It’s one of the hardest periods in law school and has one of the steepest learning curves. It’s unlike anything they’ve ever done before in a prior degree. It’s certainly natural for students to experience a lot of stress and anxiety. We also see a lot of imposter syndrome because it’s very easy to be sitting in class and hear your friend give an amazing cold-call answer … while you may be struggling.
I tell students all the time that it’s not going to get any easier. The demands of your time will not go away once you leave school. In fact, you’re going to be having more things with family responsibilities, life, and work, so we really want them to learn on how to develop healthy habits in law school so those will sustain them throughout their career.
— Charles N. Todd, dean of students for the University of Chicago Law School, commiserating with first-year students who find their law school lives quite difficult, and offering them some advice on how to balance their days. “It doesn’t have to be this big interruption in your day,” he said. “[I]t could be a 10-minute break to color or to have some healthy food or do some stretches because you’ve been sitting a long time.”
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.
