Life as a 1L during the pandemic

Sarah Johnson - second-year law student, University of Alberta

Sarah was thrilled when she received her acceptance to the U of A law school – she would be the first lawyer in her network of family and friends in Northern Alberta. But starting law school in 2020 came with a catch: all classes would be online. Sarah figured that she could manage. Because she considers herself an introvert, she thought she would suffer less from the lack of social interaction than extraverted students.

But online law school was gruelling, and she craved connection. One day she received an email from a classmate with a similar name who had received an email intended for Sarah in error. The other student made a joke about having common names and they bonded. A few more email exchanges occurred, and before long they formed a study group, and asked a third student to join. Sarah cannot imagine getting through law school without her two friends.

She signed up to play rugby, a sport she enjoys, and met a few classmates and senior students at practices. But with the pandemic continuing, the rugby season was canceled. Sarah also joined the Indigenous Law Students Association (ILSA), where she became involved with a Speaker Series and a drum-making event. Students purchased drum-making kits through ILSA, followed by a Zoom drum-making workshop where 12 students assembled drums together, but apart.

As first-year students embarked on the Summer Student Recruit, Sarah told her study group friends that she really wanted to go back to Northern Alberta to article, but that she would do the recruit anyway. She had done her research and knew there was a firm with satellite offices in her community, but what were the odds that they would want an articling student in two years?

Sarah’s friends encouraged her to step outside of her comfort zone and reach out to that firm. The worst thing that could happen was the firm saying it wasn’t interested. She placed a cold call to introduce herself and ask there might be an articling position open for the summer of 2023. They offered to meet with her, and before the end of first year, she had secured an articling position, in her home community.

Being an introvert, Sarah was nervous about meeting her classmates in person, suspecting most wouldn’t know who she is. She feels like she knows the more outgoing students who kept their cameras on and asked questions. But she has her valued study group friends, and all will be well. After all, it’s thanks to their support that she has an articling job!

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Sarah Ormandy, second-year law student, University of Alberta

Sarah Ormandy spent several months second-guessing her decision to go to law school. A self-described extrovert, she holds a BFA in acting, having specialized in improv and performance art. Her pre-law professional world was interactive and collaborative, as she and her colleagues riffed off each other at a frenzied pace.

Shifting to law school life was a challenge. She was new to law culture, did not meet any lawyers socially or professionally, and found spending hours logged into Zoom isolating. Law school by its nature is different from other fields of study, but learning in isolation was an extra strain.

Sarah had been looking forward to making friends and was disappointed that she didn’t feel part of a class of students experiencing challenges together. She doesn’t use social media which took her out of the communications link for many student interactions.

Having worked for a few years in theatre before applying to law school, she had a mature approach to attending law school in the virtual sphere. She attended the (online) clubs fair to scope out groups where she might find peers with similar interests. She joined the Women’s Law Forum (WLF) which helped her connect with classmates and second- and third- year students. She jokes that she moved from having zero friends to having three friends.

For Sarah, WLF was the first saving grace. That is, until first-year moots rolled around. Sarah and her assigned partner bonded over their love of mooting and became friends. They researched, prepared their arguments, and practiced against other teams online. Finally, the competition arrived (via Zoom), and Sarah and her partner were selected to compete in the Dean’s Cup, an invitation-only competition featuring the top team from each section. She is hooked, and is looking forward to her next mooting challenge.

Sarah returned to improv for the summer, to keep herself energized for the coming season!

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Mona Abdolrazaghi, second-year law student, University of Alberta

Mona Abdolrazaghi was dealing with the challenge of a newborn while completing her first year of law school on a part-time basis. However, Mona feels it was more manageable during the pandemic than when having to attend in-person. She credits the support that she received from her family, her professors and the student services group at the law faculty for getting though it.

She laughs about some of the things that happened during live Zoom lectures. Her older daughter once threw an Ariel doll (from the Little Mermaid) over her head to get attention during her Constitution class. Another time, she brought a foot stool to give her a kiss while Mona was participating in her professional responsibility class discussion. There was the time a professor’s cat jumped into his arms during a lecture; a student created a TikTok video from the incident, which went viral among the class. People showed a personal side of themselves when they turned on their cameras, Mona says. Students and faculty members alike discovered new ways to interact.

Like other students, Mona relied on technology to meet people. In her criminal law class, the professor asked students to form groups for a project which led to the creation of a WhatsApp group named Boomer Study Buddies. Its members continue to interact today.

As essential as technology was, Mona still appreciated receiving a printed booklet created and distributed (in a parking lot) by the Law Students Society, featuring photos and names of the law students in all three years. “It was so great to put some faces over names to replace those black screens in Zoom classes”, she says. She also appreciated the thoughtfully attached teabag and scented candle, a tangible reminder to take breaks and think about mental health.

Mona says that all in all, it was a good year – and not a black hole as some feared. She completed her first year of law school, wrote a paper which got published by CBA National Magazine, and made new friends. She is looking forward to a refreshed experience as on-campus classes resume in person.

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Joel Tallerico, second-year law student, University of Calgary

Joel had an idea of what going to law school would be like – his partner had already completed two years when he was admitted to the University of Calgary. But his partner’s experience was in person, and Joel was starting as part of the Class of 2023, the first class to start during the pandemic. While she went to a variety of mixers – including a pizza party with the dean of her law school, he was limited to online club meetings and virtual recruitment events.

Yet Joel knew he had to find ways of engaging with people. He volunteered with Student Legal Assistance and felt a greater sense of connection and empathy with clients because he saw them online, in their homes or safe spaces, which gave a glimpse into their lives – real people who felt the impact of their legal challenges, and their resolution.

Getting a job at a firm was a challenge, too. How do you have genuine conversations with firms to find out whether you are a good fit when you can’t meet the people in-person? When one interviewer asking him, “where are you at right now?”, Joel interpreted it to mean how he was ranking the firm relative to others. When he began explaining that the firm was his number one pick, the interviewer said, “No, I mean where are you physically at – are you in Calgary or somewhere else?”

Joel was offered a position there and enjoyed his summer experience. He says he succeeded in identifying a firm whose philosophy matches his own. He judged firms by whether they reciprocated his interest and whether they had read his resume and seemed genuinely interested in his background. Joel is also active in politics and wanted to be upfront about his interest. He wanted to be able to continue to volunteer and be deeply involved, and he felt that the firm he chose reflected his values and appreciated his interests.

First-year law was a crash course in resilience for Joel, who learned to value his mental health and the importance of taking short breaks as needed. As he heads back to in-person classes, he’ll finally have the chance to get involved in the social side of legal education.