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sorry to barrage this forum with my questions, but since we get very little guidance from school....is anyone else struggling to decide between taking classes they are interested in versus taking classes that may be either pertinent to your future job or useful for the bar?

i have a biglaw SA lined up. is there anything else i should take other than corp? (i intend to do transactional work).

as far as the bar goes, i have taken all the 1L courses as well as evidence and family law (also bankruptcy but i'm not sure if that's tested). i will be taking corp this spring. my old boss told me taking courses in law school that are going to be on the bar is not that helpful for the actual bar and that bar prep courses teach you everything you need to know. is that right?

classes i intend to take next year: sec reg, maybe secured transactions, PR

classes i intend on not taking: crim pro, tax, fed cts, admin, legislation....are there any of these that i really need to take?

Your boss is correct for the most part; any good Bar Prep materials will include highly detailed outlines covering every subject that you may be tested on during the Bar. But, Bar Prep will be very hectic and you probably won't have enough time to give your full effort to every single subject, which is why it is very helpful to have already taken the more difficult classes, such as commercial law.

If your school offers it, I would suggest "conflicts of law" or whatever your school calls it. It is a complex subject that applies to every field of law, but I felt that it was worth it.

I would take one substantive or bar prep course, and the rest take courses you are interested in. It's easier to explain a fluff course than a bad grade.

kalvano wrote:It's easier to explain a fluff course than a bad grade.

assuming you'll need to explain anything.

Find out what professors don't care about attendance, offer easy exams, have numerous detailed available outlines, etc. Find classes that require presentations or response papers instead of exams. Find classes with no participation requirement. Find seminars with the shortest paper requirements. Find clinics with light work loads.

Law school classes are absurdly inefficient at teaching you relevant law, just graduate putting in as little effort as possible. You'll pick up what you need to know for the bar in bar prep and for practice in practice.

tax is always relevant for biglaw, maybe take an m&a class if they offer it

bumping this.

assume only <10 person seminars have no curves, otherwise, everything has a curve, and if 25+, the curve at max is 3.35. avoiding the obvious gunner courses (fed courts, conflict of laws), any reason to not take 2 seminars at a time? very few of those <10 person gems and no open slots currently available.