| The lawyer with the best grades from the best | | | | or break. How many different ways can anyone |
| law school makes the most money. The guy with | | | | phrase it? If you intend to make the big money, |
| the ivy covered diploma makes ten times what | | | | you had better earn the big-big glow-in-the-dark |
| the public school graduate makes...every year for | | | | grades. Straight A's are nice. Straight A's in |
| his entire career. The difference spreads | | | | "honours" and "advanced placement" courses are |
| geometrically as the years pass. | | | | better. Straight A's in those courses at an elite |
| Three fundamental choices largely determine how | | | | school are better still. And, really, if you intend to |
| much an attorney will earn in a lifetime. First, by | | | | make enough to pay the mortgage on a Fifth |
| far most importantly, a student's choice among | | | | Avenue penthouse, you had better deliver straight |
| law schools dramatically influences his or her | | | | A-plusses in those highly competitive classes at |
| income potential. Second, a law student's grades | | | | Exeter. |
| and class standing contribute substantially to his or | | | | Keep in mind that earning good grades has very |
| her leverage on a handsome salary or staggering | | | | little to do with intellect. Einstein was a terrible |
| hourly rate. Third, an attorney's choice of specialty | | | | student. All the American writers who won the |
| has tremendous impact on how much money he | | | | Nobel Prize for Literature during the twentieth |
| or she will make. | | | | century either failed freshman English in college or |
| Although choosing strictly for the money probably | | | | never bothered attending college in the first place. |
| counts as the very worst reason for becoming | | | | The same holds true for successful law students. |
| an attorney, if the earnings make or break your | | | | No one ever has established any correspondence |
| choice, then plan to graduate #1 in your class at | | | | between genius and good grades. Commanding |
| Harvard Law School, going on to become a | | | | those A-plusses has far more to do with stamina, |
| partner in a Wall Street law firm. Learn all about | | | | pit-bull determination, and negotiating skill than it |
| the practice of corporate law, mastering | | | | has to do with an IQ that wins admission to |
| contracts, property, and securities. Then, with | | | | Mensa. Most importantly, earning straight A's in |
| command of the statutes and case law in those | | | | law school requires that you learn to think like a |
| areas, become a litigator and build-up a | | | | lawyer. Most practically, commanding the top |
| jaw-dropping winning percentage. | | | | grades depends most on your command of |
| Satisfy the gatekeepers. Get the grades. | | | | language. If you really and truly can read and |
| Long before you start ordering custom-made | | | | write, you always can compete at an advantage. |
| clothing for courtroom appearances, though, you | | | | Not that you know all the vocabulary words; |
| must learn to meet and exceed the gatekeeper's | | | | instead, that you genuinely command the |
| standard, the one principle that determines all in | | | | language. |
| preparation for the practice of law: Grades are | | | | In practice, an attorney's specialty determines |
| everything. It's all about the grades. Grades make | | | | which lawyer makes the most money. |