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Describe the worst law professor you have ever had, and how you overcame his/her lazinesness, incompetence, hide-the-ballness, assholeness, or bullshit gradeing-ness.

Looking for comforting anecdotes as I deal with my own nightmare.

Had a dude who would read the parts of the casebook to us, then go around the room having everyone answer the note questions in the casebook.

My civ pro professor was the absolute worst. I assumed civ pro must not be important because there is no way you would have this incompent lady teaching an important subject.

She was constantly just lost, she didn't seem to know what we were doing on a particular day, she would routinely misstate the holding in a case....as someone else said "she sounds like a drunk trying to explain this shit in a bar"

It was bizarre.

A year after our class she was retired.

Appellate Procedure. Guy literally sits up there and reads the Rules of Appellate Procedure and other related rules the entire semester. No discussion or nothing. Everyone was on a computer doing something else. Can't remember what his final was like.

The phrase that catches my attention in your post is "hide-the-ballness" because I 100% had a professor who hid the ball for Property--on the exam that is (the worst time to hide the ball!). He would repeatedly say throughout the semester how he's very "fair" and "all of my past students would agree." Come exam time, the majority of the thing was dedicated to issues we learned the very last week. Most professors usually like to give "even" exams where they equally cover material throughout the semester--not the case here.

Of course, I didn't know until the exam that he hid the ball. I liked him in class, but after the exam I wasn't so thrilled. The good thing is that I managed to do well. I think with these types of professors, most people end up being shocked at how the exam is written and so for purposes of the curve it doesn't matter all that much (if anything, it might help those who study extra hard). I am sure to always closely study every single issue as if it will show up on a closed-book essay exam.

As for dealing with a professor you can't stand, I think it's best to just play along with their BS and realize it won't last forever. Also be sure to teach yourself the material if it isn't adequately covered in class because even professors who suck will expect you to know the material come exam time.

Admin law. Nice prof, just an incredibly frustrating style. Would cold call on someone at the beginning of class and have them discuss the case while asking abstract questions to them. This would continue for 45 minutes or so -- to the same person. The vast majority of the class were 3L's, so people were just b/s'ing their answers (nobody had read). What made this prof the worst is that after questioning students for 45 min, the professor NEVEr summarized the answers or explained the info that she wanted to get out of the case/material. It was an elongated session of the hide the ball. Very pleasant woman though...not sure she even knew how horrendous her methods were.

Pie in the sky subject for a seminar with a professor everyone knew made the calls that got people clerkships. He'd noodle on his iPad for ¾ of the class, then dramatically snap the cover over and say "ok, here's the thing about today's topic" and say virtually verbatim what the class had been saying the whole time. He "graded" 15 10,000 word papers in 6 hours and everyone got a B+. Except for the 2 people he had already made calls for, who shared the CALI award.

jody kraus at CLS. didn't do anything about it: just did poorly and moved on; until the bar, that is, where I had to learn the entire subject from scratch because he'd taught me nothing. Sometimes there's just no solution but making it out alive.

jbagelboy wrote:jody kraus at CLS. didn't do anything about it: just did poorly and moved on; until the bar, that is, where I had to learn the entire subject from scratch because he'd taught me nothing. Sometimes there's just no solution but making it out alive.

Ironic because Bob Scott is the man. Makes me think their casebook was 99% Scott and 1% Kraus.

dabigchina wrote:

jbagelboy wrote:jody kraus at CLS. didn't do anything about it: just did poorly and moved on; until the bar, that is, where I had to learn the entire subject from scratch because he'd taught me nothing. Sometimes there's just no solution but making it out alive.

Ironic because Bob Scott is the man. Makes me think their casebook was 99% Scott and 1% Kraus.

Bob Scott is awesome. Agreed.

jbagelboy wrote:jody kraus at CLS. didn't do anything about it: just did poorly and moved on; until the bar, that is, where I had to learn the entire subject from scratch because he'd taught me nothing. Sometimes there's just no solution but making it out alive.

At least your professor had a JD and attempted to teach, y'know, doctrine *coughgoldbergcough*

Hide the ball con law prof. Was enthralled with the exec branch of govt, but as 1Ls I remember being like 3/4 through the semester having no idea what standing was or due process etc...

