It’s officially November. The leaves are falling, the air is getting chillier, and the library is filling up with 1Ls trying to figure out what an outline is. Halloween is behind us, Halloween Bar Review has come and gone, and with it arrives what I like to call the unofficial official start of law school’s annual lock-in season.
Suddenly, everyone seems to be operating on a different schedule. Outlines need to be finished, applications need to be submitted, networking events need to be attended, and somehow, sleep is still supposed to fit into the equation. Finals are getting closer, the semester is picking up speed, and the pressure to make every hour count is becoming increasingly hard to ignore.
But one of the funniest (and perhaps most concerning) things about law school is how bad we are at actually taking a break.
Law students have a special talent for turning just about anything into a professional development opportunity. A coffee with an upperclassman becomes networking. A club meeting becomes a résumé addition. A casual conversation with an attorney becomes an opportunity to make a connection. Even the summer, which is still months away, somehow becomes another thing to plan, optimize, and stress about. Before you know it, you’re evaluating your free time based on whether it can somehow benefit your future legal career.
And it’s not always professors or employers creating that pressure. More often than not, it’s looking around and seeing everyone else seemingly doing everything. Someone’s working on an outline, someone else is applying for a position, and another person has already secured an interview. Even when you know better than to compare yourself to everyone around you, it’s hard not to wonder whether you should be doing more.
For 1Ls, this time of year can feel particularly overwhelming. You’re still figuring out how to study for law school exams while simultaneously being expected to think about summer applications, extracurricular opportunities, and what your professional future might look like. It can feel like you’re being asked to build a Bible-sized outline, prepare for finals, develop a professional network, and maintain some semblance of a personal life, all at once.
And as a 2L, I find myself partly writing this advice for my sanity, too.
There’s a reason people joke that law school will scare you to death as a 1L, work you to death as a 2L, and bore you to death as a 3L. Although the challenges change, the struggle to figure out what it means to be productive never really goes away. As a 1L, so much of the stress comes from trying to keep up with everything that’s new. As a 2L, the stress can look a little different. For me, it’s entirely self-inflicted, albeit in the best possible way.
You start discovering the things you genuinely love about law school. You get involved in organizations, take on leadership positions, pursue opportunities outside the classroom, and find yourself wanting to say yes to just about everything. Suddenly, between an out-of-state externship, two on-campus jobs, classes, law review, club e-boards, and the many other things I’d still like to do, my calendar looks less like a schedule and more like a game of Tetris. The difference is that I actually enjoy most of what’s filling it.
But enjoying what you do doesn’t necessarily make it any easier to slow down.
In fact, when everything feels exciting or worthwhile, it’s even harder to recognize when you need a break. There’s always another application to submit, another event to attend, another reading to finish, or another opportunity worth exploring. Even when you’re doing something purely for yourself, there’s sometimes that nagging feeling that you could be using those hours more productively.
That’s where I think law students could benefit from learning a particularly underrated skill: being off the clock.
Not every free hour needs to turn into a networking opportunity, and not every weekend needs to be spent getting ahead on readings. If I could give 1Ls a few pieces of advice from my own fall semester, it’d be to find little ways to step outside the law school bubble, even when you feel like you don’t have the time.
During my 1L fall, some of my favorite study days were spent with friends at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. We’d get a few hours of work done, then take a break to walk around outside or grab a coffee nearby. Sometimes, changing your surroundings, even for 20 minutes, is enough to make the rest of the day feel a little less overwhelming.
I’d also recommend taking advantage of the fact that you’re in Boston. One weekend, try studying in the morning and then spending the afternoon at a museum, like the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Give yourself something to look forward to that has absolutely nothing to do with your next reading assignment. And don’t underestimate exercise, either. I’m no scientist, but there’s something to be said for getting outside, going for a run, or fitting in a workout and letting those endorphins do their thing. At least for me, it’s one of the easiest ways to start what will be a long day of studying.
And if you know you’ll have trouble stepping away on your own, make plans that hold you accountable. Book a dinner reservation with a friend who isn’t in law school, and make it a commitment you won’t cancel just because you have another few hours of reading to do. Having something on your calendar that isn’t law school related can be a surprisingly effective way to force yourself to take a break.
Of course, this is much easier said than done, especially in November, when the collective law school instinct is to disappear into the library until finals are over. But, if I may argue, learning to step away isn’t a distraction from becoming a good lawyer. It’s part of learning how to sustain yourself in a profession that’ll always have another deadline, another assignment, and another reason to keep going.
So, as we enter the unofficial official lock-in season, by all means, finish the outlines, submit the applications, attend the events, and take advantage of the opportunities in front of you. Just remember that it’s okay to close your laptop, leave the library, and do something that has absolutely nothing to do with law school. And if you happen to see me doing the exact opposite, please remind me that I wrote this article for a reason.
Because not every hour needs to advance your career to be a worthwhile hour. (Yes, I’m talking to myself, too.)
Bella Calise is a second-year student at BC Law. Contact her at calisei@bc.edu.
