I am quite certain that, by the end of the semester, I will absolutely, positively despise law school with an unholy passion. Every law student seems to.
But at this exact moment in time? I <3 law school. Seriously.
Last night was our first night of “real” classes. Over the course of the orientation period, the Dean of the night program had collected all of our email addresses, and had sent out a number of emails with either class assignments or directions on how to get the syllabus. Anyone who has done their law school homework (ie: if you’ve watched Legally Blonde!) should know that classes start fast and furious from day one. There’s no coddling period. They rip into you immediately, like the tasty fresh meat that you are.
Yet I would say that a good 25% of my fellow students had not done the readings before class last night. In all actuality, they should have done the readings for Monday and Tuesday nights over the weekend – because by the time we get done with classes at 9:30pm, it’s 10:30pm before we get home. Most of us still have full time jobs, which means we have to be at work at 8am. As soon as you get off of work you head off to class, when the fun starts all over again. So there’s really no time to catch up on homework between Monday and Tuesday’s classes. (Unless, like me, your boss takes another personal day and you’re in the office by yourself. CivPro, here I come!)
In any case – back to school. Our professors seem to use the Socratic Method, which is pretty typical for law schools across the board. (Again, if you had watched your Legally Blonde, you would have known this!) Yet there were a number of folks who had not read the assignment sheet, and a) didn’t have the little “who am I?” card the professor wanted filled out, and b) had not done the readings. So they got called, and didn’t have the answers. I can certainly understand not having quite the right answer the professor is looking for – this is our first foray into the Socratic method, and it can be a bit intimidating. But to not have done the reading? The mind, it boggles.
Legal Reasoning? ZOMG, I’m going to die. I know it. The professor speaks very slowly and carefully. I thought I was literally going to die of boredom. The risk with a class like that is that you zone out and miss stuff. At least when the professor is talking a mile a minute, you HAVE to pay attention.
I was very proud of myself in CivPro. I had done the reading, and thought I had a firm grasp on the case we were discussing – but the professor seems to want a LOT more detail in his briefs than I had done in my notes. (Good to know, guess what I’m doing this afternoon? *grin*) Once I realized what he was asking folks, I was able to skim through the case, make some notes, and when I got called I was able to answer and sound pretty much like I knew what I was talking about. Prepared, at least. It was a weird sort of adrenaline/euphoric feeling. Instead of feeling intimidated, it just made me want to go back and learn the cases better so that next time I’m called, I can do even *better*.
The Socratic method can be tough – but I found that it really helped cement the concepts in my head. And it mentally forces me to be prepared for class – since I’m a big weenie and don’t want to look bad in front of my classmates. Peer pressure can be a good thing, I guess. 
