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Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

Abstract

This Article critically examines the legal profession’s longstanding marginalization of sleep and circadian biology and argues that temporal structural norms embedded in legal education and licensure are at odds with established scientific evidence. Drawing on extensive and interdisciplinary research in neuroscience, chronobiology, cognitive psychology, and timekeeping, this Article explores how sleep deprivation and chronotype misalignment with institutional schedules impair attention, memory, emotional regulation, mental and physical health, and decision-making—capacities that are essential to competent, ethical, and sustainable legal practice. Despite robust scientific consensus that sleep quality, quantity, and timing have profound effects on performance and well-being, law schools and licensing bodies continue to rely on rigid, time-bound structures that disregard individual variation in chronotype and sleep needs. This rigidity not only hinders optimal performance but disproportionately burdens students whose biological rhythms, life responsibilities, or health conditions do not conform to traditional schedules. In this way, temporal inflexibility functions as an overlooked axis of inequity, one that intersects with and exacerbates existing disparities in legal education and licensure. The Article situates this institutional indifference within a broader professional culture that often treats sleep deprivation as a necessity—or worse, as a demonstration of commitment or resilience. It argues that such norms are scientifically indefensible and ethically problematic, particularly in a profession tasked with upholding fairness and justice, and with training students in competent and diligent representation. By tracing the disconnect between modern sleep science and prevailing legal education practices, the Article challenges legal educators, examiners, and policymakers to reconsider what is being measured, rewarded, and excluded by current models.

Volume

27

Issue

1

Page

1

Year

2026

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC-EDU/1.0/

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