Spring semester starts tomorrow so I wanted to reflect on my first semester of law school in these waning hours of Winter break. On the one hand, going back to school was something I did almost on a whim, but on the other hand, it feels like I was always on a course that would lead me here. I just needed some time to realize that.
By the middle of last winter, it had become clear that my career was not going in a direction that would make me happy. I had pursued a career in sales after undergrad and, after doing that for a couple of years, I realized that I didn’t care much for the field and didn’t have the skillset for it. I knew I needed a change and the thought of going to law school kept floating through my mind. After a promising practice LSAT score and some research, I made the leap and started at Ohio State’s Moritz College of Law this past August. I don’t want to get ahead of myself because I never know what the future will hold, but right now, I have no regrets about that decision and am confident that I made the right choice.
While I’m sure it sounds ridiculous to say that I had concerns about going back to school at the advanced age of 25, I had doubts nevertheless. I worried about starting my career a bit later than some of my classmates, and I worried that I would struggle to adjust to being in an academic setting once again. Fortunately, the latter concern has proven to not be an issue, and the former was the product of personal anxiety more so than any actual concern. But my biggest concern was that I would regret my decision not to go earlier.
I’m sure there will always be a part of me that wonders how things would have been different if I went straight to law school right out of undergrad, but I can say with certainty that I don’t regret that decision. My undergraduate schooling was interrupted by the Covid pandemic and, by the time I reached graduation, I was ready to get as far away from a school as I could. A passion that I once had for learning was tempered by asynchronous discussion board posts and awkward Zoom lectures devoid of human interaction. I had become jaded and, if I went straight into graduate school, I would have carried that mindset with me. Now, three years out from graduation, I have had time to rediscover the part of myself that loves learning and that doesn’t treat education as just another line to check off on a to-do list. Rather than being the next step in premade plan that I had been following since kindergarten, law school is a choice I made as an adult. As a result, I feel like I have ownership over the decision and it has motivated me to take advantage of all the opportunities that come with being in school.
My one other main concern was that I would be studying law at a time when the rule of law is becoming less meaningful. I thought of Cicero, who studied law during the civil war between Marius and Sulla. Though Rome’s constitutional order was restored following the civil war, Cicero would nevertheless go on to witness the collapse of the Roman Republic. Would I be like him and study for an institution that I would outlive? I’m still not sure about this one. I’m not sure we’ll still have the same Constitution by the time I finish writing this post. But, while I still have those concerns, I’m also more hopeful than I was before starting school.
I don’t believe that the rule of law is sufficient for a just and equitable society, but I do believe that it is necessary. While Congress sits on its thumbs as Trump uses Article I as wallpaper in his new ballroom, the few setbacks his administration has faced so far have primarily come from the courts. A judicial system headed by this Supreme Court obviously has its flaws, but it is a good reminder that there are good lawyers and judges who believe that the law is valuable and that it can be used to make the world a better place. Seeing my classmates whom I deeply respect work diligently to prepare themselves to enter this profession gives me hope that the law will survive and can be a useful tool in whatever projects are needed to recover from our current crisis. As the great American jurist, Oliver Wendell Holmes, wrote, “The life of the law has not been logic: it has been experience.” While I would have preferred that our country not go through this current experience, I hold out hope that good people will come out of it with a conviction and a drive to improve the law and our country. I hope I can be one of them.
So, all things considered, this first semester has been great. I’m proud of the work that I have done so far and am motivated to keep it up. I love the subjects I’m studying and am grateful that I have this opportunity. It’s hard work, but good things take hard work. Now it’s time to get back to it.