Law Students

Does Law School Change You?

By Steve Pirates

The other day I was asked by a prospective student whether I felt that law school had changed me, and if so how.

I felt it was a fair question so I told her the honest answer and in the process probably scared her away from all law schools ever. I think that law school does different things for different people. There are people who come to law school with minds predisposed to “thinking like a lawyer”. For those people, law school enhances that, and exaggerates that trait in their every day life. Many students, however, come to school with a completely different thought process. I think that those people change the most. Some of them adopt the “thinking like a lawyer” as a tool to use in solving problems….. but I’ve seen a few classmates completely change the way they look at life. It’s strange.

Law school changes you in other ways too. The constant presence of competition, for grades, rank, awards, law review, moot court, and above all jobs has an effect on just about every student I’ve met. Most of them just stick to their own guns, and try to interact with their friends as if the competition wasn’t there. Some run from the competitive aspects of law school and just focus on learning as much as they can. And some students embrace competition and look for every advantage. Of the last category, some of them do it in the spirit of friendly competition and in order to do well for themselves…. and some of them are just complete asshats about everything.

I think the best thing a prospective law student could do (or a law student who may feel a little out of sorts) is to sit back and take personal stock of what is really important to you. At some point in nearly every law students career, everyone wants the BigLaw job, the 160K + bonuses, etc. etc. But the reality is that everyone wants something different. Sitting down and thinking about how you want to live your life, and what values you won’t surrender is a good way to keep yourself from going too far down a path that you might regret later.

Law school changes everyone. But that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Full post as published by Jolly Lawger on October 20, 2008 (boomark / email).