Law School Destabilizers, Pt. 1: Cold Calling
The fact that law school can produce anxiety, OCD or depression is well-known. In this ‘How to Survive Law School’ series, we’re gonna analyze the top four destabilizers inside of law school (“LS”), especially during your 1L year (i.e., first year of law school). These destabilizers can be summarized in four categories: (1) cold calling, (2) a sudden & huge workload, (3) 1L curve, and (4) outdated lawyer stereotypes from the 19th century. These destabilizers are mainly environmental, which means that they arise from the law school’s environment itself. My goal here is for you to become aware of these “traps” so that you can navigate the LS battlefield with more awareness, confidence, and determination.
Let’s start with cold calling. Below is a lil’ outline in case you wanna jump to a specific section.
Cold calling: defined
Cold calling’s impact on your psyche
How prepare for cold calling [mentally and emotionally]
Cold calling, aka the socratic method
Defined—
The socratic method was implemented in law school in the Nineteenth century by a dude named Columbus Langdell (the Dean of HLS at the time). This method was based on the fact that before coming to class, the student had to judge all of the material by herself, without taking into account any other person’s judgment. The rationale behind this was that the student was meant to judge the logic of a case by herself. However, this means that when you go to law school and you read cases for class, your professor will cold-call on anyone and ask that person—in front of everybody else—about the given case. This will happen even though your professor has not yet explained that case (and regardless of whether that case is a complex one for you to be able to understand it on your own).
Then the Professor may perform what’s called reductio ad absurdum, which means “reduction to absurdity” in latin. This can translate into the Professor bombarding you with questions about the case at hand—and sometimes, it also means that if you go down a “wrong” route, they can reduce your argument to absurdity in front of your peers.
Well, if you ask me, this is psychologically fucked up (excuse my language) because it’s not like you worked on that case for months and you’re aware of the ins and outs… No… you just read that case for the first time, and as a 1L, chances are, you won’t know half of what the case is talking about (some cases you’ll be assigned are incredibly old).
As one author emphasized, cold-calling can be described as the “unrelenting pressure [and/or] humiliation of ‘getting it wrong’ in front of a large classroom brimming with one’s peers; [and a] method [that] is utilized even early or in the first year, when students cannot reasonably be expected to have mastered the cognitive dexterity necessary to engage in the rigors of Socratic banter.” [Lauren Carasik]. You may or may not find yourself with a law school Professor who actively enjoys using the socratic method. But unfortunately, you will find plenty who still teach this way.
Cold calling’s impact on your psyche:
Sometimes you literally know the answer, but being asked in public can be really triggering (especially for our nervous system). You’re scared that people will think you’re not smart enough (aka lower your chances on getting into a study a group and the-like); let alone being humiliated because you don’t know how to respond, or because your Prof. is one of those sadists who is trying to trick you—again, in front of everyone.
Understandably, this experience can be a bit traumatic, so if you’re reading this and you’ve experienced a horrible cold call, please know that you are not alone… I’d like to share with you how my friend (who is currently at a top 7 law school) described cold calling:
“When I am cold called my voice shakes, and my mind goes blank. I am not sure I could tell you my last name, let alone the answer to a complex legal question. After a cold call, I replay the mistakes I made in my head over and over again [...] I feel stupid. After one particular cold call, I really thought that [X Law school] made some sort of mistake in accepting my application—I “slipped through the cracks” so to speak.”
Here’s another testimonial from a law student in a Yale/Stanford Anxiety Psychoeducation pilot program:
“... I felt very anxious about the prospect of cold calling, and I was very anxious whenever I was cold called in class (racing heart, difficulty concentrat[ing] on the question/thinking, etc.)”
I was personally terrified. Cold calling activates our nervous system and puts us on flight-fight mode; therefore, it is normal to feel this way. It is also normal to feel unworthy afterwards… but one thing is for sure: cold calling does not determine your potential as a lawyer. It never will. Re-read that, please. Cold calling is merely an outdated system that teaches with fear and intimidation.
Why do most law schools continue to use it? Well that’s a way looonger conversation (currenlty writing a book that discusses this, among other thigns).
