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After recently signing up for my 2L classes (well it was almost 2 months ago, so not that recent), I was told that Tax is one of the hardest 2L classes, and I signed up for it.

Is there any merit to this? And additionally, what are some of the harder 2L classes you (2L's and up) have taken and moreover, why?

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StudentAthlete wrote:After recently signing up for my 2L classes (well it was almost 2 months ago, so not that recent), I was told that Tax is one of the hardest 2L classes, and I signed up for it.

Is there any merit to this? And additionally, what are some of the harder 2L classes you (2L's and up) have taken and moreover, why?

Admin law, not really hard at all just so freaking boring I could not stand going to the class (and often didn't) stanrge since evry thing I do is admin realted, but god I hated that class.

Are there upper-level classes that are noticeably similar to lower-level classes? For example, if I really enjoyed property and contracts, are there specific classes you'd recommend? Or if I didn't like crim or torts...?

spondee wrote:Are there upper-level classes that are noticeably similar to lower-level classes? For example, if I really enjoyed property and contracts, are there specific classes you'd recommend? Or if I didn't like crim or torts...?

Sales law (aka Commercial Transactions) is much like Contracts.
Estates & Trusts is similar to property.

Tax I isn't that hard if you have any knack whatsoever for it.

Corp Tax (which you could theoretically take 2nd semester 2L year) is IMO the hardest class offered at most law schools for JDs.
Admin can be hard as well- it just has a lot of screwy undefined areas.

Probably depends a lot on the prof. Best people to give advice are students at your own school. If 2Ls and 3Ls at your school said Tax was difficult, then it probably is difficult.

I thought Tax was easy. It really helped me, though, to have filed my own taxes a few times. It gave me perspective on where each issue fit in--helped to see the "forest."

"Difficult" can mean so many things, too. Some of the most time-consuming classes at my school give out the highest grades, but primarily because they are full of law review people and off the curve. So is a class "difficult" when you have a good chance at getting an A? Maybe.

Federal Courts and Conflicts were difficult courses because there were a lot of cases and the prof cold-called. The material was also mostly policy-driven. My Appellate Practice course was also difficult because we had to draft a brief from an actual case file (thousands of pages), do an oral argument, do two other oral presentations on appellate advocacy issues, and take a final exam. All the grades were high (off the curve), but it was a lot of work.

All the grades were high (off the curve), but it was a lot of work.

In general, I found that off-the-curve paper or special requirement classes were a lot more work than the standard exam class, but easy to get good grades in if you actually did the work. A double-edged sword I guess.

Corporate tax or partnership tax. Regular income tax, on the other hand, is only moderately challenging (on par with property). Of the non-tax, non-lit family of classes, sec reg is probably the hardest, but it's not really difficult in an absolute sense.

From what I have taken... sec reg.

People say Trusts & Estates is hard, but I didn't think it was. Just a lot of material.

Admin, Conflicts, Fed Courts & Partnership Tax are all supposed to be very hard at my school.

This has to be by professor. Evidence was absolutely brutal for me but other classmates with other profs thought it was okay.

True. Professors are really the deciding factor, but you can gauge the difficulty of the material.

RayFinkle wrote:True. Professors are really the deciding factor, but you can gauge the difficulty of the material.

Great username.

Trusts and estates isn't that bad. And everyone takes it.

Advanced tax classes, bankruptcy, and securities classes are all technically difficult. And unlike most courses, it's possible to actually generate a wrong answer you can't talk your way out of. Federal Courts or its analog are notoriously difficult because of the class composition. The same is probably true for any advanced business transaction course - full of gunners and general high ability students.

Any "real" brief drafting or transaction course where you actually do the documents from a file is going to be supremely time demanding and you'll get a sense where those billable hours actually come from. Think twice about doing these if you have major journal commitments and don't do two of them in one semester. Or when you are doing moot court/Vis/national mock trial...

I'll agree that admin is boring as hell. Fortunately it's also the easiest course to E&E out there. The universe of really important doctrines is actually relatively discreet. Civ Pro II is like this as well.

PKSebben wrote:This has to be by professor. Evidence was absolutely brutal for me but other classmates with other profs thought it was okay.

True. I thought evidence wasn't all that bad, but my prof was really good at dumbing down the FRE for us.

Evidence at my school

I've heard, at my school at least, tax, evidence, con law, and some advanced UCC trans. classes. I guess you're right about it depending on the class/prof.. I think what I meant by hard was the material more so than the courseload in itself.

Thanks for the replies

PKSebben wrote:This has to be by professor. Evidence was absolutely brutal for me but other classmates with other profs thought it was okay.

True. Of our two evidence professors, I had the touchy-feely-teachy-no-substance one, while the others who actually learned evidence got their balls punched off.

For my second summer internship, I had to learn evidence in about a week, after having taken the class.

jetlagz28 wrote:Evidence at my school

Yeah, I've been told to take Evidence last as it is hardest and is related to Bar passage. It probably depends on the professor though...

Trusts and estates isn't that bad. And everyone takes it.

Very few people take Trusts and Estates at my school.