FACTS

Most law schools require three years of full-time attendance and; as an option at some law schools, four years of part-time attendance.   Upon completion of law school, the degree awarded is, almost always, the Juris Doctor (JD).   The first-year curricula usually include courses in civil procedure, constitutional law, contracts, criminal law and criminal procedure, legal research and writing, property law, and torts.    First-year students often question whether they even belong in law school.    The second and third years of law school differ from the first year of law school mainly with regard to the courses taken, with the student having a much wider choice of subject matter during the second and third years of law school.   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 format of classroom instruction almost always follows the Socratic model, with students responding to the instructor's questions about assigned judicial decisions.   Most law schools rely on the ''case method'' approach to teaching; this method involves the detailed examination of a number of related judicial opinions that describe an area of the law.     Final exams take on an exceptional importance in most law schools, frequently being the only basis for course grades and class standing.   A legal education is designed to develop analytical, synthesizing, creative, and logical thinking.   Going to law school will strengthen reading and debating skills.   Competition in law school is keen.    The law school student will find that he or she is no longer guaranteed a position toward the top of the class merely by putting fourth a reasonable effort..

COMMENTS

The Director of Career Services at The University of California at Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law tells us to ''Understand that law school doesn't teach you to be a lawyer, it teaches you how to think like a lawyer.''     New York University PreLaw Handbook notes that, "While law school is not necessarily more difficult intellectually than college, the workload is substantially greater and the level of competency demanded by professors is uniformly higher. Since everyone [during the first year] is studying the same materials, each with a desire to master skills certain to be required in a legal career, students in law school usually are faced with a heightened sense of competition."    The University of California at Berkeley Law Career Center in response to the question ''How is law school different from undergraduate education?'' replies that ''Law school is not merely an extension of a letters and sciences undergraduate degree program. Here are a few ways that law school differs from undergraduate education: Focus: While you will learn to 'think like a lawyer' rather than to memorize specific laws, your studies will be more focused than they were as an undergraduate. Teaching method: During first year classes and sometimes beyond, you will probably encounter the case method of teaching, also known as the Socratic Method. You will be assigned to read voluminous amounts of judicial opinions and to write summaries of them called briefs. Then, you may be called upon in class to answer a series of questions about the opinions, including the facts presented in them as well as the legal principles and reasoning used to formulate them. The case method tests your ability to synthesize information and to apply knowledge to new situations.  Evaluation: One of the hardest things for many new law school students to adapt to is the fact that they may not see any form of evaluation or grade until the end of the semester. Some law schools only distribute grades once a year."      Johns Hopkins University The Law School Option says that, Law school is not a place to specialize in the same way that you choose a major. However, many students develop areas of specialization by taking a preponderance of courses in one field, such as International Law or Environmental Law. For the most part law schools prepare you to think like a lawyer and leave the preparation for the practice of law to on-the-job experience. Because law schools have come under attack for being ''too academic,'' many have started clinical programs designed to give students 'hands on' experience. You will want to investigate the clinical possibilities at the law schools that interest you.         Just about all readings about the law school experience indicate that the three-year law school experience borders on cruel and unusual punishment. The law school experience may be like this for the high achievers but how difficult can the law school experience be for the low achievers when one sees (cf. ABA-LSAC Official Guide to ABA-Approved Law Schools) that, for most law schools, for every hundred students who enter the law school, over ninety earn the J.D. degree three years later. Some law schools (e.g. Florida Coastal School of Law, The John Marshall Law School, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Whittier Law School) with low law school admission standards, to their credit, have a high attrition rate.