It took me some time to decide whether or not I wanted to go to law school. The idea of even going down the legal path seemed intimidating and vague. I only knew two lawyers ever: one was the father of a teammate and the other was my great uncle who I never got to know before he passed. Both were men. Both were much older than me, and I didn’t even know what a female lawyer looked like. Despite my early hesitation I made a fierce commitment to get accepted into law school as soon as I could after graduation.
Looking back, there is so much I would tell myself as a sophomore in college. The direct transition from my undergraduate years to law school came with its own challenges, but as a student-athlete, I had an unanticipated adjustment of losing my sport. These are five things I wish I knew as I went from student athlete to law student.
1. You have to adjust to self-discipline without penalities.
As an athlete, I had morning runs, weight lifting sessions, practice, games, and curfews all on top of attending class. If I missed any of these obligations, I’d have to answer to my coach. Team penalties included running or lost playing time. Since collegiate softball isn’t a fully funded sport, I also had to balance the risk of having my scholarship reduced if I wasn’t performing or following team rules.
As a law student, I had a lot of freedom compared to my undergraduate years. This required a high level of self-discipline and drive. I didn’t realize how much of my self-discipline was fueled by fear of facing team penalties or losing my scholarship. After 15 years of having the same schedule, you forget you’re even on one. It’s no secret that law school can be both daunting and liberating because you have the freedom to study information how you choose. There are few midterm quizzes or homework, and most law school classes consist of lectures with one exam at the end of the semester. I had to dig a little deeper in what motivated me when no one was there to penalize me.
Reevaluate your self-management. As you prepare for the transition, evaluate what your schedule looks like and choose what part of that daily routine you want to transfer to your law student experience. Maybe it’s continuing to wake up at 5 am or prepping for your day the night before. Either way get clear on a routine and stick to it. Just because you don’t have someone checking for you doesn’t mean you should abandon all the structure that you had as an athlete.
2. My sport was my mental outlet.
After playing the sport for 10+ years, softball became my outlet for all my stresses. It was a game I played every weekend for 10 months out of the year for almost a decade. Emotionally, it taught me self-composure, focus and perseverance. Physically, it pushed me to my limits, sharpened my mind and built my endurance.
I went from playing a game in May of 2017 to sitting at a desk in the law school basement three months later. I underestimated how much I relied on softball to manage my stress. Over time, I realized being a law student was similar to being an athlete. You don’t just wake up one day and know how to compete at a high level in a sport just like you don’t wake up and know how to think like a lawyer. As an athlete, I trained daily building my strength, speed and skill over time. As a law student, I trained my mind to retain more and more information over time.
Law students are expected to perform at high academic levels under intense pressure over and over again. I wish I would have connected those two experiences much sooner than I did. I think I would have been able to manage stress more efficiently and found an alternative outlet much sooner during my time in law school.
3. I wish I had more clarity on what I wanted out of law school.
When you’re deciding to go to law school, it’s really important to know what you want to get out of the experience. Some people know what they want after law school, but they don’t consider how they’re going to tailor their years as a law student to get there. As an athlete, it took me a long time to excel at my sport. Being a certain kind of lawyer is a similar journey. When you start, you’re probably not going to be good at any of it. You might be better at some subjects than others, and that’s okay.
As you’re figuring out what kind of lawyer you want to be, lean on your strengths. I got caught up in what kind of lawyer I could be, that it distracted me from what characteristics I already possessed that were going to make me a strong advocate in my fields of experience. Over my time as a law student, I spent a considerable time figuring out what I want from my legal career. Since I went to law school straight from undergrad, I didn’t work out a lot of this until I was already in school.
In my experience, law school tends to push you in a certain direction without you even realizing it. Just because you see your classmates doing something doesn’t mean you HAVE to do it too. I chose to pursue a dual-degree in Sport Management while in school. For me, I had a breadth of working experience in sports and locking that in with a degree was the best thing for me. That path wasn’t for everyone. You should approach law school like you would a game. You don’t step into the batter’s box blindly hoping a good pitch comes your way (at least I hope not). You have a game plan and you know which pitch you’re looking for. Maybe you’ve been studying a defense and practicing which plays you’re going to run.
Put the work in and do the same before law school. It’s okay if you change your mind later, but at least you’re going in a little prepared. My best advice is to get an idea of certain goals of law school and work through them at your own pace. Talking with current lawyers in any field can provide you with so much valuable advice. If you’re not sure where to find some, reach out because I know plenty. We all have different law school experiences that may or may not include some experiences you’re interested in.
Get Started Now
Here are some prompts to give you a little direction while you’re in law school:
On why you want to be a lawyer:
What inspired you to go to law school? Was it money? (If so, that is absolutely okay.) Was it a personal experience? Curiosity? Did it just seem like the next step? What do you see yourself doing in five years?
On lifestyle:
Where do you see yourself practicing law? Are you even practicing? Are you working from the comfort of your home? Are you in a clinic surrounded by people who need affordable legal services? Are you in a corporate office until 10 pm? Are you leaving your office with your coworkers at 5 pm to catch the game? (We all dream of this one.)
Usually, you’re so worried about getting your briefs done you don’t really have time to think of these things, but now that I’m out of law school, it seems to be the category we all talk about most. It’s not your main focus right now, but it is something to consider when applying to summer internships down the road.
On skillset:
Do you prefer to advocate through your written or spoken words? Does the job you want require experience writing on a journal? What do you need to learn? How to write, research or speak in public? How to negotiate? How to litigate?
4. The competition never stops.
If you don’t already know this, law school is graded on a curve. This means that you are competing against your classmates for grades and your ranking. This wasn’t completely unexpected for me, but I played a team sport. Think of law school like an individual sport: you are on your own. While you will find your study group or partner, at the end of the semester, you are competing against everyone in your class. There’s a spectrum of how seriously you take this process, but let me warn you, there will be some people who take this very seriously. Don’t fear it, just expect it.
5. I wish I knew how to ask for help.
This is the biggest realization I had leaving law school. I didn’t ask for help enough. As athletes, we have a tendency to want to conquer everything alone. That same drive made us successful at our sport. If I expected other people to do things for me, I probably wouldn’t have been a college athlete. I wanted the ball to come to me, and I wanted to be in the box if the game was on the line. Law school doesn’t have to be that for you. Start asking for help now! Many of you have scholarships that will cover costs for LSAT prep materials including the test itself. Ask your advisor about it. Some of you are negotiating NIL deals, and LSAT prep can be a part of those agreements. I spent so much time feeling isolated and confused because I didn’t know how to ask for help. Former law students are more than willing to help you figure out the process, you just have to speak up. This is the part where I tell you that it’s also not end of the world when you make a mistake because you WILL make a mistake.
The best advice I ever got came my 1L year after I forgot to read a case before class. With my luck, I was called on to recite it. I had to stand up in front of my entire section and admit I wasn’t prepared. After class I was flustered, embarrassed and completely horrified because my professor did not let me off easy. A 2L (and one of my best friends to this day) reminded me that it’s all just apart of my law school story.
Law school will be a challenging yet rewarding experience. I hope that something in this post can provide a little more insight into some obstacles you may encounter. I am a firm believer that college athletes make incredibly strong and passionate advocates in the legal field. Honing those skills you already possess can be a process, but once you figure it out, that focus and drive that made you successful on the field or court will set you apart from your colleagues in unique ways. Quitting was never an option, but I can’t say I didn’t think about it. When things get tough (because they will), I hope you’ll live by the words of my friend, Jenny Fischer and you’ll decide to “Keep Showing Up“. Good Luck!
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