Anyway, as unnecessary and outdated this system is, it’s still in place so all I can do right now is help you navigate the fuckery (:
How to prepare for cold calling [mentally & emotionally]:
(1) First, acknowledge this very simple (and important) fact: cold-calling has no impact on your grade. Internalize this as soon as you can. The problem with cold-calling is that it tricks students into thinking they have to spend five hours reading a case, memorizing every detail so that they feel “safe” and “ready” when they get to class. But this can result in a real waste of your time and resources, which could be spent elsewhere. I remind you that law school is an actual marathon and you are in fact competing for grades; therefore, time is your most precious asset. What truly matters is your understanding of the applicable rules from the cases you read in class—and not irrelevant details therein.
The key in LS is to read efficiently for exam purposes (see some tips for that here); and not for ego purposes. And yes, I get it, it’s terrifying to be asked in front of a class of equally-intelligent and cut-throat law students, but listen to me: You can be cold-called in class and not know how to respond (for whatever reason)... but then, when exams come, crash ‘em, get As, and make law review—okay? I speak from my very own experience here. Did people think I was the smartest in class because I spoke so intelligently during a cold call? No, not at all. I was quiet af (and honestly terrified of cold calling during my 1L year, I ain’t gonna lie). Was I working behind the scenes and getting ready to score at the top? Yep. I knew what mattered for grades—and when you know that, you also know how to properly use your time to reach those grades.
(2) Second, lower your anxiety by having written down the key elements of the case written down (or highlighted somewhere easy to access). You do not need the whole combo of irrelevant details that do not serve you (remember, time is precious in LS). Stay simple. Issue (= question presented), holding (= the answer), rule & application (= why that answer). If it’s Con law, it’s more complex than that but let’s stick to the basics here. And say you get cold-called and get asked for irrelevant, additional details—well, congratulations to your Professor for distracting you and others from the real, important elements of a case. As you go, you’ll learn that you must only retain certain elements and key facts of a case. And if the Prof. asks you something that you don’t know, take a deep breath and try your best… and always remember, that cold call does not say anything about your intelligence, seriously. Here are three ways through which you can lower your uncertainty and have something relevant to say if you get cold-called:
Brief the case and write down the key elements on a separate doc (tips on this here);
Book-brief it (read the case but instead of briefing on a separate doc, which takes more time, highlight and write margin notes on the book—this is a great way to stay on top of things when you’re short on time); or
If you didn’t have time to read it at all because life happens (it’s okay), then use somebody else’s outline, Google or Quimbee. Example of an internet brief: https://www.lexisnexis.com/community/casebrief/p/casebrief-ins-v-st-cyr.
I mostly alternated between briefing and book-briefing, but also took the last resort when I needed it. Disclaimer: we’re talking about cold calling here and how to prepare for class. You should always read all the cases you’re assigned and work on your own outline for exams (more about that in future posts) :-)
Here’s the thing with law school: there will be times when you’re on top of things and you have all the time in the world to brief; but there will be other times when you don’t. You’ll have competing responsibilities (e.g., a deadline for a memo) and therefore book briefing might be the best way to go. Other days you might be swamped or feel sick and have to read the case in detail after class (yes, this happens too)—those days, instead of skipping class and missing a lecture, you get an outsider’s brief in front of your eyes (somebody else’s, google, etc). You get what I am saying. Don’t think there’s anything wrong with you because you fell behind. It happens. Just keep going.
Perfection doesn’t exist—progress, on the other hand, does.
(3) Breathe while the terror is happening. Yes, take a deep breath so that you can oxygen your brain before speaking. Don’t take my word for it, I get it…we lawyers wanna check our sources and citations, so here’s some science on this.
(4) Afterwards, or once the day is over, lower the cortisol (i.e., stress hormone) your body just produced as a result of this environmental LS factor—especially if you got cold-called or felt really nervous that day. Exercise, dance, be with a loved one, talk it out so you don’t end up believing self-sabotaging stories about your worth because of the cold call, go on a walk, watch your favorite movie… whatever it is, nurture yourself. Also, make sure you understand that there’s nothing wrong with you for feeling scared or overwhelmed about cold calling. You’re not alone, literally. Here are some adult and successful lawyers from HLS being vulnerable about their cold-calling experience…though if you google “law school cold calling,” you’ll see that it is a shared struggle among many, many of us lawyers.
Now, for real, cold calling is a trap—so please don’t fall for it.
You made it to law school because you’re a determined, resilient, and intelligent human being. That’s not gonna suddenly change because of a 19th century system that does not take into account basic psychological pedagogy.
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As always, thank you for being here. I hope this post was useful. If so, please share with it with someone who might benefit from it <3
Sending strength your way,
Espy