I’ve only been in law school for a few weeks, and I’ve already been confronted with my biggest fear: the cold call. It’s unlikely that I’m alone in this. Like many of us, my initial visions of law school came from that scene in Legally Blonde where Elle was publicly shamed by the professor and kicked out of the classroom, with even the overachieving readers of Aristotle riddled with fear. 

The film’s exaggerations aside, I still felt daunted by the idea of entering a law school class. I won’t deny the panic I felt seeing the dreaded phrase on nearly every syllabus. “Why can’t I just answer when I feel like answering?” I could already picture it in my head: doing all the readings, knowing the cases front to back, and still freezing up the moment I get called on. It seemed like beyond all preparation, my mortification was inevitable. 

Then in my first Contracts class, I was cold-called. And I clearly lived to tell the tale. I fielded a few questions about the public policy elements of Shaheen v. Knight and just like that, it was over. Now that I think about it, I don’t recall my peers’ cold call performances. So I doubt they are looking back on mine. Moments I thought would leave a permanent mark on my academic career faded away within minutes. 

It left me realizing I entered law school with a weight on my shoulders, burdened by the anxieties of what this experience would be like. The workload, the intimidation, the competitiveness. There is obviously plenty I don’t know yet. For starters, I don’t have the slightest clue of what a law school final looks like. And none of this is to say law school isn’t stressful or exhausting. It certainly is. 

Yet, in just under a month, I’ve already noticed a shift. For the first time in my life, I’m comforted by the fact that I have no idea what I’m doing. And that my worries, while typical, are largely misguided. This is the time to figure it out. 

It allows law school to be what it should be, a new chapter. Letting go of the cold call concerns leaves room for more: exploring my interests, meeting people, pushing myself out of my comfort zone i.e. the Negotiations Competition that the old me would’ve never willingly entered. See, I’m already making progress. 

There’s a long list of 1L core skills I’m supposed to acquire this year: reading, briefing, outlining, networking, every other gerund in the book. I have my own skill to add. Unlearning. 

As a “K-JD,” it starts with unlearning the memorization tactics I relied on the past four years. 

Beyond that, it’s unlearning what I believed law school must be like vs. the reality. Law school is not about being better than everyone else; cold calls aren’t for asserting dominance. It is a place to make mistakes and learn from them. And to truly learn, I must unlearn. 

So for whoever is reading this— a fellow 1L, or a 3L who’s rolling their eyes at these “obvious” reflections, perhaps even a prospective law student wondering about what’s to come— no one has all the answers. No one is devoid of worries. But at least for me, what’s working is conquering it slowly. One cold call at a time. 

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Sangeeta Kishore is a first-year student at BC Law and brand new Impact blogger. Contact her at kishorsa@bc.edu.