Santa Clara University

The Law School Experience

While each law school is different from every other, some aspects of a legal education are common to all schools and will be the subject of this final brief discussion.

The first year's work is similar in nearly all law schools, with regard to both courses taught and student reaction. The format of classroom instruction almost always follows the Socratic model, with students responding to the instructor's questions about assigned judicial decisions. The necessity of being prepared to present information regarding and analysis of these decisions in class may also require study-habit changes, especially for those students who habitually used only the popular undergraduate system of "cramming" at critical times during the semester. While cramming is used by most law students in preparation for final exams, it is in addition to, and never in place of, daily preparation. Final exams take on an exceptional importance in most law schools, frequently being the only basis for course grades and class standing. For the student who became accustomed to making good grades with relative ease throughout the educational process, the first year of law school often brings about some major changes. First, the cases the student is required to read, comprehend, brief, and explain, tend to be very complex, sometimes internally contradictory and, thus, difficult to understand. One reading almost never suffices, with multiple readings and intense concentration on difficult areas being common. In addition, the law student finds that he or she is no longer guaranteed a position toward the top of the class merely by putting forth a reasonable effort. Most law students were skimmed from "the top of the class;" nearly all are well prepared for daily class participation and final exams. Competition is exceptionally intense. First-year students often question whether they even belong in law school.

The second and third years of law school differ from the first mainly with regard to the courses taken, with the student having a much wider choice of subject matter. Competition remains keen, and there is no let-up in preparation requirements. The overall atmosphere, however, tends to be more relaxed, since all students have successfully survived the dreaded first year and have adapted to the demands of the discipline.

Many law schools offer clinical experience during the second and third years, wherein the students work with actual clients. The goal of this legal-clinic work is to sharpen those lawyering skills that will later be used. Many students choose to spend summers working in law offices, and the very lucky---clerking for a judge. Often the pay is less than one could make in an unrelated field, but weighs in significantly come graduation and job search.

The common thread that exists throughout all three years of law school is that the student is being taught to think like a lawyer. The student's thought processes are channeled into the development of problem solutions that depend on the orderly juxtaposition of facts, law, and precedent leading to logical and conceptually defensible conclusions. The ability to think in this manner is the crowning achievement of law school and opens the doors to a satisfying and rewarding legal career.