has something to do with the fact that many of my colleagues at BVA are first generation college and law school graduates.

Esquire is so damned embarrassing

[Anonymous]

Anyone who knows anything about hiring qualified counsel understands that professional reputation absolutely trumps school.

[Anonymous]

Yeah but if someone from T20 law school has a BA in English from T10 and someone else has an SB in physics from T10 guess who I pick all else being equal.

[Anonymous]

I guess OP went to TTT

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some people did well on the LSAT and went to a top tier law school. They have a right to be proud. Where did you go to law school OP?

This was my thought, too ... lol. OP went to a third tier law school or something.

I went to a T20 law school and a top 15 undergrad. I just don’t feel the need to lead with that after 25 years practicing. If you don’t understand this, well, I’m embarrassed for you too!

That explains it. Top 20 isn’t a thing for law schools. It’s top 10 or bust.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why? Clients care or no one would do it. Even a partner 25 years out. Corporate clients want to see a resume they expect. They could be open to alternatives but most want central casting. It explains who they are getting.

I am a corporate client. I do not care where my OC went to college and what they majored in. And I don’t care about their law school either. I care that they have deep SME

Great. Most do though. They want to know what they are getting and they need the best case to defend their pick to the CEO and Board. I get that for small or medium matters that is likely not the case. It is the case for large matters that could have deep impact on the company. Board are strange and you hire wrong as a gc and can’t defend you are fired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sorry, law isn’t like business. Your credentials (law license/admissions/degree) are what you’re selling.

Someone’s undergrad degree and major? So I’m meeting a senior lawyer at an industry event and one of the important details about her background that I should know is that she has a JD from NYU university and that she went to Wesleyan and was a poetry major?

Hmmm

My F500 corporate employer puts school info on capsule bios for e-mails about internal job changes. A lot of us are MBAs. I just switched jobs. This practice might be partly due to sports rivalries, lol.