4 Books Every Anxious Law Student Should Read

Law school can suck up so much of your time, but don’t let it stop you from opening your mind to new perspectives both related and unrelated to the legal world. Take a look at some of my favorite books if you’re in need of a beginner reading list.

Don't Stop Reading

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Don't Stop Reading 〰️

My favorite memories of my dad are built around reading. When I came home from school, I’d finish my homework and run to him to tell him I’d finished everything my teachers sent me home to work on. He’d pull out a tall wooden podium and have me read aloud from whatever book I was reading. I remember trying to memorize one of the poems he learned as a child, “The Wind” by RL Stevenson and mirroring his smile when I got through a stanza successfully. I read classics like “Oliver Twist” and forced myself through boredom to finish “Great Expectations,” but I loved reading. Every summer, I was stuck to a book, sitting or laying down in my Grandma’s living room with a book glued to my hands. My mom would take me to Barnes & Noble (in this house it’s called “Barnes and Nobles,” plural, honey) and we’d sit for hours reading children’s book. Those are some of my favorite childhood memories, so tender, innocent, and bursting with curiosity.

As I got older, it became less routine for me to read in my free time, but I’ve been trying to get back into it and wanted to share some of my favorites. While these are Amazon links, I urge you all to shop at local and independent bookstores :)

1. Emotionally Intelligent Lawyers

   My fashionista mentee, Trystan, gave me this book for Christmas my 3L year and it’s been so refreshing to read about the law school to lawyer pipeline from someone who’s gone through it and survived. Esperanza Franco talks about her experience as a Spanish immigrant pursuing her law degree in the states. She critiques how law school’s Socratic method does more harm than good, how the stereotypes of lawyers can create a dangerous and negative lifestyle, and what we, as members of this elite industry, can do to break glass ceilings to make a healthier and more equitable environment for law students and lawyers alike. I won’t lie, reading this made me feel a little anxious because it took me through the same emotions I felt most intensely my 1L year, but it also gives me hope that the more people in power (partners, law school administrators, mental health advocates) who take this book at its word will make this career a much more positive and healthy one.

2. Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto

   This book made me long for my great grandmother who passed away when I was in high school. My childhood with her was an embodiment of peace and joy. I found peace being outside in nature and collecting rocks and seashells with her.—she was my first peace teacher. For Black people to prioritize rest in any form is an act of resistance because we’ve been surviving—not living or thriving—under a capitalistic society indelibly connected to white supremacist ideologies. Grind culture is killing us and Tricia Hersey is urging us to not only imagine, but, truly live a life that fights against the status quo of “resting when you die” or working while the world rests. For an anxious and overachieving law student, especially my Black, Latinx, and LGBTQ+ peers, this book is key in checking your level of rest. Rest is not a gift—it’s a necessary default.

3. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

   I find this book fascinating because it deconstructs how our minds create routines/habits and how we can change them. It’s not just about the goals we set for ourselves, it’s more so the “systems” that get us to those goals, as author James Clear explains. He pulls from other scholars he’s read and his own impactful personal experiences to show us how attainable changing our habits can be. Law school is a whole new world (que the Aladdin soundtrack) with a completely new teaching and learning style and a new social order (or actually, one more reminiscent of high school). This book gives readers the tools to change their habits to become the person they want to be in this new part of life as a law student or in any part of your life, generally. Some guidance in the midst of chaos is reassuring.

4. The Four Agreements

   When I say this book changed my mindset so intensely, I mean it. This is a book I will reread on a regular basis because it contextualizes the life we’ve been living in. All the rules we live by have been taught to us by our parents, but it’s necessary to question those rules to understand the way we think and interact with each other. The four agreements: "Be impeccable with your word," "Do not take anything personally," "Do not make assumptions," and "Always do your best" will give you the life overhaul you need to understand the world around you—even when the case you just read in Contracts class does not make a lick of sense.