To work or not to work... Before law school: apprehension, confidence, and cynicism among law students

Abstract

Most socio-legal scholarship does not examine pre-law school preparation, more specifically, work experience. The recent American economic recession brought many working adults back into the fold of school. With regard to legal education in particular, how might work experience before law school affect students' perceptions of the profession, themselves, and their career trajectories? And, how do these experiences vary between law schools, and among law students?Drawing on an ethnographic study at two divergently-ranked American law schools between 2009-2011 (the beginnings of the economic crisis), I argue that student work experiences (or lack thereof) before law school matter for their own perceptions of their school and overall career outlook. I typologize those students

The Norm among the Exceptional? Experiences of Latino Students in Elite Institutions

“…It is not uncommon in law school to feel unprepared where many students with attorney family members take on internships to bolster their legal familiarity before starting law school. Pan’s (2016) findings corroborate Sara’s sentiment. Students who worked before commencing law school were generally more confident about their abilities to successfully complete the rigorous professional training when compared with their peers who transitioned immediately to law school.…”

“…For example, Waters (1999) found that despite West Indian New Yorkers’ assertion as Trinidadian, Guyanese, or Jamaican, their skin color and phenotype resulted in their racialized ascription as black. And scholars of race and ethnicity claim that panethnicity formation occurs through a process of racialization reinforced by external forces in concert with the mobilization of a common identity by insiders (Brown and Jones 2015; Pan 2015; Pan 2017a, 2017b; Reyes 2017, 2018).…”

“…Elite institutions also offer exclusive networks from which students can benefit for future careers; this opportunity is unparalleled when compared with non‐elite sites. Yet, within elite higher education, racialization occurs, facilitating processes of identity negotiations (Pan 2017a, 2017b; Reyes 2018). The experience of racialization is omnipresent within these elite spaces and impacts the cultivation and stronger assertion of panethnicity during identity talk.…”