Thinking About Law School

Ok this is going to be a longer one so please, bear with me. I wanted to offer some commentary about a subject that has been really important to me for the last couple of years... law school. I know a lot has been written on law school and what it's like and whats wrong with it and I am going to try to avoid sounding like a pre-law advisor.

Anyway, law school, I have loved my time here but I see where the complaints come from. It isn't a perfect system by any means. Really, more than other educational programs, it seems to incentivize bad behavior. What do I mean by that:

First of all law school is competitive, by it's nature it's competitive, and thats not necessarily a bad thing. A desire to be the best and to be recognized is, in my opinion, the right mindset to have as it drives us to better ourselves and to achieve things. The problem with law school is that it instills a competitive mindset with only a token effort to encourage people to compete honorably. Now I don't know if the stories you hear about people hiding books or popping aderall or any of that are true but I know that they are believable and perhaps that is enough. We have created an environment where doing these things is seen as "reasonable" behavior.

The other thing law school does wrong is encourages a tragedy of the commons mindset... funny when you consider that during the first year we got at least one lesson on that work. Anyway, law school incentivizes people to take as much for themselves as possible regardless of whether or not they actually want it. This makes an already competitive environment much more so. I think this is also part of the reason law school evokes so many unpleasant memories in people, because they see it as three years of going after what everyone else wanted, usually for no high purpose than self aggrandizment.

That brings us, rather perfectly, into my next point. John Grisham once had one of his characters opine that meetings his fellow law students brought with it a sense of camaraderie because despite where they came from or even what they planned to do they all loved the law and that meant they all had some commonality. I don't know if that is really true. Yes I think some people actually do want to study law and find it engaging and even exciting. I think other people are here because they think is expected of them or because they don't know what they want to do and this seemed like a way of delaying that ultimate decision.

So, short of becoming the dean, how does one improve law school? I suppose I would answer: "by being a better law student". I have held out a few qualities that I believe an exemplary law student has. He is driven to succeed on his merits but also competes in a manner that is honorable. Additionally, he is motivated by intrinsic rather than extrinsic forces. Doing what he wants to do rather than what people tell him he should do or what will serve to pad his resume.

This paints a pretty grim picture and, like I said, I have really enjoyed law school. I think part of this is because I was able to surround myself with good people who share at least some of my philosophy. Also, maybe it is quixotic to expect an established system to get better because I spent a half hour getting philosophical about it but... it certainly can't hurt to pose the questions.