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Earning top grades, securing a clerkship, and building the perfect CV have long been seen as the hallmarks of the ideal law student. But one future lawyer has warned that the pursuit of this ever-growing checklist has become an impossible standard – one that places unprecedented pressure on aspiring lawyers.
Speaking on a recent episode of The Protégé Podcast, Lucy French, immediate past president of the Deakin Law Students’ Society and commencing law graduate at MinterEllison, argued that the traditional blueprint for the “ideal law student” has become an increasingly unrealistic benchmark, placing mounting pressure on aspiring lawyers to chase a version of success that is becoming ever more difficult to attain.
French argued that aspiring lawyers have been conditioned to chase a one-size-fits-all definition of success by following a prescribed path, seizing every opportunity, and building the perfect CV in pursuit of becoming the profession’s “ideal” candidate.
“I really think the core of it comes down to just … really having a linear and structured pathway to law student, to becoming a lawyer with really no deviation from that. I think that that’s probably how it’s normally been defined,” she said.
“This somewhat autopilot method of I’m just going to follow the steps because that’s what everyone says is the right thing to do, and I think it’s a really strong focus on your grades and your achievements academically being the be-all and end-all.”
However, with the bar for success seemingly higher than ever, French said law students are caught in a relentless pursuit of perfection, balancing mounting expectations with the everyday challenges of studying law.
“Every law student right now is clashing a bit with this idea of what an ideal law student is in a beautiful way, but also in a really challenging way for law students to navigate,” she said.
For today’s law students, French explained that the expectations extend far beyond the classroom, arguing that aspiring lawyers are expected to simultaneously build professional experience, volunteer their time, and take on leadership roles to stay competitive.
“There’s a really strong expectation now for law students to have a really extensive CV, which includes work experience, volunteering, being on a law society [committee] as I did, which is all brilliant things and things that I would recommend to any law student that I speak to,” she said.
Although French acknowledged that some law students can achieve this ideal, she argued that the profession’s expectations paint an incomplete picture of success by overlooking the diverse personal circumstances and competing responsibilities many students navigate while earning their law degree.
“I feel a mismatch between that glowing CV and having some awesome grades on that as well. If that’s you and that’s what you can strive for, that’s brilliant,” she said.
“But I think that that’s where we’re seeing a clash at the moment, which is really challenging for any law student, for a variety of reasons, to achieve this.”
“Maybe you’re an international student, and you’re trying to find your feet in Australia for the first time, or you have kids, and you’re working, you’re studying part-time and trying to get through a law degree.”
Rather than creating opportunity, French argued that these increasingly demanding expectations are leaving many students trapped in a constant race to match their peers’ achievements, often at the expense of their wellbeing.
“It’s really just leading to the pressure to overcommit yourself and really burn out … I think we can all sit here and say that we’re type A perfectionist law students that want to do the best; we were really good in high school, we did our debating, and we did our extracurriculars, we did all those things,” she said.
“But I feel like feeling that impossible run to try and kind of keep up with everyone is happening.”
Despite appearing to thrive on the surface, French questioned whether many law students are silently struggling beneath the weight of those expectations, asking what it will take for students to feel comfortable speaking honestly about how they are really coping.
“We’re all kind of sitting there thinking this is a lot and I’m just doing what everyone else is doing. But is anyone really coping with it?” she said.
