Law School Dropout

"...No graduation day for you."
Beauty School Dropout - Grease

Earlier this week, I learned that we had the first confirmed dropout in our section. I knew this was inevitable, but I didn't think this would bother me as much as it did. The guy said that he decided to quit because he didn't like where law school was leading him. I can respect this decision, but it really bothers me that because of the way law school is set up this person has decided to abandon the reasons he went there in the first place.

This is just a guess, but I'm betting that the drudgery of law school¹ led him to believe that this is what all law practice is going to be like²... and that is just sad. I think the reason this bothered me so much is our dropout was one of the truly unique people in our class. I pictured him as a public defender or a working for a public interest non-profit organization fighting injustice in the world. It wasn't like we lost one of those arrogant pricks (you know the type, the guy who wore a tie during orientation, tells you about how great of a lawyer his daddy is, and at the begining of the semester told you that he is going to be first in the class) who you knew was going to become a cookie-cutter corporate attorney. In other words, I think when this guy decided that law school was not for him the profession was damaged because we didn't just lose another lawyer.

I hope this is only one of a few disappointments from law school, instead of one of many.

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¹And despite what some 1L's tell you (especially in the first month or so) law school has more than its fair share of drudge work.
²That isn't to say that law practice won't have its share of drudgery, but there is more to it than that.