To begin with, I feel that I must state the obvious regarding how new law students usually

feel. In a single word, I am certain that I can safely represent mostly how said students feel:

overwhelmed. All the new responsibilities and requirements expected from freshman law students

are, for a lack of a better term, shocking. One such shocking expectation that new students soon

realize, for example, is that everyone is expected to prepare for a first-day recitation or recit.

Nothing quite shocks the senses of a neophyte to learn that he/she would be tested before even

getting to learn anything. “Huh? First-day recit? Absurd!” one could even quip. Such idea is simply

contrary to the conventions of testing in school; but therein lies the fundamental problem.

The word “school” in law school is arguably misleading—it can lead a person to think that

since it has the word “school” in it, and since people generally will have incurred years of

experience in various other schools prior to this one, adjusting anew shouldn’t be so hard. After

all, schools are generally all the same insofar as they simply require you to study. But given this

presumption, said person would be very, very wrong. Such has been made obvious to me at this

point; that law school is not at all like what “school” meant to me prior to this point in my life.

Whereas “school” in high school or in undergraduate studies simply necessitated that I study, law

school on the other hand requires that I dedicate myself to the endeavor. If a person was able to go

through his/her undergraduate by casually studying, same person cannot likewise do the same in

law school. To do so would be tantamount to academic suicide. And even if a neophyte were given

the benefit of advice by other people who have already went through law school, no advice will

really prepare you for what’s to come.

Having said all of this, I believe I am still in the process of adjustment. As I write this, I

know that I’m still learning the ropes. The old adage that goes “no man is an island” holds truest

in law school—especially when it comes to surviving mentally and emotionally. As I go along in

this journey, I come across pieces of advice that help me survive the daily grind. One such advice

came in the form of a lecture in our Legal Research class.

In said lecture, we were told that surviving law school to eventually become lawyers

requires four things: inspiration, focus, perseverance, and a good heart.

Inspiration logically should first be present. Rightfully, inspiration should be what propels

people to enter law school. For people who are adamantly decided to go into law school, inspiration

should come easily enough. For if one does not have an inspiration to hold on to when the crawl

along the dredges of becoming a lawyer becomes dreadful, one is also likely to just walk away at

the instance of adversity (and law school is full of such instances).

After inspiration comes now the need for focus. As aforementioned, the path of every law

student is filled with adversity. Despite this palpably negative forecast, one must maintain the

attitude of having their eyes on the prize. With the abundance of adversities, minor failures and

setbacks are inevitable. Enduring focus will then come into play—every man falls but the just man

rises.

While the first two elements may be deemed necessary only as times and situations call for

them, the third element shown in the lecture is one that has to be ever-present: perseverance. While

breaks are naturally necessary, perseverance must never be absent for most parts in this journey.

It is highly factual that the pressure to perform is constant in law school. Therefore and in order to

survive, one must likewise be constantly exerting force against this pressure. It seems that the

virtue of perseverance must permeate in everything all the time. Such a notion is horrifying enough

to petrify, I find. After all, who has the heart and the patience to persevere in everything all of the

time? But I likewise find that said notion is of utmost importance and necessity in order to thrive
in this concrete jungle we call law school. The virtue of perseverance is similar to the virtue of

excellence inasmuch as it is something that requires constant practice. In light of this analogy, one

may perhaps apply in essence the quote of Aristotle that goes “We are what we repeatedly do;

excellence then is not an act but a habit.” But honestly and even after having said all of that, I am

admittedly still having problems applying myself in this regard.

Finally, there is the element of having a good heart. To be completely candid, I do not

regard myself as a person who has a good heart. I believe that I’m a decent human being at best,

but never have I considered myself to be kind and good-hearted. SBCoL has so far helped me

adopt a more community-minded approach to things, but I’m not sure if the extent of my

compassion can reach any farther beyond what I have been used to all my life. In fine, I will at

least recognize that there are potential benefits to be reaped if I were to sow with good-heartedness

in mind and in act.