At the start of law school, there will be braggarts.

At the start of law school, there will be braggarts.

They may say they took a comprehensive pre-law prep course and feel “ready to go!”

They may boast that they’ve already:

 —read the first month’s reading,
 —met with your professors at office hours, or
 —copied all the final doctrinal exams from the library.

They may even proclaim, “I disagree with footnote 29 of the second dissenting opinion” (in the 86-page S. Ct. decision you were assigned to read for class).

And then of course come all the annoying “questions” they ask in class—never because they actually feel confused, but because they want to show off what they already know.

Every law school class seems to have a few folks like this. Their behavior can bring down even the most confident new 1L.

These days, people call such folks “gunners.”

(If it helps, I used to refer to one of our class culprits as “sweater vest, briefcase guy.” The image kind of stuck in my mind and ended up helping me to chuckle and block out this noise more generally.)

To be sure, some who are gunning for law review will be perfectly pleasant. Perhaps I was one of them. But when it comes those who pull tricks like I’ve mentioned above, try this approach:

🔹 1. Don’t let ’em get to you.

—They usually quiet down after a few weeks, and some can even become great connections. In all likelihood, they only acted obnoxiously because they themselves are not confident.

—No one who is really confident needs to brag about it.

—You need all the positive energy around you to keep imposter syndrome at bay early on, so it’s critical to block out all unnecessary sources of stress or insecurity.

🔹 2. Don’t burn any bridges.

Although your instinct may be to loathe gunners and shun them permanently, DO NOT.

Consider every single member of your class to be a future potential colleague, employer, or referral source.

Be smart. This isn’t high school or college.

Exclusionary, cliquey behavior will get you nowhere fast in the legal world.

🔹 3. Don’t be one of those gunners.

Or at least, be very, very quiet about it. 🙂

💌 Amanda

P.S. You have just read a chapter of my book, “Dear 1L: Notes to Nurture a New Legal Writer.” What’s that? You don’t have the book?? Well, we absolutely must fix that!

If you’re a 1L, I’ll mail you a free copy! Just drop a note below and I’ll DM you. Offer good for the first 10 lucky 1Ls to respond.

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📬 What were the gunners like in your class?

#Dear1L