Hardest classes in law school? Forum

[delusional]

There are no hard or easy classes in law school, thanks to the curve. There are merely classes with good or bad professors and lots/little of competition.

this

[aces]

Right, but there are classes where it requires more effort to get a median grade. This is often due to gunners, but other factors should weigh in-- I try and avoid classes with closed-book exams or extreme socratic method (as opposed to the panel system or only calling on volunteers), for instance.

[patrickd139]

Whatever class has the most gunners in it.

Only answer that applies across all schools, professors, etc

Yep. I put more effort into my Tax I class last semester than any other class and was still median pwned in it. Tons of gunning fools.

Who the hell guns a tax class?

[BuckinghamB]

I thought upper level classes weren't curved? Or is it only the small classes?

[5ky]

I thought upper level classes weren't curved? Or is it only the small classes?

Depends on the school. UVA keeps all of its classes to the same curve 1L through 3L, although they've made minor tweaks now for slight median bumps.

[keg411]

Tax and Commercial Paper (and the latter is also completely useless). Secured Transactions and SecReg are hard too.

I wouldn't touch FedCourts or Admin with a 10 foot pole, so I have no clue if they're hard or just gunner-tastic.

[DreamShake]

Haven't taken either of these yet, but from what I hear...

Partnership tax--most conceptually difficult/densest material
Fed courts--hardest curve

Also agree with poster who said corporations is boring as hell. LBO's and such are fun to learn about, but they're not the core of the class...and about 1/2 my corporate tax class is on law review. I dunno why tax attracts so many gunners--most people don't find it terribly interesting, and it has zero relevance to litigators-to-be, which should eliminate a large % of gunners.

[3|ink]

Whatever class has the most gunners in it.

Only answer that applies across all schools, professors, etc

Yep. I put more effort into my Tax I class last semester than any other class and was still median pwned in it. Tons of gunning fools.

Who the hell guns a tax class?

Easy content = hard curve. I missed 4 points out of 60 between two midterms and I only had a B+ coming into the midterm.

[notedgarfigaro]

yeah, the jump between fed tax and corp tax is insane. Fed tax was pretty straight forward for the most part. Corp tax is the first lawschool class that conceptually I have no clue what's going on. Is passthrough/partnership tax really worse?

[IrwinM.Fletcher]

yeah, the jump between fed tax and corp tax is insane. Fed tax was pretty straight forward for the most part. Corp tax is the first lawschool class that conceptually I have no clue what's going on. Is passthrough/partnership tax really worse?

Yep, although the gap between corporate/partnership tax is less severe than the one from fed/corporate tax. Pship tax is like learning a foreign language in three months (or three weeks if you procrastinate like me) with the expectation of fluency at the end.

[Clemson772]

.

[blong4133]

For me it was either Con law or civ pro. I'm not sure if it's because of the class or because of the professor. He's an absolute wind bag that would write the craziest questions. Not to mention multiple page-long, single spaced fact patterns (some longer than a page) with one question following it etc.

The con law final, he actually said he was going to move more toward brevity the day before the exam. I get the test, they tell us to start, and bam. First question's fact pattern is a page and a half long.

I went through Secured Transactions as well thinking it was the most difficult course I had taken. I read mastering secured transactions a couple of days before the final and ended up getting the 2nd highest grade. Still don't know how I pulled that one off.

[LazinessPerSe]

Fed Courts - ConLaw on crack

[Dato]

Reviving this one ... when do most "gunners" take Fed Courts? I'm looking at signing up for my 2L year and I'm thinking about taking it my first semester. It's offered both fall and spring and I'm wondering which would be the most strategic choice.

Aside from that I'm looking at Appellate Ad, Evidence, and Remedies.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Is it curved? You will doubtless be in the class with a lot of 3L gunners who have federal clerkships.

[memo2partner]

bankruptcy was pretty hard

[Dato]

Is it curved? You will doubtless be in the class with a lot of 3L gunners who have federal clerkships.

yeah it's curved. my question is ... would it be better to take it fall or spring of my 2L year?

[Ness Lee]

Is it curved? You will doubtless be in the class with a lot of 3L gunners who have federal clerkships.

yeah it's curved. my question is ... would it be better to take it fall or spring of my 2L year?

Doesn't matter, you'll run into the 3L fed clerkship gunners anyway.

[5ky]

Is it curved? You will doubtless be in the class with a lot of 3L gunners who have federal clerkships.

yeah it's curved. my question is ... would it be better to take it fall or spring of my 2L year?

you should take it 3L instead in case you fuck it up

[Tangerine Gleam]

Is it curved? You will doubtless be in the class with a lot of 3L gunners who have federal clerkships.

yeah it's curved. my question is ... would it be better to take it fall or spring of my 2L year?

Doesn't matter, you'll run into the 3L fed clerkship gunners anyway.

I actually think it might matter, for a few reasons:

(1) At my school at least, many people regarded 2L fall as the toughest semester of law school. You're likely getting more heavily involved with journal work, plus you have to adjust to being in classes with 3Ls, some of whom are still gunning and will have one more year of law school experience to bring to bear on exams. You may also have to do some job searching during 2L fall, depending on your career path. Many people I know had their worst semester, grade-wise, in 2L fall.

(2) By spring, it's more likely that more of the gunners will have clerkships (especially 3Ls). For some, this means they might scale back the gunning a bit.

(3) If you use your fall semester to take something like Remedies or Admin that has overlap with Fed Courts, you'll be a little more familiar with some of the doctrine going in.

These points aren't going to make a huge difference, but I think they're worth considering. I think it's best to wait until 3L, but if you're going to do it 2L, I say do it during 2L Spring.

[KelviNorin]

I agree Mehn..philosophy can b 1 hell of a hole with a disenchanted lecturer

[Londonbear]

Am in Bankruptcy and Corp Tax this semester. Bankruptcy is kind of interesting though - some of the cases are hilarious. Corp tax by FAR has the most gunners. I don't know. Completely miserable in that class.

[rcharter1978]

Whatever class has the most gunners in it.

Only answer that applies across all schools, professors, etc

Yep. I put more effort into my Tax I class last semester than any other class and was still median pwned in it. Tons of gunning fools.

Who the hell guns a tax class?

Easy content = hard curve. I missed 4 points out of 60 between two midterms and I only had a B+ coming into the midterm.

true....I feel like classes with easy content go to the people who just know how to write the best because everyone understands the subject matter.

[jbagelboy]

it depends on the prof but there are a handful that are reliably "substantive" and difficult:

Corporations is tough
Antitrust can be really tough
Fed Court is a ton of complex material and tends to be gunner heavy
Courses like Evidence and Securities Reg can be challenging on the curve and if the professor goes deep

[GreatBraffsby]

I thought upper level classes weren't curved? Or is it only the small classes?

The school I will be attending uses a weird curve for upper level courses. The registrar takes into account the existing GPAs of the students in each course and uses that to set the recommended curve. So if a bunch of 3.66 students are in the class, the median grade should be an A-. I'm not sure how much this helps or hurts, but it's interesting. At least you know if your class is full of gunners/geniuses, you won't be totally screwed.