Am I the Imposter?

By Anya Jalal

You wait 2 whole years of none-stop grinding. You got dragged through the muddy terrains of the ATAR system. You have PTSD as bad as a war veteran who still thinks they are in the trenches. You wake up early on ATAR release day to find you got into law school and you’re overjoyed. But why does it feel like you don’t belong once you are there?

Well, my fellow surviving law students, you may actually have something called imposter syndrome. So, what is imposter syndrome? Well according to The Psychology Group of Fort Lauderdale

Imposter Syndrome: Noun – The fear that others will eventually uncover your perceived weakness and question your competence the same way you do. This fear is often associated with the tendency to misattribute hard-won successes to external, random, undeserved factors.

After endless amounts of research (casually talking with my peers) and intensive trial and error (personal and peer self-lead manifestation and journaling therapy) I have actually discovered that 99.99% of all law students in Australia suffer from major imposter syndrome, allegedly.  

After finding out firsthand from lawyers from the top tier law firms that they still feel like they don’t actually know what’s going on most of the time, it made me sit and think, why do law students have the severest imposter syndrome.

Well, I have done the thinking for you. I have put imposter syndrome into a 3 tiered category system.

Tier 1 – Imposter Syndrome princeps ultimus (Final Boss)

The first tier of imposter syndrome is the worst kind; Princeps Ultimus comes from the Latin meaning of ultimate chief or ruler. For sanity purposes you may also refer to this tier as imposter syndrome final boss. I find that most law students belonging to this tier are often those who come from a non-law background, and most likely are first- or second-generation immigrants. Law being one of the top 3 choices that a child of immigrants can choose from other than doctor and engineer, there’s a lot of pressure in not only succeeding but also being the best in the sea of law students, having the need to stand out and have internships and be part of clubs and associations, applying to every clerkship in every round and feeling a physical effect when something does not work out the way you had planned. These students often have a blaze of glory in the first few semesters and then burn out so intensely that they either have to take a gap year or gap semester or needing to go on anti-depressants or anti-anxiety medication.

ATTENTION: If you are a law student reading this please stop thinking about the subconscious need to belong to tier one.

Tier 2 – imposter syndrome fils de piston (child of connection).

The second tier is the law students whose parents are lawyers or work with or for lawyers. There is an inevitable pressure to reach the potential that is set out for you but unlike the first tier, there will always be a safety net of nepotism to save the day. Most of those who are in tier 2 don’t feel as though they don’t belong there, they still feel like they need to apply themselves very hard but, they are not competing for the spot in that law firm, they’re promised it as a birthright. Most of the law students in this tier usually go to private universities, such as Bond University and feel the urge to be in the LSA and want to answer every question in tutorials. These law students also feel threatened when the tutor picks someone else to answer the question and think about that indecent for the rest of the day. They feel as if they need to compete for the marks they earn, and if someone else gets the same marks it almost feels like their marks are taken away.

Tier 3 –). Imposter syndrome Paulum (little bit) 

Lastly, we have tier three. The law students who watched Suits and have created this delusion that they are the best of the best. The crème de la crème of any profession. They often come from economically well-off backgrounds and are rarely first to second generation immigrants. These slaw students are almost robotic in the way they function, not picking up on the general complaints of having to do the coursework, never joining in on the workload slander. They are not loners, but they do opt to sitting alone as ‘they focus better alone’. When it comes to complaining about ‘law school is a party I feel like I am not invited to’ they kind of awkwardly look at you thinking… what party? There is not many in tier three, but you will be able to point them out in any cohort. They’re superhuman and the only party they’re not invited to is the one the legal struggle party.