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| | | Conflicting Reality | |
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< | However, my experience in law school thus far directly contradicts the lessons I took away from practicing attorneys. First, conciseness, while mildly encouraged, is not rewarded. For example, the structure of final exams creates what is essentially a typing contest. Those who can type the highest number of words in the shortest amount of time are rewarded with a better grade. The law school’s evaluation policies also do not motivate students to be concise in their exam responses. Because most professors will award points for right answers, but not penalize for writing anything that is inherently “wrong,” students are incentivized to write more to increase their chances of securing as many points as possible. | >
> | However, my experience in law school thus far directly contradicts the lessons I took away from practicing attorneys. First, conciseness, while mildly encouraged, is not rewarded. For example, the structure of final exams creates what is essentially a typing contest. Those who can type the highest number of words in the shortest amount of time are rewarded with a better grade.
What is the evidence for this conclusion? It does not correspond to what I think I have learned from nearly four decades as a teacher.
The law school’s evaluation policies also do not motivate students to be concise in their exam responses. Because most professors will award points for right answers, but not penalize for writing anything that is inherently “wrong,” students are incentivized to write more to increase their chances of securing as many points as possible. | | | Second, there is no real emphasis on collaboration. Beyond the Socratic method, we do not participate in collaborative exercises in the classroom. Even the Socratic method, while intended to promote collaboration by encouraging active participation from the entire class, almost always turns into a one-on-one question-and-answer session between the student and professor. The emphasis is not placed on active engagement with the material, but rather testing whether the particular student completed the assigned reading. As another example, there is a lack of collaboration in Legal Practice Workshop, the pass/fail class that is meant to provide 1L students with real-world experience. Students draft all briefs and memos individually and only receive feedback from the instructor. In a class that claims to prepare you to be a real, practicing attorney, I was surprised at the fact that there is such little collaboration involved. Finally, with the curve-based grading system, students ultimately focus on outperforming peers rather than learning how to work together in any respect. | |
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< | Third, at least in the 1L curriculum, there is very little space to be intellectually curious. With the strong emphasis on grades and securing prestigious summer internships, especially at a school like Columbia, students prioritize “what will be on the exam,” rather than making an attempt to really engage with the material that interests them. The “why” behind the law is often reduced to one, if any, “policy question” on the final exam, which then only marks the beginning of the typing contest. | >
> | Nothing prevents you
from working with other people, however. The system does not
require such work, indeed, but in a setting like this wiki, which is
intended to make it simple for people to collaborate, there has been
absolutely no such effort in this class. Looking back at past
years' work in the wiki will show you that this was not always
true. So perhaps you care for team work less in practice than you
thought you did in theory...
Third, at least in the 1L curriculum, there is very little space to be intellectually curious.
I don't think that's true at all.
With the strong emphasis on grades and securing prestigious summer internships, especially at a school like Columbia, students prioritize “what will be on the exam,” rather than making an attempt to really engage with the material that interests them.
Once again, there was no actual barrier to independent thinking. It was not the teachers who said you should care about grades more than learning, or jobs more than education.
The “why” behind the law is often reduced to one, if any, “policy question” on the final exam, which then only marks the beginning of the typing contest.
The exam is one day, after the course is over. What happens during the course itself is of some significance, right? Why is there music, I wonder?
| | | Thus, with my law school experience being in direct contrast with what I thought I learned while working at an actual law firm, my idea of what it meant to be a lawyer was destroyed. I, like many others, succumbed to the pressures of law school and did not practice conciseness, collaboration, and curiosity during my fall semester. Instead, I focused more on the skills and values that law school aims for me to develop, such as diligence, legal argumentation, and resilience, thereby changing my conception of what it means to be a lawyer. After taking this time to reflect, I was left with one question: now what? | | | Ultimately, I’ve come to realize that my understanding of what it means to be a lawyer will keep evolving as I meet new people and gain new experiences. And I think there’s an inherent danger in that. After a conversation with Professor Moglen, I realized that without a guiding principle about what it means to be a lawyer, I risk losing my sense of purpose, which can potentially cast doubt on my decision to pursue a legal career. In terms of how to find that “guiding principle,” I do not exactly know how just yet. But, a valuable first step was doing what this essay gave me an opportunity to do: reflect. | |
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I think the best route to improvement is to shift from the past to the future. How should law school work for you, in the education you mean to get over the next two years? How are you going to arrange to have it perform better for you? Let us see how you apply the learning you have done to the learning you mean to do.
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