Family Support Services at Capital
By Laurin Wisnor, 1L
Photos by Troy Doucet, 1L

Starting with the admission process and continuing through the bar exam, Capital supports its students. Equally as important, it does an amazing job of supporting the students’ families as well.

“The thing about law school is that it doesn’t just happen to the student” say Cassandra Pritikin, founder of the Family Support Group and wife of a second-year law student. “Just like being pregnant, it is something that happens to the whole family.”

According to Dr. Terry Thompson, a licensed clinical counselor on staff at the Law School, the support that Capital provides for families starts during the admission process. During the summer before a 1L begins law school, the Capital Student Services Office invites families to the Law School to learn what to expect over the next several years. Dr. Thompson likes to “front-load” the families during the summer, so that there are no surprises in the fall. “Law school is hard for students; it helps families cope when they are prepared for what is coming.”

Friends and Family Orientation

Approximately one month into a law student’s education, Capital hosts a Friends and Family Orientation. The event is as an opportunity for friends and families of law students to learn more about what life is like for their law student and to come to the realization that they are not in this alone. The orientation is a full day event, which consists of a mock class, a presentation by Dr. Thompson called “Living with and Loving a Law Student,” and a panel discussion with family members of current law students. The program gives family members a forum in which to discuss their apprehension about what life will be like with a law student in the family and to have their questions answered. Dr. Thompson provides them with her contact information and an invitation to join the Family Support Group.

A key element of the Friends and Family Orientation is the mock class held by a law professor. The goals for the mock class are two-fold. First, professors want to help the family members develop an understanding of the time commitment involved in being fully prepared for class and ultimately doing well in law school. The second goal is to help family members appreciate the level of stress and anxiety that accompanies a Socratic education method. Attendees are asked to come to class prepared to discuss a case that was distributed prior to orientation and the professor cold calls on the family members.

Counseling Services

Throughout a student’s time at Capital, there are a number of resources available to help them succeed. In addition to the Academic Success Program, the Student Services Office, and a number of student organizations, Capital has an outstanding and supportive faculty and staff. Amazingly, and unique to Capital, almost all of these resources are available to families as well as students. According to Dr. Thompson, Capital is one of a very few law schools in the United States that goes to such lengths to support its students and their families. In fact, only three law schools in the country, including Capital, have a licensed counselor on staff and a fully developed student and family support program. Dr. Thompson joined Capital in 1990 and her function as a support system for students and their families is ever evolving. Her services are available to the student’s and their families free of charge. One of her suggestions for a struggling family member is to get involved with the Family Support Group.

Family Support Group

Cassandra Pritikin founded the Family Support Group (FSG) in 2006. Married to a second-year law student in the evening program, it did not take Cassandra long to decide she wanted to find a way to help the families of law students survive the struggle they were about to face. She formed the idea for the group while she was attending the Family and Friends Orientation during her husband’s first year of law school.

Cassandra’s husband had previously been in the military and she was familiar with the military style of support for families. It is completely cooperative. It also was completely independent from the support system offered to soldiers. She wanted to create a similar support system for families at the law school so when her husband, Bryan Pritikin, formed the Military Law Society (MLS), it seemed like a natural fit to create a group for families, as an extension of MLS.

There are a number of “scheduled” FSG functions throughout the year, as well as a number of spontaneous get-togethers including luncheons, “spouses’ night out” and zoo days. The goal is to get families involved in something outside the confines of supporting their law student. Parents, siblings, spouses, children, girlfriends, boyfriends, fiancés, partners, grandparents, roommates etc. are all welcome to participate.

Just this month, FSG, along with the Student Bar Association, Phi Alpha Delta, Military Law Society, BLSA and Women’s Law Society, co-sponsored a great event — the Chocolate Bar Review, which brought students, families and faculty together for an afternoon of family-friendly events at the Law School. About 75 people attended with a mix of day and evening students and their spouses/partners and children. Each child received a chocolate gavel and a craft project to work on. A performing arts teacher from Dayton, Ohio, Becky Nienaber, entertained the families with a sing-along, instruments and costumes. The children toured the law school and had their pictures taken in the Moot Court Room.

Cassandra feels that it is very important that friends and family have a place they can go and truly be understood. Cassandra says, “Any law student will tell you that law school is like nothing you have ever experienced. So will all of their friends and family. There is a huge sense of relief and community when someone can say to you, ‘I’ve been there, let me help,’ and you know they really have been there. The tough part of loving a law student is that you go through everything they go through, but you feel like you cannot do anything to help them survive. Having a network of people who know the feeling can help family members know they are not alone and at the same time share great ideas for what they can do to help their law student succeed.”

Bar Preparation Orientation

Finally, after three or four years of living with the ups and downs of law school, graduation comes and families are lulled into the false sense of security in knowing that law school is over. Then comes the bar exam. Just like law school, preparing for the bar exam is like nothing you have ever experienced. It is time intensive; it is stressful and a law student’s career hangs in the balance. Enter Professor Yvonne Twiss, L’98, director of Bar Services. In addition to bar preparation for students, Professor Twiss offers support to families between graduation and passing the bar.

Similar to the Friends and Family Orientation that occurs at the beginning of law school, Professor Twiss holds a Bar Preparation Orientation at the end of law school. Families hear presentations on what they should expect their law student to be doing during bar preparation, how much work is involved, and how important it is for the student to prepare efficiently. Professor Twiss tries to take the heat off students by convincing families that the amount of work students are putting in is truly necessary to pass the bar. Panel discussions also provide families with tools they can use to support their student during bar studies, inform them about what resources are available to them at the law school and what the warning signs are of a student who is burning out, becoming depressed or not adequately preparing.

According to Professor Twiss, “The goal is to bring family members into the fold and make them relevant to bar preparation. It is not enough to give the student the space they need to study; the families must be actively engaged in helping the students succeed.” She also tries to prepare the families for the isolation they will have from their law students and what they should expect as far as scheduling, stress levels and emotions.

Summer 2007 was the first time that Professor Twiss held a bar orientation for families and it was very well received. She received positive feedback from both students and their families. She also received numerous “cries for help” from loved ones who needed assistance managing life during bar preparation. The orientation is scheduled to be a permanent part of the bar preparation process.

From beginning to end, Capital goes above and beyond supporting the people who are supporting its law students. According to Professor Joseph Bodine, L’89, director of the Academic Success Program, “There is nothing better than the support of the people you love, especially during finals when you think that you just can’t do it anymore.” Capital has taken extraordinary steps to ensure that the families of law students have all the tools and recourses they need to manage life with a law student. It’s a good thing too, because as any family member of a law student will tell you, “We are all in law school.”