image from thedailyrecord
Being in law school is like walking through the streets of Manhattan. There’s hustle, there’s bustle, there’s looking like everyone around you and effectively blending in, and there’s a whole lot of noise. Noise about how to deal with the Socratic Method, noise about exams and grades, noise about the importance of law review and moot court, and noise about interviews.
I used to pay attention to these folks in hopes of gaining insight from people who have “been in my shoes.” The truth is, no one ever really knows you as well as you know yourself. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and has different hopes and desires, wills and resentments. Despite practically swimming in articles written by professionals, faculty members, and other students, only one article has continued to be, in my humble opinion, the best words of wisdom out there.
Dahlia Lithwick wrote “Letter to a Young Law Student” almost one decade ago, but her words are as true now as they were then. Lithwick begins by describing the kind of student who will excel in law school and yearn to practice corporate law, caveating that “this advice is not for them”
Instead, Lithwick’s pearls of wisdom go to the rest of us, the people who went to law school just because, the people who had no idea what to do next and decided to prolong the growing up process. “Not since the days of the Tonka backhoe and Malibu Skipper will you have so lunged for stuff in which you have no real interest, just because everyone else is lunging. Law school manages to impose odd new values on virtually everyone.” You may enter law school as a unique individual, but your interests almost immediately align with the proxy aspirations generated by nervous wrecks mirroring cocky gunners. By the time you complete your first round of law school exams, you will find that everyone has the same mindset: get top grades, make law review, interview at top law firms (nevermind that I hate NYC and DC), and work in corporate and/or litigation (because other practice areas are not worthy according to legal cyborgs...?).
“Have a life,” Lithwick urges. It’s about balance, it’s about picking your battles and realizing your limits, understanding that the work will never end but the law school experience certainly will. Go outside every once in a while. Figure out who you are and what you want. The process only becomes that much harder once you graduate and people start disparaging your indecisiveness.
Maybe some of you just cannot relate to this article because you cannot understand why someone would forgo working in a big law firm. Maybe the anxieties exemplified in the article simply do not apply to you because you love the competition as much as you love drafting mergers. Congrats. I am not you. All I can say is that this article changed my life.
To read the full version of Lithwick's article, click here.
