I meant to do this post a while ago. Better late than never.

In your law school and lawyering career, shit’s going to happen. The list is endless:

- Bad grades

- Really, really bad grades

- Not making law review/journals

- Losing competitions

- Striking out at job fairs

- Not getting offers

- Offers getting rescinded

- Failing the bar

- Failing the bar multiple times

- Getting fired

- Getting your license suspended/revoked

And that’s not including all the personal shit that happens - illnesses, accidents, deaths, breakups, marriages, divorces, etc. I have experienced and/or witnessed/heard of all of these things happening, and more.

We tend to be so type-A and success-driven that encountering these things can rattle us up pretty badly, especially when something shitty happens through no fault of our own. You give it your best shot and you come out short. You do everything “right” and then get left in the dust. We are so used to trying hard (or not) and getting good results. When shit happens, we look to what we did wrong.

And that can eat at us. Shit happens and it’s confusing and upsetting, not to mention embarrassing. Small law school communities do not help. Social media does not help. The fact that everyone else seems to have his/her shit together does not help.



What I urge you to remember is that whatever law school/legal profession-created goal you failed to achieve, it won’t kill you. Don’t let being a law student or a lawyer take over who you are as a person - you were a person before law school, before you cared or even knew about any of this. Keep trudging along and make time to be your own person who is more than someone of this legal world.

Shit happens. You’ll survive. It might even make you stronger.