THE LARGEST COLLECTION OF LEGAL JOBS ON EARTH
LawCrossing Feature
Secrets of Success at Law School Part-2 In part-1 of these series we introduced the “Activities that Measure Real Performance Possibilities of a Law Student,” “Activities that Lead to Real Success as a Law Student,” and some other attributes found in successful law students that set them apart from average graders. This article deals with principal traits that damage the possibilities of success.
Traits That Limit or Damage the Chances of
•
Success at Law School:
Consciously setting unreachable targets – many students fear the assessment of the outcomes of their efforts and consequently set targets that
• •
Lack of effort in activities related to taking notes,
are unreachable and not deliverable under the
case annotations and briefs
circumstances, thus leaving work incomplete in
Inefficient, disorganized, and sloppy research
spite of visibly huge efforts put in
strategies
•
“Can’t care less” – In an effort to preserve self-
A passive approach to reading, rather than an
esteem, many visibly weak students build up
active approach coupled with discussion and note
a psychological defense and peer strategy that
taking
exudes a “can’t care less” attitude – on top of
•
Procrastination
destroying the prospects of the student personal-
•
Neglecting to use the professor as a key resource
ly, this attitude is also contagious and finds quick
element
support in other weaker students, thus setting
Losing Focus: Allowing distractions to interfere
off a chain of failures
•
•
with work •
•
•
“Stubborn in approach” – many otherwise good
External blame attribution – where instead of ac-
students value ‘persistence’ to the point of turn-
tively seeking to solve problems by themselves,
ing it into a self-defeating approach by continu-
the students allow problems to remain unsolved
ing with strategies and processes even when
and blame the situation on external entities
they recognize them to be less efficient – they
including other students, the system, or staff or
create a sort of personal challenge that invali-
any reason that catches their fancy
dates their good sense in a bid to prove that
“Imposing self-created handicaps” – an offshoot
“they can” where “others cannot” – knowing
of “external blame attribution” this trait is visible
that the risks and chances of failure are high, or
most often on personally allotted projects where
almost inevitable
the student perceives, advertises, and contrib-
PAGE
utes to making the project more difficult than
These are the traits in law students that are little
it actually is. This helps as a safety measure on
observed or documented, but contribute towards the
preserving the students’ self-esteem: If success
maximum number of failures. Many of these traits are
is found, it can be marked ‘extraordinary,’ but if
also carried forward to workplaces and severely hamper
there is failure, the blame can be attributed to
the work-career of lawyers. These negative habits and
extraneous factors
traits need to be snuffed out right here at college,
www.lawcrossing.com
continued on back