The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back? A Sociological Analysis of Marriage and Law School

Abstract

This Master's thesis is based on a qualitative study which aimed to understand the perspectives of married male and female law students and the ways in which they managed the interaction between law school and family life. The data was gathered from in-depth interviews with 23 married law students at an urban university. The spillover model was used to address both how being married impacts students' school experiences, as well as to look at how the law school experience influences students' families. In an analysis of marriage-to-school spillover, the married law students reported feeling that they were having a non-normative law school experience as a result of their marital and parenthood statuses and they often compared their experiences to that of an "unmarried other" group of more traditional students. In an analysis of school-to-marriage spillover, students reported various types of strains that resulted from missing out on parts of a perceived normal married life as a result of the demands of law school. Several key differences were noted between the ways male and female students handled the often competing demands of marriage, children, and law school. The implications for the families as well as for legal education are discussed.