go to yale.
i wish i have the numbers to.
Perhaps switching "have" and "had" in the essay are part of the problem

I said it with a wink so it's not as mean. Yale, by the by, still has grades. The clerks have more high passes than the non-clerks.
In response to your initial question: Law school, and law school grades, are more terrifying than they should be. Worst case scenarios are rare. A school isn't going to admit you if it thinks you will fail, and I'd have faith in the admissions process. Even if you tricked the admissions process, that in itself would mean you're smart enough to be there. I think law school grades have a great deal to do with luck, but also natural ability. In law school, you are competing with people who are smarter and can work harder, and thrive on competition. Not going to class will certainly hurt your grades, but not in all cases. Ability to think analytically helps a great deal. Sometimes you just don't see the right issues (happened to me). A lot of people don't go to class, and the majority of these don't do terribly well.
I think the way to think of it is that all grades are random, but you can reduce the randomness by hard work.