Legal Firms Use Grades as Excuse, Toepfer Believes

Louis A. Toepfer, Assistant Dean of the Law School, said yesterday that law firms often use a man's relatively poor academic standing as "an excuse for not hiring him for personal reasons."

Speaking at the weekly Harkness coffee hour, Toepfer said that "students tend to vastly overrate the importance of their marks. Employers do not give class standings as much importance as students think they do, but they sometimes use a man's academic record as a convenient scapegoat in place of his religion, looks, poor business connections, or general personality," Toepfer added.

Grades Defended

An attack by students on the system of numerical grading drew a reply from another speaker, Warren A. Seavey '02, Bussey Professor of Law. Seavey defended the School's numerical grading by saying that "numbers, because they can be averaged, are much easier for an instructor to work with than letters."

Students had suggested a change from the existing system involving 20 gradations with a low of 55 and a high of 75.