August 5, 2010 – 1:00 pm
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I graduated from law school in 1995. Technology has improved, but substantively speaking, law school has changed very little since then. I know this because shortly after I graduated from law school I was hired as an Adjunct Law Professor and have taught the basic legal writing and research class that every One L takes in their first year for 12 years now. I remain in the thick of the first year law school environment, and from time to time I actually enjoy speaking with a One L student.
Let me admit one thing about me in law school: I was a grade hound, pure and simple. I am a very practical person, and so I am not afraid to admit that I shamelessly focused on grades. I wanted to end up at or near the top of the class. Why? I am not an egomaniac. I wasn’t looking for recognition. I wanted top grades for one reason: I understood the importance of grades for getting a good job. I didn’t have any illusions about it, and I still don’t. Class rank mattered then, and it still does. Anyone that tells you differently is either clueless or a liar.
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July 31, 2010 – 9:52 am
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The first year of law school is famously competitive. Or so we are told. People camp out in the library for 15 hour days. Gunners hide key textbooks from classmates in trap doors. Did you hear about the One L who knifed the tires of the curve setting students the early morning before an exam? On and on the stories go.
But hold on friends, before you get too worked up, let me let you in on a little secret. The Paper Chase was fiction. It didn’t really happen. None of the legendary nonsense actually takes place in law school. It’s a big fat lie. Turow claims his book was a true account of his One L year at Harvard. Maybe it was, but I can assure you it has absolutely no relation to the ordinary life of a law student today.
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March 3, 2010 – 2:08 pm
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Approaching law school is a lot like approaching heart surgery, or entering boot camp, or jumping off a bridge attached to a bungee cord. Outsiders may have a vague sense about what the experience may be like, and yet very little is actually known to outsiders about it. Only insiders—those who have been through it—really know. As a result, going to law school is like walking down some unfamiliar stairs alone in the dark. The footing is unsure, there is nothing to grab onto, and who knows what we are going to find at the bottom.
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