Law Students: Stop Being Butthurt And Get To Work
There are ups and downs in the legal profession -- what matters is having the proper mindset and treating every experience as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Keith Lee
This past week, Anna Alaburda was back in the news because her lawsuit against her law school, Thomas Jefferson School of Law (“TJSL”), is finally going to trial. It’s the first of these law student v. law school suits to do so.
Yesterday, Staci (♥ u!) shared thoughts on the case from law professor William Henderson of Indiana University’s Maurer School of Law. Of particular interest, Professor Henderson said:
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If you look at the bad outcomes of 2010 and 2011, I’m not sure we no longer have those bad outcomes. The remuneration, at least early career, is out of whack with the price of law school.
If only there was some way we could see if those bad outcomes continued… wait a minute, I keep track of all that data at Associate’s Mind. Let’s look at TJSL:
It’s not like we need to have a séance and try and divine what the outcomes have been for students.
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Guess what??? I am 100% sure we still have bad outcomes for many students! There are hard numbers out there, publicly available for everyone to see.
The general public, and more importantly college graduates, have realized that law school is not a guaranteed pathway to fame and fortune. Law schools continue to matriculate fewer students. Top university students continue to avoid law school. Going to law school is a tough row to hoe.
Would Alaburda have made the same decision to go to law school years ago if she knew she would be in this position? Did TJSL prepare her for a career as a practicing lawyer? Was she informed that there were likely not jobs for her (and certainly not “Biglaw” jobs)? Was she aware of the bi-modal distribution of lawyer salaries?
The argument can be made that Alaburda should have been aware. She is an adult, capable of performing her own research and making her own decisions. No one forced her to go to law school. But if I had to guess, I imagine her lawyer is going to ask:
Was there any reason Alaburda should have doubted the assertions made to her by TJSL when she enrolled in 2008? TJSL presented these figures as fact, “as the ABA required.” Should Alaburda not have relied upon them?
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I spoke with another TJSL alumnus recently and asked him his thoughts on the case. His response:
Everyone who went there that could read (I had my doubts about some of my fellow students) had likely checked the US News Law School Rankings and knew we were not ranked/bottom T4. Fraud in the inducement? Bulls**t. EVERY OTHER DATA POINT SHOWED WE WERE A CRAP SCHOOL WITH A CRAP BAR PASSAGE RATE. It’s like the bag of peanuts that says “may contain peanuts.” Duh.
Is the school stupid for inflating numbers? Yeah, sure is. Is Alaburda stupid for believing these numbers without actually doing any checking of her own? Oh, you betcha. What we have here is a textbook case of (and I use the term of art here) butthurt.
Do what lawyers have been doing for decades, honey. Hang a shingle and work your ass off.
While I have sympathy for Alaburda, I’m inclined to agree.
Give Me The Hard Way
Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motor Co., once said:
Success is 99% failure.
If you got into being a lawyer, anything at all in life really, looking for a guaranteed or easy path, then I’ve got bad news for you. The “easy way” doesn’t exist. If you thought you would never fail, you are delusional. Everyone fails in life to some extent.
Maybe you fail your family. Maybe you fail your friends or your job. It’s a part of life.
You can let failure define who you are or you can use it as the foundation for growth.
Being a new lawyer is a tough road in the best of times, and these are not the best of times.
If you look around, it’s not too difficult to find lawyers with a dozen years of practice under their belt unable to find new clients or even keep their doors open. What chance then for a new lawyer? If you’ve just graduated from law school, you’re likely thinking it is impossible to measure up against lawyers with vastly more knowledge and experience than you.
Especially when you have rough days. You file what you think is a solid motion. The opposing counsel’s motion prevails. Or you stride into a hearing, confident in your argument. The judge rules against you.
You might feel like you can’t cut it as a lawyer. That you’re not good enough. That you’re not fit for the profession.
But guess what?
If you are going to be a lawyer — You. Are. Going. To. Be. A. Loser.
But that’s okay. So is every other lawyer. No lawyer bats a thousand. Everyone loses on a motion or hearing. Even if you’re a lawyer like Paul Clement and win a case, you can still lose on the back end by having your hourly rate cut by 75%.
There are ups and downs in the profession. Being a lawyer is hard, life is hard. We’ve all got to deal with it. What matters is how we deal with it. One day you might be flying high, the next day you could be in the dirt.
What matters is having the proper mindset and treating every experience as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Keith Lee practices law at Hamer Law Group, LLC in Birmingham, Alabama. He writes about professional development, the law, the universe, and everything at Associate’s Mind. He is also the author of The Marble and The Sculptor: From Law School To Law Practice (affiliate link), published by the ABA. You can reach him at [email protected] or on Twitter at @associatesmind.
