Law school is hard enough, but with the added stress of being on lockdown, is it worse?
Normally, law school consists of classes all day, working at a law firm when you don’t have class, stress eating, reading constantly and never having a moment of relaxation. Sounds fun, right? The upside of law school is that eventually, it will pay off. You’ll get to do great things with your law license and hopefully change the lives of others.
Law school in a lockdown looks like this: Zoom lectures with half the class not knowing how to turn their mic off, one professor smoking his Juul on camera, about 20 minutes of figuring out the logistics behind using Zoom before getting started, and the inevitable sound of dogs barking. I thought taking classes via Zoom would make it more difficult to pay attention but learning from my couch is kind of great. It takes away some of the stress of commuting to school and gives me extra time to read and make sure I’m caught up and ready for class.
I know other students don’t have it as easy. A lot of law students have children of their own that they are teaching, have to work essential jobs to support their family at this time or got laid off from their job. They may even have family members or friends who are sick with the virus. The lockdown is making it harder to focus on school and to stay positive about finishing law school, but our professors are making it as smooth as possible. It’s hard to be certain in times like these but we do have great professors who are making due-dates flexible and even allowing missed assignments. Our grading system is pass/fail to make it easier for students in hard situations, as well.
With all of that being said, law students are already a stressed-out group of people. We know the lockdown will end and we will return to normal eventually. In the meantime, we are trying to enjoy not having to sit in the basement library on campus.