Law Schools

Law Students Think Alcohol Ban Will Affect Job Placement, Law School Ranking

You'd have to be drunk to think these things will happen.

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Earlier this month, a young man who was pledging a fraternity at Florida State University died in what’s believed to be an alcohol-related hazing incident. Since his untimely death, FSU President John Thrasher has instituted new rules for the FSU community at large in what he’s calling “a culture change and a shift to a new normal” to curb alcohol and drug abuse. Not only has Thrasher suspended all of the undergraduate university’s Greek life groups, but he also banned alcohol for all student organization events — including law school events. Law students are, understandably, none too pleased with this turn of events.

As a result of the ban, law school events have been canceled and rescheduled left and right. The student organizers of one of those events, a mixer organized by the FSU Law Association of Criminal Justice (ACJ) that was to be held shortly after the ban was announced, were forced to change the event’s location just two hours before its scheduled to start time because the original venue booked sold alcohol. Prospective attendees at the mixer included judges, U.S. Attorneys, public officials, and lawyers, but the location change created a logistical nightmare, and fewer than half the expected guests were able to attend.

Now, because one event was essentially ruined thanks to its proximity in time to the rollout of FSU’s alcohol ban, law students are doing exactly what law students do best: overreacting. An FSU law student bemoaned the new policy, writing, “[T]he legal job market is tough and now our parent institution is making it even harder for us to connect with the legal community throughout our state. Hopefully this does not affect job placement.” Lex Lorenzo, the president of FSU Law’s ACJ, took to the Tallahassee Democrat to register her displeasure with the policy in an op-ed:

If this ban continues, I expect negative impacts on job placement and alumni involvement in the law school. Many informal networking events with light alcoholic beverages create opportunities for law students – and I am sure other graduate and professional students – to build connections with local attorneys and alumni, and to demonstrate we can excel both professionally and socially in any setting. As an unintended consequence of your action, I would not be surprised to see a drop in our law school’s rankings as job placement and alumni involvement suffers.

Yes, it’s nice when free alcohol is served at law school networking events, but it’s also wholly unnecessary. To think that your job prospects will tank and your law school’s U.S. News ranking will plunge because local attorneys and law school alumni won’t be able to sip from a glass of whatever well drink or cheap wine is being served at your events is absurd. You’d have to be drunk to think these things will happen. The legal profession is in crisis from a drinking standpoint, and the belief that job placement will suffer due to a lack of alcohol at these mixers only further proves that point.

Lorenzo goes on to note that because they’re in a professional degree program, law students are “expected to behave professionally and maturely,” and that being likened to misbehaving undergraduate students when it comes to alcohol is “insulting and unnecessary.” To those points, we’d counter that demanding alcohol at professional events in the name of employment statistics is not only unprofessional and immature, but insulting and unnecessary for FSU Law students who have the social skills and wherewithal to speak to potential employers without a drink in their hands.

Please wait until you have the “solid guidelines” for this alcohol ban that you so crave before jumping to wild conclusions like these. You’ll likely get a job whether or not your networking events have alcohol — and if you don’t, because FSU Law students seem to be so obsessed with drinking, you can drown your sorrows in a glass of the alcoholic beverage of your choice at home, when you’re on your own time.

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Opinion: Open letter to President Thrasher about unintended consequences [Tallahassee Democrat]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law 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.

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