1L Advice: What Courses Should I Take Next Year?
Some wise and practical advice on course selection, courtesy of Lawprofblawg.
Hello 1Ls, it is time that you think about which courses you should take in your second year of law school. Up until now, your course choices have largely been dictated by law school tradition. You probably are taking contracts, torts, property, constitutional law, criminal law, civil procedure, and legal writing. You might even get a course in how to read statutes, which some of you will inevitably misspell on finals as “statues,” so be careful there.
As a 2L, you are largely free to take courses of your own design, from whatever professors you wish. FREEDOM!!!!
You will get lots of advice about which classes to take. If your GPA is stellar, you may get advice about how best to protect your GPA by taking safe classes. You may receive unsolicited advice (such as mine). Feel free to take my advice with a grain of salt (or, if you’re a chemistry major, sodium chloride).
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Take required and bar courses first. Take courses you don’t want to take but need to take in your 2L year. In your 2L year, you will still have much of the “eye of the tiger.” What I mean by this is that you’ll still do things such as read for class. You might even outline, rather than borrow someone else’s. This is an excellent time to put that energy into classes you must take, but would rather avoid. For example, apart from those of us who teach it, no one says, “I really WANT to take Professional Responsibility.” Your 2L year is an excellent time to take it. Bar courses you fear are a great thing to take in your 2L year. If you’re one of those people who say “I don’t know what Article 9 of the UCC is but it sure looks scary,” you’ll probably want to take that course, too. In short, take bar courses.
Take those courses from the best professors. If you have a choice between professors, ask around. Upper-level students will gladly offer you advice. If a student says, “OMG, don’t take that prof,” practice your deposition skills and ask the follow-up questions. Did they read for class? How did they do on the exam? Did they make their own outline or use someone else’s? Ask more than one person. Access student evaluations if you can. Look at the professor’s syllabi. Did the professor win a teaching award? By all accounts, is the professor sane?
Your best data point is to pick professors you’ve already had in law school. Was your torts professor amazing? If so, you must have been in my class. Kidding. If so, you might see what else your prof teaches. Professors are rarely awesome in one class and terrible in another. However, professors who are terrible in one class are quite often terrible in all of their classes.
Finally, take courses that help you build skills you lack. If you are terrible at or frightened of public speaking, you might take courses that focus on helping you get over those issues. Do you not write so goodly? Then you might stack up on those writing courses so that you can write well.
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Save fun courses for your 3L year. By your 3L year, you will suffer what I call 3L syndrome. You’ll figure out ways to optimize your law school absences. You’ll shop online during class. You won’t read. You will be preoccupied with your future. You’ll start to resent every moment you’re in a classroom.
The only way to survive this is to take the courses in which you are most interested. If you take the required courses now, you’ll resent them so much you will be bitter about every moment of time you put into them. Definitely do not save that writing requirement until the last minute. Don’t save Professional Responsibility for the last minute. Don’t be Lawprofblawg, who did both, all while longing for his lost youth and passive-aggressively staring at the clock to annoy professors.
LawProfBlawg is an anonymous professor at a top 100 law school. You can see more of his musings here and on Twitter (@lawprofblawg). Email him at [email protected].
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