Failing: The Last Law School Taboo

Law students spend a great deal of time in discussion with
one another. Be it the elements of a contract, judicial
activism or even something as banal as where to get the
best and cheapest coffee on campus. The one thing we
don’t seem to talk about is failing. It’s like we are scared of
some Macbeth style jinx if any of us dares utter the word.
Let’s face it, sometimes clever, educated, hard working
students will fail a subject. It happens. It is emotionally and
mentally crushing when it does but, trust me on this; it is
not the end of your legal career or the world. You need to
take some time to reflect, feel downright melancholy and
then, dust yourself off and get on with the next semester.
Speak with your lecturers and tutors. Get some feedback
about where you could have improved and why you got the
mark you did. At the very least, something positive will
come from it, in that you will get a much better insight into
what they want to hear from you next time .
To perk you all up for next semester, I have collated a list of
brilliant minds that have at some stage failed a subject or
two.
United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton
failed the Washington DC Bar Exam in the 1970’s.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill spoke from experience
when he uttered “Never give in, never give in, never, never,
never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty –
never give in except to convictions of honour and good
sense. Never, never, never, never give up” as he too has felt
the cruel sting of failure, after flunking grade six.
Louis Pasteur ranked 15th out of 22 students in chemistry
– a fairly ordinary mark, for a fairly extraordinary mind.
Albert Einstein, a brilliant thinker and mathematician whose
face adorns many a student’s wall, failed the entrance exam
to Zurich Polytechnic School.
Leo Tolstoy completely failed his university studies and was
described as “unwilling and unable to learn”. I wonder how
many descendants of his former teachers had to read his
works as part of their studies?
On a more personal note, I know a brilliant legal mind who
currently presides on one of Victoria’s esteemed County
Court benches, who made me smile one morning by saying,
“Oh don’t worry so much about your marks at uni, I failed
two subjects in my first year”. That little conversation has
kept me going in my darkest days.
So I say to you, down with the taboo. Let’s get it out there
in the open. A spider in the dark is much more frightening
than the one you can see and measure (and squish). My
name is Jennifer, and I too, have failed a subject at law
school.
Good luck with this semester. I’ll get back to my con law
reading.