Reflections on the Law School Pyramid
By Anonymous
What do Egypt and law school have in common? Pyramids. But ours is made of casebooks; mummification consists of mindlessly copy/pasting notes into a new Word document, and calling that a “summary.” Instead of praying for fruitful harvest, we pray for the stability of two keys—CTRL + F.
The sloping monstrosity captures the law school ecosystem: a broad base of anxious newcomers, a smaller middle tier of overextended strivers, and an apex of near-graduates who may or may not remember when (or where) their classes are. Law students scramble upwards—the prize being articling and a half-decent GPA.
The Base: 1Ls
Overworked, Overstressed
Every pyramid needs a strong foundation, and in law school, that’s the 1Ls. They’re the engine on which the economy of this closed environment runs.
They arrive bright-eyed, as of yet uncrushed by PubCon.
By October, they’ve forgotten half their classmates’ names — too embarrassed to ask again.
Idealism has crumbled to a survivalist mindset; their mantra: “It’s ok, I can catch up during Reading Week.”
Frantic, slightly lost, but absolutely essential workers. Without 1Ls, who would the upper years mentor and sell their old textbooks to? Who else would show up for an 8:30am class on a Wednesday?
The Middle Tier: 2Ls
Middle Managers
If 1Ls are the deer in headlights, 2Ls are deer sprinting across five highways at once. They are in a year of everything: clinics, moots, competitions, extra-curriculars, coffee chats, and the dreaded OCIs with Call Days. They also have classes — during which they look around and think: “Who are all these people?”
The thing about 2Ls is that they’re both mentors and mentees. They console 1Ls with “it gets better” and chase after the ghosts of 3Ls for job tips and information (“What does a transactional lawyer actually do?”). They’re the middle managers of law school: juggling everything, running on fumes, yet still finding time to give advice whenever they can.
The Top: 3Ls
Checked-out Chancellors
At the top of the pyramid sit the 3Ls: the rarefied elites who’ve achieved enlightenment. They no longer brief every case, they just brief you on which electives are easy As. They’ve transcended the frenetic energy of 1L and the overcommitment of 2L into a perpetual state of laissez-faire, “it all works out.”
They are the ghosts in the hallways but the ones who dole out blessings because they’ve made peace with their lot. The end of an absurd gauntlet is nigh — a three year program that rewards our now refined legal writing skills with a multiple choice exam. Followed by a year of discounted labour, known formally as “articling.”
The Unspoken Rules of the Pyramid
Every pyramid has its catalogue of secret chambers and hieroglyphs. Law school has its own codes too: unwritten class principles (UCPs) that breathe life into its architecture:
1. When a 2L says, “It gets better” to a 1L.
What they really mean is: “You’ll see.”
2. When a 3L says, “Don’t worry about grades.”
A line delivered only by survivors, after they’ve secured their articling gig.
3. Coffee flows upward.
In this pyramid economy, caffeine is the currency of choice.
- 1Ls buy coffee for themselves, clinging to their cups like a flotation device.
- 2Ls leverage coffees for mentorship, hoping caffeine lubricates the gears of networking.
- 3Ls expense coffees to firms, sipping lattes, all the sweeter for its price.
- Outlines follow the pyramid structure
1L outlines: 100+ pages
2L outlines: 30 pages
3L outlines: LOL
- OCI trauma is inherited.
Even if you didn’t go through on-campus interviews, you will still feel the ripple effect in the hallways in the days after. Whispers of “Bay Street” echo off the walls like curses.
Reflections from The Top
At first glance, the law school pyramid seems comical—a hierarchy built on caffeine and increasingly flimsy summaries. But there is a pattern that is worth noticing. Every tier relies on the others: each tier relies on the next. 1Ls provide energy and enthusiasm, 2Ls bring guidance (and gossip), and 3Ls offer perspective and a (slightly terrifying) sense of what comes next.
The unspoken rules and norms point to the same thing: community. The pyramid, flawed as it is, forms a structure of support and mentorship. There are no bonds like the ones formed in the trenches of shared 1L trauma.