Lawbrary Etiquette

By: Law School Humor

Let’s be very clear about something. Reading and comprehending casebooks isn’t easy. It requires unhealthy amounts of caffeine and a student’s undivided attention. The endless battle of reading assignments ensures that the work is never done. For most students, vain attempts to complete work will be spent in the comfort of the law school library.

While nobody could be happy about going there, a student’s venture to the library signifies his or her acknowledgment that there is work to be done. The future esquire has lugged the oversized casebooks and rainbow colored highlighters to the library in an attempt to learn. But productivity isn’t always painless. Throughout the rows of unopened books are other students that will seemingly do anything they can to make time at the library as miserable as possible.

Others in the library may forget that they aren’t in their own living room. Especially during the finals period, the library is crawling with unshowered students dressed in their best sweatpants. They will make a noisy production sitting down, being sure to show their misery to the world. Once seated, they will begin the painstaking process of slurping their extra large coffee and loudly chewing their food. Upon completion of the feast, they will proceed to kick off their shoes. The smell of stinky feet is not conducive to the learning process.

Some students may have mistaken the library for a local hangout. Always within hearing distance, they will whisper incessantly at annoyingly audible levels. They will gossip about anything from their weekend plans to the latest law school couples. While potentially interesting topics for a social media forum, these conversations have the ability to dishearten even the most studious and thwart any hopes of productivity.

The trick to success in the library requires a little bit of luck and some exploring. Law students need to find a seat far away from the distractions. In some schools, this can be difficult. Libraries have continued to hold on to the antiquated system of retaining books that have long since been digitized. This takes up valuable space in a seat-deprived library and can leave some students circling the library in search of a place to study. But stay determined, and don’t give up. Persistence and a “don’t mess with me” attitude can earn any student a valuable study spot.