Phantoms of Law School Past
I’m not sure if anybody else has noticed, but I think there are ghosts at the law school. Of course, it would have been easy to miss them. The 1L’s wouldn’t even know what to look for. Even for the rest of us, it can be easy to forget to look for them. I’ve noticed though. Not because of the presence of any supernatural goings-on (although some of those old basement tunnels are probably haunted). No, I’ve been focused on the absence of certain things. When a prof says something funny in class and I turn to make a stupid joke about it but nobody is there to hear it. When something goes wrong with moot stuff and I start drafting a message asking for guidance before realizing I wouldn’t know who to put in the recipient field. I know I must be thinking of someone but they exist at the periphery of my memory. It’s hard to grasp on for long enough to remember who they were. After considerable effort, I have realized what it is. The law school is missing 200 or so students that were here last year.
That’s right, the ghosts I’ve been contemplating are none other than our recently and dearly departed class of 2025. Despite being here a few short months ago, they have now departed to the undiscovered countries of “articling”, “the workforce” or “New York” from which no traveller (ok except LLM students) returns. Maybe it’s because I’m a 3L now but I fear that it is too easy to forget everyone who isn’t directly in our line of sight. I’m guilty of this as well. How often do I think of the people I went to high school with? Undergrad? When we aren’t going to the same classes, clubs, and free pizza events with someone, do they stop taking up space in our heads?
Let me take a moment then to reflect on and remember our former classmates. The law school will miss them. We will miss out on their mentorship, kindness, chaotic energy and fun outfits. The jokes they would have made will go unsaid. The outlines they would have shared will go unshared. The tea (and matcha lattes) they would have spilled will go unspilled. I remember the class of 2025 as impressively well put together. As self-assured and full of verve. As moving through this school with the confidence and comfort of a group that had been here and done that.
I am hesitant to sound overly eulogistic. After all, they are still around, just with a degree of separation. If you’re an upper-year reading this, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on members of last year’s graduating class that you knew. Maybe even reach out to the unc in your life. It’s nice to be thought of. After all, sometime soon we will all be in the position of being former students. When that time comes, I hope that I won’t become a ghost that nobody remembers. I hope that at least someone will say
That Humza guy was pretty cool.
He was one of us.