The Toxic Law Student

One meme you’ll see on this blog is that I love certain writers and their theories on management. One is Joel Spolskey, owner of Fog Creek Software and the man behind Joel on Software. Another is Rands, the psudeonym of an engineering manager at a software company in the Bay Area. Rands writes Rands in Repose, a fantastic blog on management, writing, technology, and other related topics.

Rands’ newest post is on toxic people. The basic premise is that toxic people don’t just fail to get along with other people, they fail to fit into the culture of the organization.

This is not high school. I’m not talking about cliques here, I’m talking about culture. Cliques are inevitable micro-collections of people who like the look and sound of each other. Culture is the foundational broad strokes of beliefs, values, and goals in a group of people, and a healthy culture is inclusive. It seeks out new members who evolve the culture into something new and better. It’s constantly growing in interesting ways because of the people it’s built on.

A rejection by the culture, while not pleasant for anyone involved, is not a rejection based on individual taste, it’s not because someone doesn’t like someone else. It’s a rejection because of a lack of shared core beliefs. Vastly different personalities get along famously when they share a common goal.

Rands’ point is that toxic people present a paradox. On the one hand, relationships between people who buy into the culture of the organization and people who don’t fundamentally don’t work. On the other hand, it’s often useful to have someone who, out of disagreement with the culture of the organization, refuses to accept its basic assumptions.

So What Does This Mean for Law Students?
You will not get along with everyone in law school. Law school is not “a little” like high school. It’s exactly like high school. If your law school doesn’t seem cliquish, it’s because either your clique is large enough that it seems like you know everyone, or you are a member of a number of cliques of different people.

But as Rands points out, that’s not the problem. The problem is people who don’t buy into the culture. And this is a problem that law schools are very prone to, and one that’s going to get worse. Law schools claim to have a culture, and I believe most are sincere in building that culture. There are law schools that have a focus on public interest, there are law schools that have a focus on corporate law, and law schools that have a focus on litigation. Some are young and seem like a giant frat house while others are more professional.

The trouble is that this culture is so far down on the list of considerations for selecting a law school that inevitably students will end up in the wrong culture. Rankings, cost, and region tend to be the biggest concerns, and the value, culture, and mission of the law school get pushed down. The result? You have a lot of people working for a number of disparate goals, all crammed together as part of the same organization. This accounts for a large degree of the stress and conflict in law school.

What Do We Do About It?
The ideal goal would be one I’ve preached for a while: more differentiation among law schools. Once there are law schools that are truly focused certain types of law, certain types of lawyers, and attracting certain types of law students, this problem will ease. As long as things like cost and rankings have more to do with selecting a school than whether you fit in with the culture, you’ll have to cope.

Take note of the people you surround yourself with. If someone’s core reasons for being in law school are radically different, a blowup is inevitable. Your inner circle doesn’t have to be people just like you, but they should be people who are at least in law school for a similar reason. Or failing that, at least seek out people who have a reason for being there if you do as well.

Finally, to those who haven’t chosen a school, considering bumping culture and fit up the list of priorities. Yes, ranking, cost, and region still hold a great deal of sway. But to the extent you can, take into account the culture of the school (and this does not mean seeking out a “conservative” or “liberal” law school). You’ll find that it’s a lot easier to be successful when you buy into the mission of the school and when the school is encouraging the people around you to do the same. Even if some of them are going to be lost causes.

Tagged as: culture