UM law student strikes a chord with YouTube video

Daily Record, The (Baltimore), Oct 9, 2007 by Liz Farmer

Used to think I was smart

'Til I came to law school...

For anyone who's been through it, the first year of law school can stir up nightmares of being singled out as a slacker in a classroom full of laughing students, trading sleep for a few more hours of studying, and the general, demoralizing realization that you are no longer a big fish in a small pond.

"It's a blow to the system," said Owen Jarvis, now a third-year student at the University of Maryland School of Law. "If everyone's an overachiever, then someone's deluding themselves."

That "someone," he added, turned out to be him, two years ago.

"It was a drastic shift in expectations," he said. "I didn't expect this to be carefree and fun, but I expected to hit the ground running."

Jarvis, who dreamed of being a rock star long before he set out to be a lawyer, faced his shock the best way he knew how: he turned his self-described "1L breakdown" into a creative project.

During his final exams that year, he wrote an honest and darkly funny song that laid it all bare. The refrain: "1L life is hell."

Even so, he returned for his second year -- but when he finished that last summer, he returned to his anthem. Illustrating it with sketches of the (unnamed) school, himself and even a brief cameo by a singing cat, he turned it into a video.

And last month, not without some trepidation, Jarvis posted "Law School Musical" on YouTube.

The reception has been, in his words, "awesome."

Now, sitting in the school courtyard nursing a large cup of coffee, Jarvis lets the caffeine -- and his newfound popularity -- sink in. He may not love law school, but suddenly, law school loves him.

"I'm the closest thing to a rock star at University of Maryland law school," the 25-year-old said with a laugh. He's gotten pats on the back around campus. He got a card and law school goodies package, with a scarf, sweatshirt and bag of cookies, from Teresa LaMaster, the school's assistant dean for institutional advancement. At press time, the video had logged more than 44,000 views and was averaging around 2,000 a day.

Although most of the lyrics cannot be reprinted here, the song details the trials and tribulations of a first-year law student, from struggles with money to sleepless nights and backstabbing peers.

Jarvis depicts himself in the cartoon in various places: sitting at his broken-down computer, huddled on the couch with a beer, dressed in a fast-food clown suit, and homeless on the street and holding a sign, "Will sue 4 food."

Cause right now I'm broke

And my checkbook's my diary

If you've got cash to spare

Could you please wire me?

I'll pay you back when I pass the bar...

The online responses range from one-liners like "hilarious" and "preaching to the choir," to statements of support or commiseration, to gratitude. "I listen to this nearly every day," one post says. "This song helps to alleviate the pain a little bit. Thank you."

User "jchu22" wished Jarvis luck and wrote, "Your video made my week." Another, "uaboy007," joked he would forward it to his friends as a public service announcement.

Julia Belian, an adjunct law professor at University of Missouri- Kansas City, posted to let Jarvis know she showed the video in both her classes last week and called it "amazing."

"I remember how that felt -- I remember it very clearly," Belian wrote in an e-mail for this story. Also an author, Belian said she likes to do things that will give her students a laugh and she "wanted them to know they're not alone, that this is a pretty much universal experience for 1Ls."

Jarvis recognizes that many of his first-year struggles were due to attitude adjustment and culture shock.

He came in with a cocky attitude that got blown away almost immediately when he realized the "half-studying" he did to ace his undergraduate coursework at Salisbury University would not cut it here.

That led him to a lot of second-guessing of himself.

"How does it matter, does it indicate my abilities as a law student? ... Those insecurities are really tough to deal with," he said.

The work is endless

The stress is relentless

My arguments are defenseless

And my choice of profession was senseless...

Jarvis recounted one particularly mortifying time during his first year when class resumed after a fire drill. Over the din of chatter, he said, he heard the professor bellow out his name, asking his response to a question on the assigned reading.

"I read it...ish," Jarvis said, cocking his head of shaggy light brown hair back and forth. He said he ended up answering the question three different times, first "yes," then "no," then "maybe." After each explanation, he said, the professor would pause and ask the class, "Can anyone tell us why Mr. Jarvis is wrong?"

After the third rejection, Jarvis said, "My sense of self-worth just left the building. In my weaker moments that still kills me."

But he learned very quickly he was not alone.

"It was a bit of the same for me," said Alex Thompson, who lived below Jarvis during their first year. "I think we sort of became friends on a shared distaste of what we were going through with school."