law school - what classes should I take 2L?

[Wynton]

Grunching:

Couple of quick comments. First of all, I encourage you to pursue intellectual property classes, though there is no need to do it all at once. I am a criminal defense attorney, my wife is a patent lawyer and I come from a family of lawyers. And I can assure you that intellectual property is a great field, loaded with opportunities (though not something you should do without some genuine interest).

My other comment is that you should still make some effort to get exposure to a variety of classes, since it is unlikely you really know what type of law you want to practice forever.

Oh, one more thing: it is quite true that the classes will not prepare you for actual practice, and that you can learn what you need later on the job. But the classes still can help you figure out your interest, and will be relevant to some types of summer employment.

[HDPM]

Missed this topic until now. I skimmed other responses. I strongly advise taking evidence. Most people who have tried cases for years don't understand certain things. Many judges don't understand certain nuances of evidence. If you ever do anything in a courtroom you need to understand this stuff. Do yourself a favor in real life and on the bar exam and take evidence. You still might not understand certain things, but give yourself a chance. I know I sound harsh, but many people have no clue about some stuff. They think they know what something means, have a bunch of experience, and still don't get it. Really. In real life being comfortable with evidence can give you a real life advantage, sometimes against people who have practiced for years.

Bankruptcy. Yep. I didn't take it because the professor sucked. I was dumb. My wife thinks it was the most valuable course she took. She doesn't do bankruptcy, but many cases find their way there somehow and it overlaps with a lot of commercial stuff. I hated having to do stuff in bankruptcy court because I wasn't familiar with the buzzords, lingo, and little quirks. No, you won't learn all that in law school. Take it. I am pretty damn far from a bankruptcy attorney and wish I took it.

Take the IP classes that interst you. I took copyright for no good reason and thought it was fun. My time would have been better spent on something else, but it was better than a phony seminar with profs and students more interested in being philosopher kings than lawyers. of course, they didn't have a good grasp on philosophy. This ties in to the rest of my opinion.


Take as many real law classes as you can. Don't take crappy theory courses. These are irrelvant. Read a book or bad law review article if it interests you. Take stuff on the bar, take stuff that has substance. We were forced to take a crappy seminar and write a lousy pholosophy papaer/book report. I took one that is related to what I ended up doing. It was a waste of time and I would have been way better off taking any real law class. I went to a typical law school that wanted its professors to be philosopher kings and activists for liberal social change. They made it so the schedule made it hard to take all the real law classes you wanted and left time for garbage like 12 person seminars on womyn and the law: an ecological approach. Garbage like that. Take real stuff. Corporations, UCC, bankruptcy, whatever.

Obviously I think law school is professional training and not a scintillating intellectual experience. So I tried to take real stuff, and would advise you do the same. Sometimes it is hard to coordinate and schedule stuff, but try to go for substance. Because sometimes it will actually help you in real life, as much as law professors try to avoid that.

[gusmahler]

Calilfornia does have Community Property on the Bar. OP is in NY, so I don't know if they would offer it, though. It's a fairly easy subject to learn in BarBri. CA doesn't have UCC on the bar, so I wouldn't take it.

As for the tax recommendations, if you're not going to be a tax lawyer, I don't know why you would take it. Second worst class I took in law school (worst being UCC article 3 & 4).

Also re pass/fail classes: find out if your law school allows you to take a normally graded class as a pass/fail. At my school, a lot of people took the trial practice classes as pass/fail because the grading on that class was so haphazard. Also, some people took their pass/fail option for their last semester, so they wouldn't have to study as hard that semester.

[Jesse Richman]

i've got no perspective since i just finished my 2L year myself, but here's what I took. Both semesters were a lot of fun, and my first semester grades were a big boost to my GPA despite having 4 finals in 4 days (still waiting for those spring grades...)

Fall:
Gaming Law
Cyberlaw
Family Law
Death Penalty
Con Law

Spring:
Crim
Gaming Law Policy
Wills/Trusts
Secured Transactions (UCC Art 9)
Entertainment Law

[eviljeff]

Gaming Law sounds awesome. do you go to UNLV?

[Gamblor]

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Evidence is the most important class that you can take in law school. It still surprises me that it isn't mandatory in many schools.

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Quoted for falseness.

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Oh? I've been practicing law for 10 years. Why is what I said false?

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I'm not sure what is false about it either??

I can't think of a class more important than evidence - at least as a practical class. Maybe, not the best way to learn evidence, but does provide a good foundation. The only other class that even comes close is civ pro. Please name a more important class OP.

And several schools definitely do not require evidence.

So what was false?

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im in the same boat here, i need some 2l classes... what school did you go to?

[SackUp]

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Evidence is the most important class that you can take in law school. It still surprises me that it isn't mandatory in many schools.

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Quoted for falseness.

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Oh? I've been practicing law for 10 years. Why is what I said false?

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I'm not sure what is false about it either??

I can't think of a class more important than evidence - at least as a practical class. Maybe, not the best way to learn evidence, but does provide a good foundation. The only other class that even comes close is civ pro. Please name a more important class OP.

And several schools definitely do not require evidence.

So what was false?

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im in the same boat here, i need some 2l classes... what school did you go to?

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I went to the University of San Diego.

I took Evidence, Crim Pro, Federal Courts, Intellectual Property Seminar and Law Review first semester.

I took Administrative law, cyberspace law, bankruptcy, Adjudication Seminar, Law Review and Moot Court second semester.

shoot me a line if you have any questions.

[odellthurman]

I would take a class that allows you to actually do legal work. I took Prosecutorial Clinic and got 6 hours of credit and worked in a D.A.'s office. My school also offered a number of other similar opportunities. Good luck.

[Jesse Richman]

i do, and it's a wonderful class taught by a wonderful professor. gaming law has a lot of far-reaching implications here in nevada (beyond the obvious) that I think most don't realize.

[SackUp]

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The 2L year is very very hectic, with law review,

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hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

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are you laughing b/c LR is not an option? what about another journal? Definitely doesn't hurt to have one on the old resume.