“There’s a saying among lawyers that the A students stay in the law school and teach; forget what the B students do, and the C students are the ones who flourish and make money in the actual practicing law. One lawyer I know brags about finishing dead last in his class at UVA law school, and makes $ hand over fist.”
I practiced for 25 years. Never heard that saying. By and large, it is not true, except maybe for the personal injury bar. Almost everyone at the top of my class went into private practice and made a lot of money. I can think of two exceptions—and they both had bad problems with alcohol.
The saying could be a) regional or b) generational. The lawyers I know who’ve said it are all late 60s thru early 80s and practiced/are practicing in NYC or DC. I called one, and he said the B grade part of the quote is judges, i.e., B students make good judges.