A Day in the Life of a 2L at Western Law
It’s always great to get some perspective about what other people are doing. I’m currently at 2L at Western Law and we have most of our classes in person. This semester I am taking Indigenous Law, Corporate Law, Civil Procedure and Public International Law.
Finding a good balance between readings, classes, extracurriculars and just regular life will always be a struggle, but I wish I had read an article or seen a video before heading into law school to know a little bit more about what law school is really like. So here is my typical Tuesday!
8:00 AM — First Alarm goes off — Snooze it, of course.
8:15 AM — Rise & Shine — I actually wake up at this alarm usually. Check my notifications, answer any emails or texts. Maybe do some tik tok scrolling.
8:30 AM — Start the Day! — Brush my teeth, wash my face, take my dog out, make a quick breakfast which is usually eggs, toast and a smoothie or something along those lines. If I’m in a rush, oatmeal is my go-to.
9:00 AM — Work — I usually work about 4–6 hours on Mondays, so Tuesday morning I’m only doing a bit of catchup and preparing for my 9:30 AM call and preparing all my stuff for class.
9:30 AM — Work Meeting — I start every Tuesday morning with a debrief with my team and they have been nice enough to schedule this meeting before my classes start for the day. I only work a few hours on Tuesdays because it is my busiest class day.
10:00 AM — Carpool to Class — I carpool to class with some friends and enjoy a nice walk across campus from the very poorly located student parking lots. But at least it is a nice way to catch up and chat.
10:30 AM — Public International Law — this is actually one of my favourite classes this year, so I enjoy it. What’s even more fun is that most of my good friends are also in the class. Highly recommend taking courses with your friends (and take things you like in general!) Right now we are finishing up our unit on State Responsibility and starting to learn about the Use of Force in International Law.
12:30 PM — Lunch Break at the Spoke — if you go to Western and haven’t tried a Spoke Bagel yet, you are missing out. That’s all I have to say about that. Everyone at the law school has a scheduled break period so this is also the time where a lot of extracurricular meetings and speaker events happen. Last week I listened to a talk on Outer Space law which was cool!
1:30 PM — Indigenous Law — great class. Very glad it is mandatory. I look forward to seeing how it continues to develop since its only in its second year. This was our last official lecture and we ended it off learning about ways to continue to work towards Indigenous reconciliation and revitalization. Next week we will be starting our Talking Circle exercise which is an alternative form of dispute resolution.
3:30 PM — Head Home — After class we do the sacred walk back to the car and head home. I sometimes do groceries after class to take advantage of those student discounts!
4:00 PM — Work — I take out my dog, answer any emails left outstanding from the morning and make a to-do list of what other work I have to do in the evening.
5:00 PM — School Work — My evenings are either really productive, or completely unproductive at this point because it is a long day. So, I plan accordingly that it is a light workday/extracurricular day. I try to have all of my readings done by Monday because I only have night class that day so through the week it’s now just preparing exam study notes.
7:00 PM — Hot Yoga — I’ve been trying to go to a class 1–2 times a week to get myself to exercise and also force social interaction outside of my law school bubble.
8:00 PM — Shower, eat and back to work! — I’m a late dinner eater, so I usually make dinner when I return from class and then I try to do work until I head to bed! I often don’t get too much work done on Tuesdays so here’s to normalizing burn out! I usually listen to some music or watch a TV show while getting ready for bed before getting into bed to cuddle my dog. :)
Some days are more productive than others, but as long as you maintain a balance between social life, school and your personal well-being, I call that a success!
