Click Here to Find Law Student Jobs on LawCrossing
For some, dating a fellow law student is out of the question. These are the people you go through 1 L hell with. Do you want to date someone who has seen you in your law library stretchy pants stressing about that civil procedure assignment? Or is the law school process the ultimate couple bonding experience?
A lot of law school students compare law school to high school. If you think about it, this comparison makes sense. Barristers Ball is the new prom. The text books are bigger and meaner, and some argue the groups are still the same. From the sports fanatics, gamers, and the classic plastic mean girls, the social groups form. Gossip floods the student body, and Facebook status updates are around every corner.
However, under the high school comparison, law school has something most high schools lack. Some of the best people you will ever meet are hiding in your law school wings (some may argue so are some of the worst).
Law school is a host for really smart people that study the law. Regardless of whether a person is in law school to make their parents proud, make a difference, or to graduate and make millions of dollars, everything and everyone seems more intense. At the end of the day, dating a person in law school means you are dating someone who understands the law school process.
Click Here to Find Summer Associate Jobs on LawCrossing
Law school takes a lot of time, dedication, and energy. Dating someone who understands that law school is your main mistress has its advantages as well as disadvantages, some of which are listed below.
- You have someone to bounce ideas off of. Regardless of whether you are concerned about a class, how to score your next internship, or whether you should clerk, a fellow law student will understand these options. You can quickly address the pros and cons.
- You may fight with a fellow law student. This is both a pro and a con. A fellow law student is not afraid to cut the BS out of an argument, which could lead to a bit of ego deflation. However, a fellow law student will know how to debate and then go grab dinner and let it go, because a law student knows there is always an argument to be made.
- When you date a fellow law student, you never get a law break. Some law school couples seem to focus on only the law or law school. Whether you are chatting about the law, law school dynamics, classmates, professors, or politics, it can be difficult to separate yourself from the law school experience when you are dating fellow brethren.
- Although dating someone outside of law school means you get a complete law school break, it also means that your partner doesn't understand the pressure, stress, or the law school experience. It can be difficult for a partner to understand why you are spending so much time with your law school buddies in the library when they are stuck with the leftovers. Additionally, it takes a lot of time to explain the law school world to an outsider. This means that eventually a lot of people don't bother or stop talking about law school with their partner.
- A con of dating in your law school pool is that everyone is in your business. You may find yourself being the “class couple mascot.” On the other hand, you may find that someone you thought you liked turned out to be the class “jerk” or “jerkette” and now you get to see this person every day.
- The Ex Situation. Okay, so you dated someone in law school, and then you break up. You still have to go to law school, your ex still goes to law school . . . awkward! Not awkward enough for you? Okay, well say your ex starts dating someone in your class. Not awkward enough? Hypothetical: your ex starts dating your friends or people who you thought were your friends. Now how is your focus in that ever so riveting lecture?
- There is one major benefit of dating someone in law school. The ability to take those serious classrooms, study rooms, and roof tops and turn those sacred study corners into secret make out corners. Of course, if you are dating someone outside of law school, those study caverns remain merely study spots.
- The Competitive Streak. Well, this knife can cut many ways. Having two hyper competitive people joined at the hip, literally, can make for some real interesting and fulfilling private competitive behavior. However, the competitive streak can expand beyond the healthy and into other areas, where a couple is always trying to upstage one another and lovers become enemies.
- An Extension of the Competitive Streak. Okay, so you two law school love birds have figured out a way to make it work. Well, be careful, as there is always a competitive jealous fellow law student waiting to bag your babe or snag your man. Some people don't have the ability to keep the competition focused on their academics. Remember, all is fair in love and law.
Relationships and law school both take work. Two birds, one stone? You be the judge.
Click Here to View the 2015 LawCrossing Salary Survey of Lawyer Salaries in the Best Law Firms
Search Legal Fellow job listings on LawCrossing.
See Should I Marry a Lawyer? for more information.
