The first year of law school is a time of significant stress. Last week, Law.com reported on a post made in the r/lawschool sub-reddit by a user who described their experience as a first semester law student. The poster noted that because of stress, they suffered from unintentional weight loss, vision changes, headaches, acid reflux, and newly acquired tremors after the first semester. The thread quickly garnered many replies. While some expressed sympathy and concern, over 70 comments by other law school students described similar stress-induced physical ailments including weight gain, low energy, poor nutrition, constant fatigue, eczema, and anxiety.
Charles N. Todd, Dean of Students for the University of Chicago Law School, speaking to Law.com about the thread, described the first year of law school as “one of the steepest learning curves.” However, he continued on to say that, “I tell students all the time that it’s not going to get any easier. The demands of your time will not go away once you leave school. In fact, you’re going to have more things with family responsibilities, life, and work, so we really want them to learn how to develop healthy habits in law school so those will sustain them throughout their career.”
The initial reddit poster followed up to share their decision to visit a doctor and noted their intention to create healthier habits the next semester. Dean Todd recommended taking small breaks throughout the day to incorporate healthy activity. “It doesn’t have to be this big interruption in your day, it could be a 10-minute break to color or to have some healthy food or do some stretches because you’ve been sitting a long time,” he said.
Others in the legal community suggest that law schools should take more responsibility for student health. Janet Thomas Jackson, a law professor at Washburn University School of Law, calls for law schools to take an active role in promoting wellbeing and mental health within their student populations. In an article written for Bloomberg Law, she noted how frequently law students and legal professionals are impacted by depression. According to the Dave Nee Foundation, “Depression among law students is 8-9% prior to matriculation, 27% after one semester, 34% after 2 semesters, and 40% after 3 years.” Further, just as Dean Todd noted, the foundation’s data shows that stress and its associated effects do not necessarily recede after law school. Rather, lawyers are the most frequently depressed professional group within the U.S., and lawyers suffer depression at a rate 3.6 times that of non-lawyers.
Jackson suggests that the legal community not accept this as inevitable; she proposes that law schools integrate discussions of physical and mental health throughout student’s tenure, starting at orientation. And prior to starting classes, law schools should educate students and their families on the “expectations and predictable stressors” of law school, resources for seeking help, and insight into healthy habits and effective stress management. She notes that students of color should receive additional support, including safe spaces and communities where they can share their experiences and feel a sense of belonging. Finally, Jackson recommends that self-care practices and physical and mental health be integrated into the curriculum. “In other words, law schools should play a primary role in normalizing discussions and actions around the mental and physical care of its students,” she said.
Related Blogs: Law School Students Still Not Receiving Adequate Mental Health Support