Influences on students’ interest in a legal career, satisfaction with law school, & psychological distress: trends in New Zealand

ABSTRACT This paper investigates cross-sectional and longitudinal trends in data collected from a self-selected cohort of law students enrolled at three New Zealand universities. From the beginning of their first year of study to the end of their third year, students were invited to complete questionnaires that documented a range of expectations, perceptions, and attitudes. Analysis was carried out to better understand students’ interest in a legal career, satisfaction with law school, and psychological distress across their first three years at law school. Using descriptive and inferential statistics, we found that students’ academic self-efficacy (i.e. perceived ability to be successful in law courses) and attitudes towards assessment emerged as noteworthy contributors to the law school experience. Students who persevered across three years of law school remained stable in their career interests and satisfaction with law school. However, two out of three students appeared at risk for mental health difficulties and we document an increase in psychological distress from the beginning of law school to the end of second year. Discussion focuses on how law schools might respond to these findings.