Elena Kagan's Law School Record

From the Wall Street Journal:

As part of her 1986 Supreme Court clerkship application, [Supreme Court nominee Elena] Kagan filed her most recent transcript, giving a snapshot of her academic interests and performance. She got a B- (her worst grade) in Torts, part of a first year law student’s mandatory curriculum. . . .

She did marginally better in Criminal Law, with a B, and managed a B+ in Administrative Law. For the rest, it was all A or A-, except for passing ungraded courses in Accounting and Copyright.

Five Harvard professors, writing separate letters of recommendation in her third year, left no doubt of her potential, however. . . . “I am looking at her transcript as I write, and there’s just no doubt that her first-year spring-term grades…not the [lower] fall-term ones, are the true reflection of her capacity and her learning,” wrote Prof. Frank Michelman.

So 1Ls, don't be discouraged if you mess up in a few classes during your first semester; the finish line is all that matters. You can still be a Supreme Court justice. :)

U.Chi Grad Fudges Transcript, Faces Disbarment

A lurid tale of sex, drugs, and law (well, not so much sex and/or drugs). According to the Chicago Tribune, a former SA at, well, SA, falsified his transcripts in order to qualify for a summer position. Said associate has since hung up his legal gloves and is pursuing an MBA at UIllinois (probably studying how to become Bernie Madoff).

I think the most interesting part of this tale is not the counterfeiting and hoodwinking; rather, what does this say about legal recruiting, the quality of work at law firms, and the relative importance of grades and law schools as proxies for intelligence? I mean, here was a student who was terrible at law school; however, nowhere is it stated that the associate was fired for failing to perform satisfactorily.