From the moment you start practicing law, people are going to tell you that you aren’t very good at your job. Sometimes they will be right. Sometimes they will be trying to intimidate you. Sometimes they will just be jerks.

If you aren’t prepared for this (because your law school artificially boosted your GPA, for example), you won’t be very good at being a lawyer.

It is crucial for law students — would-be lawyers, that is — to learn to deal with people telling them they aren’t very good at things. Bad grades in law school don’t make you a bad lawyer. Moping about them because you can’t deal with criticism, does.

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That’s why the argument that law students shouldn’t have to get Cs because they will feel bad seems so ridiculous to a lawyer who has actually practiced law. When your partner is making your research memo bleed red ink or opposing counsel is threatening you with sanctions, your feelings are irrelevant. Your client needs you — and your professional obligations require you — to make the right decision no matter how you feel.

Maybe there’s a reason why the saying goes “A students become professors, B students become judges, and C students become litigators.” Maybe it takes a few Cs to learn how to be a real lawyer.

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