Law School Life
The Evolution of a Law School Graduate
Erik J. Provitt December 2016 Graduate of Atlanta ' s John Marshall Law School ejprovitt @ johnmarshall. edu
There are exactly 1,212 days between August 19, 2013 and December 13, 2016. Additionally, there are exactly 70 days between December 14, 2016 and February 22, 2017. Those dates and days are significant because they represent two separate milestones in the life of many of Georgia’ s law students. The first set of numbers represent the first day of classes at one of Georgia’ s 6 law schools in 2013, and the last day finals in 2016. The second set of numbers represent the first day a student could focus exclusively on the February 2017 Georgia Bar Exam and the last day of the February 2017 Georgia Bar exam. Each grouping creates a different set of emotions and require separate physical and mental preparation. In any regard, that is a total of 3 years, 6 months, and 3 days in the life of a law student in their pursuit to become a lawyer. Depending on whether a law student is full-time or part-time, in a day program or the evening, their exact numbers could vary. On average, a law student spends 3-4 years of their life learning the law and at least two excruciating days trying to prove it.
At some point though, there comes a moment in the life of every law school graduate when they say to themselves,“ I’ m done!” It is usually a few weeks after the bar exam; all of their books have been put away or are in that corner of their home they have refused to visit. They will realize they have not had to multitask today and that overwhelming feeling of horror they had just one month earlier has completely subsided! That is when it hits them,“ I did it, I’ m done.” James Taylor, a December 2016 graduate of Atlanta’ s John Marshall Law School and a Credit Strategy Manager at Cox Communications said the best part about being done with law school is“ time.”“ When you’ re in law school,” he said,“ time management is paramount and typically time is in short supply. Being done, being able to breathe, and dictate my own activities or inactivity has been the most rewarding aspect of being done.”
From a social standpoint, law school is akin to being in a coma. For 3 years, law students were completely oblivious to their surroundings. Sure, they were breathing and eating and showed most of the visible signs of life. However, like a coma patient, communicating with them likely required a person to come to their“ hospital room.” Even then, the communication was likely unlike any communication previously had on one end of the spectrum, and completely nonresponsive on the other. A lot of the other social norms are simply missing during the dogged pursuit of earning a Juris Doctor. Yet, at some point, like a coma patient, a miracle happens!
The patient wakes up, the law student walks out of the exam room on the second day. Now, it is time to learn how to live again. Law school graduates all over the state will pick up the phone and call a friend they have not spoken to in 4 years. They will read a book without a highlighter nearby for the first time in recent memory; or listen to a lecture without furiously taking notes. It is a natural, yet foreign feeling. They vaguely remember the person they use to be, but now they understand what an officer can and cannot do during a traffic stop. It is hard to watch a television legal drama without seeing the“ Hollywood twist” on the law. The use of‘ shall’ and‘ must,’ or more importantly, the critique of others when they use it inappropriately creates awkward moments.
The process of reclaiming a graduate’ s pre-law school identity is a task in and of itself. So much is the same yet so much has changed. Yet, almost immediately after the sense of relief that comes with completion, a slightly less comforting feeling follows,“ now what?” Whether it is because of the DNA makeup of a person willing to endure the process of becoming a lawyer, or the practical realities of student loan payments or looming Bar Exam results, the moment of reflection is brief, and the business of“ getting on with it” soon commences. ▪
14 March 2017