Positive Legal Education: Flourishing Law Students and Thriving Law Schools

Debra S. Austin

There is a well-being crisis in the legal field and legal education may be the catalyst. “Law students regularly top the charts as among the most dissatisfied, demoralized, and depressed of graduate-student populations.” The in-class Socratic method of case discussion is infamous for inducing anxiety in law students. Law school grades are often determined by a single final exam at the end of a grueling fifteen-week semester. When reflecting on law school, many graduates “cite competition, grades, and workload as major stressors.” If legal educators ignore law school stressors, they will likely suppress learning and fuel illness.

Law students start law school with strong mental health and high life satisfaction measures, and within the first year of law school, experience a significant increase in anxiety and depression. Law professors describe students as “the walking wounded,” and they observe students devolve to become insecure, downcast, and disengaged. . . . Furthermore, I propose a new field of inquiry called Positive Legal Education that leverages research findings from Positive Psychology, neuroscience, and Positive Education to inspire innovation in legal education and curate a culture of well-being in the legal field.