I had several conversations today with faculty, staff, and students about law student mental health. There’s a lot of discussion these days about mental health and self care in law schools. But there’s not enough discussion about why law students are so stressed in the first place. Maybe, instead of putting a Band Aid on mental health, we should be buckling down and rethinking the law school experience so that it isn’t quite so stressful?

Disclaimers

There are many factors driving the difficulty of law school that law schools themselves don’t have control over. American Bar Association rules require rigorous standards across many disciplines. The bar exam is hovering on the horizon and students need to learn the doctrine and techniques necessary to pass it. Employers demand that law schools give grades in just about everything so they have a basis to distinguish between candidates. And looking for a job is inherently competitive and performative. And there is generally higher anxiety among Gen Z than in previous generations.

Yeah, but so what

But there are plenty of things that law schools could re-think. Some of these things are very much under discussion or renovation at our law school and others. Others aren’t but should be. Much of the current conversation seems to focus on providing better support for students who struggle in the current structure of law school. That’s a fine thing. But why not explore some more fundamental changes to the structure itself?

Here are just a few ideas, among probably thousands we could be considering:

(1) Don’t give traditional grades for first semester 1L year (or at all)

(2) Don’t give traditional grades for classes that are inevitably apples to oranges, like clinics and simulations

(3) Instead of traditional grades in some or all classes, provide feedback through qualitative descriptors like exceeds “expectations/meets expectations/needs improvement”

(4) Have one small seminar course in the first year where students can ask questions and debate the issues in a less intimidating setting

(5) Reduce the required number of credit hours and allow students to choose focused “tracks” instead

(6) Pressure bar examiners to allow candidates to choose to be licensed only in particular legal “tracks” (e.g., public law and civil rights; business and commercial law, etc.) and permit law students to focus on only those subjects during law school

(7) Reduce the number of topics covered in doctrinal courses as the bar exam moves toward testing skills instead of doctrine

(8) Reframe the challenges of law practice as opportunities to achieve peak performance instead of diseases to be managed

(9) Make mental health services available but use caution not to normalize (and unintentionally incentivize) anxiety and depression

(10) Reduce the number of competition-based experiences within law school (law reviews, moot courts) that tend to funnel resources and opportunities to an ever smaller number of students

(11) Offer “rotations” in fields like criminal defense, abuse and neglect, and small-town general practice where lawyers are in demand and students (regardless of GPA) might find themselves well suited and fulfilled

(12) Offer courses in things like the entrepreneurship method (to teach innovation and creative problem-solving) and personal finance (to reduce the perceived need to land the highest-paying. though often not the most rewarding, job)

(13) In place of required hours in the classroom, create a lively community for discussing law and policy through clubs, guest lectures, community service projects, and debates

(14) Make the final semester of law school a comprehensive review for the bar exam

just the Beginning

I realize there are no simple solutions. Many of these options are under consideration and discussion already, and there are always countervailing considerations. And maybe it’s not these factors, but something else, that would help.

I also agree that law is a demanding profession and law students should be expected to meet challenging demands. But there’s room for a lot more talk about how to reduce the stress of law school so we don’t have to talk about stress so much in law school.