It’s that time of the year when a law student’s thoughts turn to stabbing his or her colleagues in the back, stealing their outlines, gossiping about them, and finally torturing them with misguided delusions of his or her own superiority. Oh, sorry. That was a typo. It’s a time when law students turn their thoughts to final exams.
There is something about this time of year that causes some law students to become extra crazy, paranoid, evil, mean-spirited, and inhuman. More on this later. First, allow me some personal examples of how I experienced this in law school:
- I got this paranoid sense that two of my study group partners were studying without me. They always seemed to have covered more material than I had, and both seemed prepared on the same material as the other. They were, in fact, studying without me. After they slept together. It was simply too inconvenient to call me to join them for final exam review pillow talk. This relieves me, truly.
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- My study group decided to expel a member because he wasn’t prepared one time. Sure, his daughter was sick and he was a non-traditional student, but for my colleagues, there was no mercy.
- I was kicked out of a study group for helping another study group of people who were struggling.
- When I was at a different university, a student sent an e-mail broadcast to everyone, asking: Who stole her outlines? Of course, this led to a student-led debate about proving they were stolen versus lost, whether her outlines were worth stealing, and whether or not she was (insert expletive here). This exchange was before the eyes of the entire faculty. It didn’t stop, even after I wrote, “You know, the faculty can see every classy thing you are posting.”
- Several people wanted my outline for a particular class. I told them that I was fine sharing, so long as they shared it with people. I was surprised when several people from the same study group asked me for my outline. That’s right, they didn’t share even within the study group.
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- I was in a study group (briefly) that spent an inordinate amount of time talking smack about fellow students, law professors, and staff. They concluded that one woman in particular was dumb as a post. As the end of this column will reveal, they were very wrong. I bailed on that group. Time is of the essence in studying. They weren’t studying.
These aren’t isolated events. I hear stories like this from across the country. Despite my pleas that law students don’t turn into drama-llamas or a**holes, it is still happening. Somehow, law students can degenerate into eighth graders. Sad, given they are about to join a professional field.
Been the victim of someone suffering “the crazy?” It hurts, probably very much like eighth-grade cliques. Realize that the reason they are suffering this affliction is that they are quite used to being big fish in small ponds. Once they hit law school, their world perspective is dramatically altered. Maybe they didn’t do as well as they hoped their first semester of their 1L year, and now they have a huge chip on their shoulder. Maybe they had some deep-seeded childhood issue they never got over, causing them to treat others poorly. Maybe their insecurity is so overwhelming that they feel 100 times worse about themselves as they will ever treat you. Regardless, pity them. They may get far in life, but they will never be happy.
If you are one of those people who gets “the crazy” around finals, or are just mean to your colleagues in general, consider this lesson from my law school days: One of the people my study group wronged is now a judge. You can be assured she remembers what my study group did. The woman who was “dumb as a post” actually aced every class she took. She didn’t need my group’s outlines. They misjudged her. Another was the deciding vote in whether or not a group member moved to his law firm. Thus, if you can’t find it in your heart to master “the crazy” to be a better human, consider doing it for self-preservation later in life.
LawProfBlawg is an anonymous professor at a top 100 law school. You can see more of his musings here and on Twitter. Email him at [email protected].