Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T00:51:04.200Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

3 - The Lawyering Culture

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 May 2024

Debra S. Austin
Affiliation:
University of Denver
Get access

Summary

The intense socialization of law school is where students are introduced to the pressures that dehumanize the lawyering culture. The law school environment, featuring extreme competition, isolation, and alienation, undermines well-being and can transform students into dispirited zombies. Rather than inspiring positive emotions and the formation of new and robust relationships, the intense workload and stressful learning environment promote negative emotions and deterioration of relationships, when students are forced to compete with each other for the few high grades at the top of the grade curve. Engagement and meaning are thwarted by the mandatory grade curve and the frustration and learned helplessness it generates. The culture of legal practice is not an improvement, with overwork and chronic stress as its key features. Much like the grade curve that drives the competitive learning environment at law schools, the billable hour drives the tradition of overwork in legal practice. Stress intensifies, meaning and purpose are lost, social support deteriorates, and negative emotions take over. International Bar Association research indicates there is a global crisis in lawyer well-being.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Legal Brain
A Lawyer's Guide to Well-Being and Better Job Performance
, pp. 43 - 56
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×