A letter to the law school class of 2026
Dear (soon to be) 1Ls,
Well, look at you! You survived the LSAT and the admissions process. You withstood the scores of jaded attorneys telling you “don’t do it.” And you read all of the blog posts from jaded grads (or dropouts) waxing poetic about the ills of law school. Now here you are, counting the hours until your first day of law school. As someone who remembers this path very well, I say congratulations as I know it wasn’t always easy.
As stated, there have probably been numerous people who tried to discourage you from doing this.
I’m not one of them.
I am very bold when I say that going to law school was the best decision of my life. It opened my eyes to a new more informed way of viewing our country and gave me the tools needed to break the glass ceiling in my profession, securing my seat at the table of senior leadership. Law school absolutely changed my life, and it has the potential to change yours as well.
With that said, I want to share with you a few nuggets of wisdom that several influential people shared with me during my time at the University of Louisville School of Law. These quotes made my time in school much easier, and I hope they can benefit you similarly. Here goes!
Rank THIS!
“What do you call the person that graduates first in his law class?”
“A lawyer.”
*Class looks confused*
“What do you call the person that graduates last in his law class”, he continued.
“A lawyer.”
*Class looks even more confused*
“Basically, none of this ranking bullshit matters!”
This was the “joke” our incredibly terrifying torts professor told us on the first day of class. As for what this “ranking bullshit” actually is, after your first semester (when you have a GPA) your law school issues you a ranking. This ranking shows your position when compared to the rest of your classmates. Typically, landing in the top 10% of your class will put you on the radar of the more “prestigious” firms in town. And as you can imagine, this academic hunger game, brings much anxiety to its participants. I’ll never forget one of my friends tearfully proclaiming she would have to dump her boyfriend because he ranked higher than her (yes, she was serious and no, she didn’t dump him; they are still married to this day). And there are always urban legends of students ripping pages out of library books to gain an edge over their classmates.
The thing our torts professor was trying to get across to us, is that even if you don’t make it into the top of the class, it’s okay! You will still find a good paying job in the field. While law rankings may measure how you performed on an exam, it doesn’t measure you winning top advocate in your state’s mock trial tournament. It doesn’t measure all of the public advocacy work you’ll perform as a student. It doesn’t measure that amazing article you’ll get published in your school’s environmental journal. And it doesn’t measure all of the hard and impressive work you’ll put in during your summer clerkship. Those things (plus many more) will build your resume and make you attractive to employers even if you are in the *gasp* lower 90%.
With that said, if you do strive to work at one of those prestigious, six figures right after graduation firms, do not let my words detour you.
GO GET IT!
But for everyone else, do your readings, brief all of your cases, go to office hours, and do the best you can.
At the end of the day, we all take the same Bar exam.
Gritty, Gritty
“If you are going to make it, you gotta have grit.”
These words belonged to our Dean of Students during her address at our honor code signing ceremony. And they are words that echoed through my brain during every late-night cram session, 3-hour mock trial practice, and walk around my block to commit several 15-page class outlines to memory for finals.
It’s not that law school is necessarily hard. Rather, it’s challenging. You will learn and even master the law. But unlike your last semester of undergrad, law school is going to make you work for it.
Grittiness is defined as being courageously persistent. And that persistence is what will get you through 100 pages of reading per night when all you want to do is sleep. It’s the same persistence that is going to give you the energy to drive two hours, back and forth, to another law school in order to take a summer class that your home school doesn’t offer. And it is the same persistence that will allow you to eventually prepare for either the Bar exam or the immediate job hunt if you don’t plan on practicing.
There are going to be times where law school is going to feel like you are punching concrete. But once you punch through to the other side (and you will punch through), you will be at amazed at how strong you’ve become. I’ll tell you like I told myself: if convicts can do 20-year bids in prison, you can definitely do 3 years in law school.
Meet the Class
“Doors will open at 8 and the open bar is limited. So don’t screw around.”
This was the advice of our Student Bar Association social chair as we prepared for my very first law school Halloween party. That year, three of my classmates and I dressed up as the Ghostbusters. I never knew how difficult it was to find a tan zip up jump suit.
Us law students are regularly typecast as studious library rats, always with our nose in a book. While this may be true, we also have fun too! Some of my most fond memories of law school were the times I got to spend meeting the people I’d be in the trenches with for the next three years. Be it school sponsored events like the annual Back to School Bash, the homecoming tailgate, and Barristers Ball (law school prom), or the random and spontaneous bar nights after an evening class or a particularly stressful moot court practice, socializing with your classmates creates the memories you’ll look back on fondly, well after you get your bar results back.
Understand that you are about to embark on a journey unlike any other. While your non law friends and family may have empathy, it is your classmates that know exactly what you’re going through. They are the ones that understand the frustration you have over the damn rule against perpetuities. They are the ones that will know the odd mix of relief and fear experienced in the school foyer after a final exam has been completed and everyone came up with a different answer for question number three. And yes, they are the ones that will know the anxiety of waiting for your grades to post that will damn near ruin Christmas, every December. They will know these things because they are experiencing them right along with you.
Also, if you stay in the city or area you matriculate from, these people will be the ones you see in the courthouse every day if you practice. So, get out there and get to know your fellow law students. Go to the school events. Say yes to the lunch and happy hour invites. Join one of your school’s affinity groups. And once in said group, venture out every once in a while, to socialize with people you might not necessarily do so with otherwise. In the words of my favorite dean of the school, “treat each other well, because there is a good chance, the people you see now will be the people you see for many years to come.”
In closing…
The old adage says that 1L year is where they scare you to death. Allow me to tell you, there is nothing to be scared about. Getting cold called for the first time may be stressful, but you’ll make it. Even if you crash and burn, you dust yourself off, prepare your case briefs, and look forward to the next time. At the end of the day, understand you have been blessed with the means to follow your academic pursuits. There are many that can’t say the same. So, congratulate yourself for making it this far, enjoy your first year, and we’ll speak again soon.
Sincerely
JW
Brandeis School of Law, Class of ‘18.
