First-Gen In The Field

Carolyn Young Larmore (Chapman; Google Scholar), First-Gen in the Field, 31 Clinical L. Rev. ___ (2024):

First-generation law students are often at a disadvantage in law school, having no family experience in higher education and few connections with attorneys or other professionals. These difficulties are only compounded when first-gen students leave the classroom and venture into the real world of legal externships, where professional identity formation may begin to take place, but where the landscape is even more foreign. The expectation that first-gen students should be able to navigate courtrooms and legal offices can be a heavy burden on these students, often leading to added stress and imposter syndrome.

This article is the first to examine what specific challenges first-gen students face in their externship placements, and what law schools, externship supervisors, and students themselves can do to overcome them. This inquiry is aided by in depth interviews with ten first-gen law students from around the country, in which they reveal what aspects of their externship experience was positive, what could have been improved, and what assistance would have helped them to thrive.