Law Schools

The Millennial's Guide To Law School Communication

Treat your law school interactions as if it will follow you, professionally, forever.

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(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

There are few things more aggravating than being misunderstood or not understanding what someone is saying to you. In the law school setting, this happens frequently. Law students get mad at their professors, administrators, and each other. Professors and administrators, in turn, get mad right back at their law students. While some degree of miscommunication is unavoidable, the situation can be greatly improved by following some simple guidelines.

Many miscommunications happen in law school when students are feeling overwhelmed because we are all less articulate when we’re at our wit’s end, aren’t we? However, it is important to remember that law school is the first step in your legal career. You should treat every one of your law school interactions as if it will follow you, professionally, forever.

Here are some situations in which you will find yourself communicating with others during law school and a few suggestions to keep you off of the express train to miscommunication station.

Fellow Law Students

The most common complaint I hear from law students (and perhaps a complaint I made myself in law school) is that it feels a lot like high school. The gossip mill is always hungry for information and demanding to be fed. Sometimes, it can be hard to not get swept up in the drama.

Using the “T.H.I.N.K. before you speak” principles can help with this. Never heard of them? Here you go. Before saying something, ask yourself the following: Is it true? Is it helpful?Is it inspiring? Is it necessary? Is it kind? I’m pretty certain these were created for elementary school students; however, they are excellent guidelines for communicating with your law school classmates.

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Additionally, avoid making “you” statements. Your law school friends and colleagues will be much more likely to be receptive to what you have to say if it doesn’t sound like you are blaming them for something. This is much easier to accomplish when you keep the focus on how you feel and what you need, rather than on what the other person did or didn’t do.

Staff Members

If you’ve been in law school for more than 5 seconds, you have probably realized that the whole place would burn to the ground without the staff. Staff members are often overworked and underpaid, and not always treated well by students. Make sure you are one of the students that always treats the staff with respect and kindness. Remember, they have often been working at the law school longer than you’ve been alive. So, refrain from waltzing into their office making demands or acting like you know more than they do. Not only does that make you a jerk, but in the end, you will need them and they will remember if you have treated them poorly.

Professors

Students usually interact with professors from one of two places: intimidation or entitlement.

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When a student is intimidated by his or her professor, he or she tends to try and interact with the professor as little as possible. This is a shame because you pay a lot of money to attend law school and should be able to approach your professor with questions. If you find yourself scared by the idea of meeting with your professor, try these tips:

  1. Remember, professors are people. Try to humanize them by thinking about the fact that they have parents, siblings, spouses, and maybe even kids.
  2. It is literally their job to teach you. Let this reassure you that it is perfectly reasonable for you to ask them questions.
  3. Often times, they enjoy interacting with students outside of class! I have frequently heard from professors that they sit by themselves during office hours. You could really set yourself apart by showing up when no one else does.

If you find yourself coming from a place of entitlement, stop. Beyond teaching the class and making ADA required accommodations, your professors don’t owe you anything. And, I can promise you that if you roll up to office hours acting like you own the place, you are not going to get very far.

Administrators

I go back and forth between being jealous of and feeling bad for administrators. Jealous because they get to make the big important decisions, (such as whether to call a snow day…) but bad for them because students can come down on them pretty hard. If you have a grievance that you need to bring up to someone in the administration, keep in mind that they represent the position of the school and not necessarily what they personally feel is right.

Email Communications (these tips apply to anyone you may be emailing)

Email etiquette is a frequent hot topic of discussion among law school faculty. I’ll save lecturing you on the importance of checking and responding to email in a timely matter for another day. For now, just remember that once something is in writing, especially on the internet, it is there for all of eternity. If you are unsure about the professionalism of a certain statement, err on the side of not saying it, and for the love of god, don’t email it.

Also, It is really important to keep in mind that just because you don’t know a certain piece of information does not mean that it wasn’t shared with you, multiple times.  You are likely getting a lot of information thrown at you – most of it through email. If you are not used to this, it can be overwhelming. I strongly recommend checking your email and doing some research before going to someone’s office and saying “No one ever told me…”

I’ll leave you with my mother’s favorite, and most annoying, piece of advice: “it is not what you say, it is how you say it.” Now, sometimes it is about what you say. But more often than not, miscommunications are more about tone and attitude. Follow the Golden Rule of “respect everyone,” and you’ll be fine.

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 [email protected].

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