One "L"

So I'm finishing up Scott Turow's chronicle of his first year as a law student at Harvard Law School and I kind of have mixed feelings about the book. It was a good book to read if you're looking for information about life as a 1L at Harvard, but as a future law school student I'm not sure I'd recommend it to other potential 1Ls. It's not that I'm opposed to people knowing the truth and I believe that going into a situation with your eyes wide open is always better, but knowing several months before you start that you're going to end up disillusioned about the whole process isn't really a good thing.

The things from the book that stand out to me are the following:
- there are some really arrogant professors who will take advantage of their situation and their class for their own personal enjoyment or benefit.
- there are some really bad teachers who are professors based on their accomplishment and/or their writings, but who have no business teaching the law to others.
- law school is extremely competitive to the detriment of peoples personal lives and interpersonal relationships.
- the Socratic method, used correctly, can be an effective teaching tool, but used incorrectly, can be devastating and a complete waste of time and effort.
- the format of the single grade determining test at the end of the semester isn't indicative of your skills and abilities as a future lawyer, yet it is one of the sole measures of success used by the school and by recruiting employers.

While none of this is really new to me if I look back at my undergraduate and business school environments, it doesn't make me feel better about the experience of going to law school. That's not to say that I won't learn anything and that it won't be beneficial, but if all I've got to look forward to is 4 years of disillusionment and suffering, it makes me wonder if it's actually worth it.