Carolyn Young Larmore (Chapman; Google Scholar), First-Gen in the Field, 31 Clinical L. Rev. 239 (2024):

First-generation law students are often at a disadvantage in law school, having no family experience in higher education and few connections with attorneys or other professionals. These difficulties are only compounded when first-gen students leave the classroom and venture into the real world of legal externships, where professional identity formation may begin to take place, but where the landscape is even more foreign. The expectation that first-gen students should be able to navigate courtrooms and legal offices can be a heavy burden on these students, often leading to added stress and imposter syndrome.

This article examines the specific challenges first-gen students face in their externship placements, and what law schools, externship supervisors, and students themselves can do to overcome them. This inquiry draws on existing literature and survey data about first-gen students in higher education and is further aided by in-depth interviews with ten first-gen law students from around the country. In these interviews, first-gen law students reveal what aspects of their externship experience were positive, what could have been improved, and what assistance would have helped them to thrive.

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