Law school is a breeze compared to running a prison or rebuilding bomb-shelled infrastructure as a military officer in Iraq, says Irma Jacobson.

“I’m not saying law school is not challenging, because it is. But it helps put things in perspective: No one will die if I don’t get an A-plus in contracts,” explains Jacobson, a summer associate with Jackson Walker in Austin who will earn her law degree at the University of Houston Law Center in May 2013.