Class Differences

I tried looking for a comment I made on Buffs' blog (grad of Class of 2006 - blog defunct now) when I was a 1L. There were a couple of comments made by then-3Ls that really irked me. Basically, my response was something like, "You guys are pricks! You make fun of all of us 1Ls, thinking you're so cool." So, I sympathize with those who level accusations that the 3Ls are arrogant.

Now, however, I'm on the other side of the debate. I'm in the last three weeks of law school. I realize how easy it is to look down on 1Ls as being somehow "inferior." I remember how optimistic and different I was two years ago. I used to get scared before exams. I used to worry about whether people thought I was smart. Everything -- the importance of my rank, my grade on my legal writing brief, who I was friends with, my comments in class, etc. -- seemed so unbelievably real. I mean, isn't that a big part of it all? Isn't that why we all get stressed out our first year? Why we lost sleep and our "normal" friends simply couldn't understand us? There has to be a reason for all the hoopla surrounding your first year. It can't just all be pointless. That would lead one to be a jaded, bitter nihilist. That would make one a 3L.

Law inherently breeds arrogance. We are generally intelligent. More importantly, we are generally ambitious. We need something to make us feel good; like our existence is meaningful. We need ranks, prestigious firms, salaries, awards and all those artificial forms of distinction. Sure, everything in life has its form of order. Just look at all the professional athletes who bitch and moan when they're not selected for an all-star game. Do they really have anything to worry about?

Law is different, though. It's exponentially worse in our universe. Law school is just the beginning of this system. Professors have their own niche hierarchical system. Just look at what one of our own wrote a couple weeks ago.

Broadly speaking, I doubt there's much of a difference in the number of arrogant people in each class. It all depends on where you are in the game: beginning, middle or end. That’s it. Nothing else. You'll call me arrogant, but wait until you get to the end and see how you feel.

As HS pointed out, 3Ls are apathetic. We are tired of the monotony. We are just trying to get out of here without doing more work than we have to. We have been to dozens of FACs and are tired of the same conversations. We hardly even hang out together with each other anymore, we're so sick of everything, anything related to law school. We don't talk to people we used to call friends. We try not to be at school longer than we have to. We know almost everyone in our class, and most of the 2Ls. We don't have anything left in our meeting-people-and-be-social tank. We are in a totally different stage in our lives than the 1Ls.

In my mind, it’s depressing. I hate feeling like I’ve wasted this year. I hate walking around school feeling grumpy and antisocial. After last summer, I resolved to kick back and relax this year. It was the last shred of freedom; the year of going out 4 times each week, skiing 50 times and reading lots of novels. It was going to be a vacation. It was going to be fun. Sadly, it's been the same.

Many of us are about to work a gazillion hours and enter another rat race. We'll be first-year associates and the senior associates and partners will treat us like we're dirt. It'll be all the same. We’ll call them arrogant and probably be right. We’ll make partner and act just like them. It's a vicious cycle. It’s pathetic. It’s sad. But what can we do?