Fans of Monty Python can endlessly debate which skit or movie is the best. Is it the
Dead Parrot Sketch? Or perhaps Eileen's favourite, the
Ministry of Silly Walks?
I am likely in the minority because my all-time favourite is the childhood hardship skit called
The Four Yorkshiremen in which a group of old curmudgeons try to outdo each other in terms of how hard their childhoods were. You know, working 29 hours per day and living in a shoebox in the middle of the road.
There will come a time in the future when we will look back on our COVID-19 experiences and we will debate who suffered the greatest deprivation.
While we are all going through COVID-19 at the same time and under the same general conditions, we are not all having the same experiences. During the initial lockdown period, my heart went out to the parents of pre-schoolers and school age children, who were attempting to juggle their demanding legal jobs with the needs (and wants) of their small dependents.
This September truly was the most wonderful time of the year, not just because kids were going back to school, but because they were going back to school relatively safely.
So I am going to pitch the case of a unique cohort in our community: first year law students at our two law schools. This is not to diminish the hardship of their more senior schoolmates – but at least they had the luxury of getting to know each other and attending the unique experiences that is law school in person, before the lockdown.
Summer law student positions are the Holy Grail for first year law students, and recruitment is under way.
The current system has students applying for these coveted positions in January, and then being evaluated on the basis of their December exams (i.e., one final grade). Those first exams (and I’m being generous in including some mid-term exams in full year courses) are a new experience for students, some of whom come from disciplines where this kind of writing and analysis is not an exam norm. And some have been out of university for a period of years and are rusty at writing exams. Yet, this is how students are, in part, getting fixed into tracks that will affect their career paths.
So, in January, the first year students are polishing their resumes, researching firms so they can write meaningful cover letters and learning interview skills, while dealing with their reactions to the December exam grades (and figuring out how to up their games). Oh - and back to Zoom classes several hours a day.
Students who land the coveted first year summer positions have a great chance at articling positions at large firms who pay high salaries. But the ratio of 1Ls who get summer positions is low generally and it appears it may be even lower this year than in other years.
For most students, it’s a one-two punch of getting grades lower than they have ever seen before and then either not getting interviews or, if they get interviews, getting winnowed out.
No matter how much self-talk you do, telling yourself that getting a first year summer student job doesn’t define you or your potential legal career, everyone still hopes to be one of the select few, and that, even if their one final exam grade isn’t what they wished for, hiring committees will see from their resumes just how much they could bring to the table, if only they could get a chance.
The summer student lottery, if I can call it that, isn’t new, nor is competition among law students. But most of us got through it, as the Beatles sang, “With a Little Help From our Friends”.
But now imagine yourself facing this experience without the support of your law school friends, most of whom you have never met in person—it is hard to have the sense of shared experience of being in it together when you are all postage-stamp sized images on a Zoom screen. Zoom classes, and socials, are better than nothing. They may even have some upsides – time will tell. But they don’t build empathy and camaraderie the same way that going to law school in person does.
And yet in spite of this adversity, our two cohorts of 1Ls are not only soldiering on; they are showing courage in promoting mental health and sharing their stories about using Assist’s services through Bell Let’s Talk Day and online.
So as the stressful summer student recruitment period runs its course – Monday is the day when students will learn whether they will get interviews – students are showing their vulnerability and showing leadership to us oldsters, who were conditioned to be silent about mental health issues due to stigma.
Brene Brown praises vulnerability:
Vulnerability is the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, courage, empathy, and creativity. It is the source of hope, empathy, accountability, and authenticity. If we want greater clarity in our purpose or deeper and more meaningful spiritual lives, vulnerability is the path.
Let’s consciously express our support for our young colleagues who get this in a way that we didn’t (or at least not until we were much older) as they face challenges over these trying few weeks and over the remaining months of lockdown.
Assist provides free confidential professional counselling to law students at both Alberta law schools. Law students can also be matched with peer support volunteers, and we have community building Green/Gold Mug Coffee Circles for law students on Thursdays (with alternating weeks for each school.)
My generation (AKA “Boomers”) are known for criticizing millennials who we, allegedly, tend to see as privileged or entitled because the world is different for them than it was for us. That’s why I mentioned my favourite Monty Python skit. But the reality is that many of us question if we would even have gotten into law school in today’s world. Law school was stressful then. Now it is stressful on steroids.
Law students are now told to be active in at least three school clubs or activities. I’m not sure there were three clubs when I was in law school. We just focused on school and hanging out. Now, not only do students have to keep their grades up, they also have to be involved in, and perhaps leading, these activities and preparing for recruitment with so much focus on the coveted 1L jobs.
When Assist and our volunteers talk to students, we reinforce the message that there are many paths to fascinating legal careers that don’t involve matching to a big firm in first year. Working at a big firm is
a path in our profession but it is not the
only path. Unfortunately, that is the path the students see, before the smackdown. It is hard for them to research other paths.
We encourage students to network with lawyers. Our volunteers share their stories of cold-calling lawyers to ask if they can talk about what they do and how they got there. Most lawyers are happy to chat (unless they are in a time crunch).
So, if you get a call from a law student (1L or more senior) trying to map out their path in law, don’t panic and think you are going to have an awkward talk about why you can’t hire them – they are calling you to learn about what you do and what your path was like. You have the opportunity to be an inspiration, a light that will shine on a potential path for them. Please talk to them, and please consider introducing them to someone else who may have a story to share. Remember how vulnerable you felt looking for your first, or subsequent position. Can you imagine how kindness from a real practicing lawyer would have impacted (or perhaps did impact) you?
If you have a story about overcoming the odds to make your way in law, please consider whether you would be willing to share your story with Assist, either in writing (and anonymized, if you like) or in a short video that we can share with discouraged students (and lawyers).
There is an old adage that says it takes a village to raise a child. At Assist, we say that it takes a village of lawyers to raise a law student. Please join our village if you are a lawyer who would like to give back. And if you are a student or a lawyer needing support, please call us.
Loraine.
