What I Learned After My First Year of Law School

This snapshot speaks for itself…

JK. My first year of law school was hard, to put it lightly.

Throughout 1L, I’ve taken seven doctrinal classes (Property, Torts, Contracts I & II, Constitutional Law I, Criminal Law & Civil Procedure) and two legal writing courses, but who’s counting. Each class had its own challenges, some more than others. I’ve never been more academically, mentally and socially challenged in my life. Between the countless hours of studying on top of the regular schoolwork of at least 30 pages of case law reading per class per night, meeting new people and balancing life somewhere in between, I learned a lot about myself. I learned how to study. I learned how to manage my time. I learned how to say no to social plans. I learned how to keep going when I didn’t want to. I learned how to fail and try again. And I (think) I learned the law.

Transitioning is hard.

The most difficult part of law school was the transition from a full-time job when I was a year out of college to being a full-time student again. However, I came to realize that I wasn’t the only person in that boat. The majority of people in law school are not fresh college grads, rather they are people in their late twenties, people who had full careers and wanted to make a switch, new mothers, and everyone in between. It was comforting to know I wasn’t alone in making this transition.

During 1L, I was commuting from the suburbs into the city for school twice a week. I had to make new friends. I had to get out of my comfort zone completely, and I was uncomfortable. But after a few months, I found my groove, a group of friends, I slowly figured out how studying worked in law school and eventually ended up enjoying it by the end of the first semester. Some people adjust faster than others and as long as you adjust, the timing is irrelevant.

Anxiety doesn’t go away.

By the start of second semester, I was so motivated to jump into things. I contacted my teachers, did all my work, got ahead on my outlines, went to offices, enjoyed going to school and started loving it. But then the stress hit me again a month prior to finals. That’s when I realized the stress and anxiety of school will not go away no matter how comfortable or prepared you feel. However, the way you react and learn to deal with the pain is more important. I carried on with the rest of semester and finished with less tears than expected. I know that makes law school sound daunting, because it is, but nothing you don’t learn to deal with.

Law School = High School.

People who peaked in high school will love law school. Jk lol. People gravitate towards certain groups and find their groove and unless you’re part of a clique, you seem to be on the outside. You either go to lunch with people, or hide in the library. You either get drinks after class on Thursdays or you go home. You either have a study group or do it solo. Feeling pressured to find a friend group so quickly into the school year with a class of 300 is overrated. No matter what, you’ll find a school friend and talk about class outside of class and that’s good enough. As long as you’re close enough with people to share outlines and study with, don’t stress too much about making friends.

Also, stay away from the kids who complain about getting an A- or those who said they don’t know what’s going on yet speak up in class. They’ll feed into your imposter syndrome lol.

Professors should be your BFFs.

Hardly anybody uses office hours so it’s your time to shine and get some 1:1 help. Although talking to the mean professor who cold call’s the unprepared kids outside of class seems scary, it’ll make you like the class better, get to know the professor more and ultimately help you understand the material. Plus, professors want to help you in any way they can and will most likely give you tips and tricks for the final so what more could you ask for?

Law school is a grind. But no pain, no gain. During orientation, a 2L said to “remember your why” — remember why you’re going to law school, remember why you’re studying, remember why you want to pursue law. I remind myself of this every day and it has been my biggest motivator when I didn’t think I could study anymore. You pay a lot of money and spend a lot of time reading caselaw. Don’t let it go to waste. And most importantly, (try to) have fun! You won’t get these three years back so you might as well make it enjoyable however you can.

xoxo

-C