October 24 2011

The (busy) TRUTH About Second Year

posted in 1L/2L by Grant
Categories: Classroom

Everyone has their favorite saying about law school.  Here are a couple of my favorites:

“Spend three years in hell to become the devil.”

“First year they scare you to death, second year they work you to death, and third year they bore you to death.”

The one about three years in hell to become the devil, I don’t really think that’s true, but I do think it is funny.  And unfortunately I guess it probably is true for some people.

Anyway, I really want to talk about the second saying.  I’ve now finished two years of law school.  First year, or at least first semester, I was definitely terrified.  I never knew what was going on, I always felt like I was behind, I always felt like I should be studying more, and I had no idea what to expect from my first round of law school finals.  But this article isn’t about the first year of law school – I’ve worked diligently to rid 1L from my memory completely – it is a warning about the second year of law school.

“Second year they work you to death.”  Fact.  I should preface this discussion by saying that I know things could be worse.  I could be trying to juggle a family or a job in addition to my course load and extracurricular activities.   I didn’t have to deal with either of those things, but I have friends who did, and I think they would share my sentiment that second year sucks.  Let me briefly walk you through my second year experience one semester at a time…

First Semester.  Fifteen hours of class, tons of law review editing, tons of law review note-writing procrastination, drafting a moot court brief, preparing weekly moot court oral arguments, writing all the nonsense they made us write in my last semester of legal writing (yes, my school requires THREE semesters of legal writing), trying to squeeze in a few hours of reading every night, getting some exercise, balancing relationships with friends and family, and attempting to maintain my sanity.

Second Semester.  Similar story – fifteen hours of class, tons of law review editing, crunch time on the procrastinated law review note-writing, trying to squeeze in a few hours of reading every night, getting some exercise, balancing relationships with friends and family, and attempting to maintain my sanity.

I guess on paper it may not look like a lot, but it can easily overwhelm you.  It was really the first semester that stressed me out the most – moot court, law review, and my last legal writing class created a lot of busy work throughout the weeks, which first year were pretty much reserved for reading and studying class material.  There is an adjustment you have to make in how you spend your time, but no one really prepares you for it.  Unfortunately, I don’t really have any advice to offer, either.  The purpose of this article is really to just to give you fair warning that things will get busier.  If you’re like me, that means things get harder.  I felt exhausted all year and I burnt out early. 

So listen to those wise law students who have gone before you.  The second saying above has been true so far, and I am so looking forward to third year if they really just plan to bore me to death.  I can endure a few hours of class every week before jumping into a full-time career.  Bring on the boredom, baby.