Called on like 3 people during the semester. Assigned like 60 pages of a reading a day. Picked the worst con law textbook. Pleasant person outside and inside of class though.

Drafted an impossible exam..

Gerald Torres at Cornell. Skipped weeks of class to teach simultaneously in boston. Literally went over nothing in class. 50% of his exam was: What do you think about anglo-american property law?

0/10

.

The worst professor I had was just painfully boring. She didn't hide the ball, she graded fairly, her exam wasn't challenging, and she taught the material in a fair manner. She was a nice lady and a competent teacher, but she was just beyond boring. The class was from 6 PM to 9 PM once each week. I dreaded going to that class every week. Almost nobody in the class paid attention. I'm just not sure why my school thought it was a good idea to put the driest professor in that time slot.

lawman84 wrote:The worst professor I had was just painfully boring. She didn't hide the ball, she graded fairly, her exam wasn't challenging, and she taught the material in a fair manner. She was a nice lady and a competent teacher, but she was just beyond boring. The class was from 6 PM to 9 PM once each week. I dreaded going to that class every week. Almost nobody in the class paid attention. I'm just not sure why my school thought it was a good idea to put the driest professor in that time slot.

So you could have time to browse Facebook and shoe shop online?

Had a contracts prof that required absolute promptness, equating being late to an absence, yet ended up himself being late several times throughout the semester. The type of prof that would cold call and drill down on the most irrelevant facts just to see if you knew them. Was rude to students ("you really think that???" to 1Ls) and once forgot his notes for class because he was in such a rush and just tried to wing it through class but obviously didn't know what he was doing. Never overlooked any opportunity to talk about all his very successful friends or the great properties he owned. Once went on at length about how he was trying to sell a place in denver but ever since marijuana was legalized it had turned into a bad scene. At the same time, he would joke about taking xanax with martinis etc. Also a climate change denier and thinks 23(b)(3) class actions are frivolous/have no place in civil litigation. The few people who liked him in our section thought he was mean-funny, but the truth is he was just an asshole. #tellmehowyoureallyfeel

Hated that guy.

whats an updog wrote:Had a contracts prof that required absolute promptness, equating being late to an absence, yet ended up himself being late several times throughout the semester. The type of prof that would cold call and drill down on the most irrelevant facts just to see if you knew them. Was rude to students ("you really think that???" to 1Ls) and once forgot his notes for class because he was in such a rush and just tried to wing it through class but obviously didn't know what he was doing. Never overlooked any opportunity to talk about all his very successful friends or the great properties he owned. Once went on at length about how he was trying to sell a place in denver but ever since marijuana was legalized it had turned into a bad scene. At the same time, he would joke about taking xanax with martinis etc. Also a climate change denier and thinks 23(b)(3) class actions are frivolous/have no place in civil litigation. The few people who liked him in our section thought he was mean-funny, but the truth is he was just an asshole. #tellmehowyoureallyfeel

Yeah, sometimes an asshole is just an asshole. And the "I'm just being honest!" Asshole....is just an asshole.....like his father before him, and his father before him.

oh the stories i could tell

North wrote:Had a dude who would read the parts of the casebook to us, then go around the room having everyone answer the note questions in the casebook.

Lol what class? I don't think I ever had a single notes question answered throughout all of law school.

North wrote:Hated that guy.

Lmao I think it's possible that you actually know who I'm talking about.

It was an adjunct professor for a seminar. It was his first time teaching a class. He didn't know what he was doing. He'd have us all go around and give him a relevant news story like we were in a high school current events class. We'd waste like 30-40 minutes doing so. He also hit on my friend in the class (outside of class) and made her feel uncomfortable. Don't think this experiment of a class was ever repeated.

Edited to add: I almost forgot he weirdly pressured all of us to attend social events with him the entire semester. And at the end of the semester he took us as a class to the bar. When we were at the bar he started referencing criticism of him included in his evals and trying to figure out who said what. And tried to pressure us all to stay longer.

whats an updog wrote:

North wrote:Hated that guy.

Lmao I think it's possible that you actually know who I'm talking about.

I think I also know who this is. Such a dick