The Kids Aren't Alright

Abstract

The U.S. Surgeon General has declared mental health “the defining public health crisis of our time.”  Law students are particularly vulnerable.  More law students than ever before are suffering from anxiety, depression, suicide, and substance abuse, in particular women (the majority of law students) and students from underrepresented groups, creating a mental health crisis in law schools.  These challenges often persist in the early years of practice, augmenting the crisis.

What is causing the deterioration in law student mental health?  It appears two events have contributed to the current state: the dramatic rise in mental health challenges among high school and college students pre- and post-COVID-19 that appear to carry forward into law school and the entry into law school of Generation Z, the most anxious generation to date. This article is the first to consider the impact of both these events together on declining law student mental health.

Given law students’ worsening mental health, law schools need to double down on their efforts to address this issue.  This Article proposes meaningful steps law schools can take to help improve student well-being, including building community among faculty, students, and staff to reduce isolation, normalizing and nurturing mental wellness, eradicating grading curves, increasing substantive feedback to students before graded assessments, and humanizing the Socratic method.