Incoming 1Ls: Everything Is About To Change

The most surprising change? You.

The weather has been relatively cool where I live for the last few days. It has served as another reminder that within a matter of days, new bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 1Ls will be arriving to terrorize us start their first semester of law school. As I prepare for them to get here, I can’t help but wonder if they know that everything about their life is about to change.

I remember being absolutely terrified my first few weeks of law school. There was a constant stream of insecure thoughts: Am I good enough? Am I smart enough? Is this what I actually want to be doing with my life? What if I fail? As I fell into the stride of the semester, those thoughts subsided and were replaced by feelings of confidence.

But that wasn’t the most important thing that changed. When all was said and done, I left law school a completely different person than when I arrived. The shifts and changes happened gradually, and I was not at all prepared for it. I went to law school ready to work hard and be stressed. What I hadn’t expected was the extent of personal change I experienced. I wasn’t ready for it and no one ever told me to prepare for it. So, dear 1Ls, consider this your heads up.

You won’t ever think, or argue, the same way again

Law school fundamentally changes the way you approach a problem. You will be trained to identify an issue and then apply the relevant rules to the particular facts of the problem, in order to reach a conclusion. This system is called IRAC, and it is a pretty “easy” concept (easy as in straightforward, but will take you anywhere from one semester to three years to master). IRAC stands for Issue, Rule, Analysis, and Conclusion.

To successfully use the IRAC method , you must be able to see a problem from all sides, and anticipate and address relevant counterarguments. This takes a lot of practice, but once mastered, it is an extremely direct and efficient way to communicate.

It also becomes impossible for your brain to approach problems in other ways. You will not only want to solve legal problems with this system, but also things such as, where to eat dinner, how much to spend on a new sofa, and whose turn it is to change the baby’s diaper. (I’m guessing on that last one, as I don’t have kids).

Sponsored

You may also find that you no longer have any tolerance for opinions that aren’t backed up with facts and sound logic. Caution: this may really irritate your significant other, especially if they are not a lawyer! However, the upside to this change is that you will improve your arguments rather than raise your voice.

You will develop discipline you didn’t know you had in you

If you do law school “right,” you will develop a level of discipline you didn’t know was possible. And that discipline will start to seep into other areas of your life. If you couldn’t tell, the underlying theme of this article is that you are going to be really busy. In order to be productive, you have to be extremely organized and disciplined.

This comes easier to some people than others. For me, I have a natural affinity for to-do lists and office supplies. So, the organization part was in my wheelhouse. However, I discovered that I lacked real discipline. This was extremely eye opening for me, as I was always a good student who got my work done on time. But, when I was faced with an overwhelming amount of work I developed a “procrastinate and panic” plan that did not serve me well. Eventually, I gave myself a little tough love pep talk and put the systems in place that I needed to be productive and achieve my goals.

You learn what is really important you.

Sponsored

In case I haven’t made this clear, you don’t have a lot of free time as a law student. This is particularly true in your first year. This means you have to decide what doesn’t make the cut on your calendar anymore. You will come to realize what things you’ve been doing just to fill time and what things are so important to you that you are willing to give your precious free time to them.

For example, before law school I was kind of a TV junky. I used to watch all my shows (or “soaps” as my grandma used to call them) diligently every night. Plus, I would Netflix binge regularly. I can’t say with a straight face that I completely stopped watching TV. I did not. However, I did significantly cut back, because in my limited spare time, I would rather be with my friends and family, or, honestly, taking a nap.

You’ll temper your perfectionism (or not)

This statement created a pretty significant text message debate with a few of my friends. The quick takeaway from our argument is: there are a lot of things to manage in law school, and your type A personality may rage. For me, it raged, hard, and brought out a lot of stress and anxiety. I tried to do and be “all the things.” Eventually, it caught up with me and I had to make some tough choices about where to focus my energy.

One of my friends went the other way completely. He realized early on that he couldn’t do everything perfectly so he picked and chose what things to focus on. In retrospect, his method is much more emotionally healthy and productive. So, use his approach, not mine.

You will lose (and gain) friends

This is a sad, but true fact. Some of the friends you have today just won’t get what you are going through and will no longer be a part of your life by the end of law school. They won’t understand the time commitment, they won’t like the changes that are happening in you, and some may even be jealous. This happened to me with one of my oldest friends. I’m sure she would say it was my “fault,” but I honestly don’t think fault is the right word. I changed, and our friendship no longer made sense.

The good news is, you also have the opportunity to make wonderful, new friends who totally and completely get you and everything you are going through. My best friend from law school and I survived 6 semesters of studying for final exams, studying for and passing 2 bar exams, countless job rejections (mostly mine), 2 breakups, and one Thanksgiving turkey debacle together. We’ve been out of law school for 4 years now, and even though we don’t talk as much as either of us would like, we are bonded forever.

Change is hard. My best is advice is to focus less on what you are losing, and more of what you are gaining. If you ask anyone who knows me, they will tell you that I am one of the most change averse people you will ever meet. I fight change every step of the way, and as soon as I am on the other side of it, I am so thrilled it happened to me. Knowing you are going into a period of significant change may evoke some stress or anxiety. I totally get that, trust me. But, I am also really excited for you! After all, wouldn’t it be a shame for you to go through this experience without growing and changing?


Kerriann Stout is a millennial law school professor and founder of Vinco (a bar exam coaching company) who is generationally trapped between her students and colleagues. Kerriann has helped hundreds of students survive law school and the bar exam with less stress and more confidence. She lives, works, and writes in the northeast. You can reach her by email at info@vincoprep.com.