Harvard Student(s) Answering Your Questions Forum

[pillowcase33]

Can someone comment on the following line-up of professors?

Fall:
Civil Procedure - Greiner
Torts - Lazarus
Legislation and Regulation - Davies
Contracts - Kennedy (Randall)
Lesearch Research and Writing - Davis

Spring:
Criminal Law - Meltzer
Property - Benkler

Would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[Mista Bojangles]

Doorkeeper - out of genuine curiosity, how do you feel able to offer an actual informed opinion on so many professors? After all, you've only had one set of them. I have strong opinions about the professors I've actually had, but regarding all the others, I have just scattered opinions of friends, and I wouldn't feel confident using that as a basis for offering authoritative-sounding info ITT.

ETA: totes not trying to be a dick, if it comes off that way - because you do sound genuinely informed, but I'm just wondering how.

[polareagle]

.

[Stinson]

Section 4:

Fall:
Ferrell - Contracts
Robertson (visiting) - Torts
Stephenson - LegReg
Rubenstein - CivPro

Spring:
Mack - Property
Suk (section leader) - Crim

Any thoughts or insights would be wonderful. Thanks!

Part of the problem is that the Section 4 lineup has changed so much. I just graduated and only two of these are the same. Fortunately, you are doing very well with those two. Rubenstein is an extremely capable and dedicated teacher in the 1L subject that, I think, demands the best teaching. Also, no real cold calling there - he does not have a call list but will only call on you if you were born or went to college near the place where the case is taking place. Yeah it's weird, but it puts you on notice when you're reading the case that he might call on you. (Or it should anyway; I was born in NJ and I still remember Rubenstein: "Mr. Stinson, this case takes place in Philadelphia. Philadelphia is right across the Delaware river from New Jersey, is it not?" Terror, but all in good fun.")

Suk is a great crim law professor - she almost won the teaching award at graduation this year, and is the law school's first female Asian American tenured professor. (She got tenure right at the end of our semester and bought cookies for all of us.) There will be good discussions in her class. But she is undoubtedly intense. You must read for her class; she will cold call and she will know right away if you didn't read the case. And whatever you do, DO NOT show up late and then ask a question. I saw people get utterly eviscerated that way.

[094320]

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[bosmer88]

Oh fuck. I think this is an even better line up than the other section. Every professor here is quality, minus Gertner who is horrible. Be prepared to teach yourself Criminal law. Tushnet teaches a much more theoretical LegReg than the other profs and students are very divided on him. Don't spurn him just because his LegReg is difficult and weird. Rakoff is great.

Also, Bert Huang is a motherfucking badass. He's visiting from Columbia, but I bet Harvard is going to give him an offer.

Thanks for your input!

[BelugaWhale]

Oh fuck. I think this is an even better line up than the other section. Every professor here is quality, minus Gertner who is horrible. Be prepared to teach yourself Criminal law. Tushnet teaches a much more theoretical LegReg than the other profs and students are very divided on him. Don't spurn him just because his LegReg is difficult and weird. Rakoff is great.

Also, Bert Huang is a motherfucking badass. He's visiting from Columbia, but I bet Harvard is going to give him an offer.

Thanks for your input!

I would tone down that enthusiasm about section 7 profs.

Rakoff and Goldsmith are great. But to only call Tushnet as "divided" is overestimating how good he is. He's great at doing detials but pretty bad at tying everything together/the broad picture. I'm also surprised you didn't at least say something about Glendon. Glendon is not very good in my opinion and this belief I believe is pretty wide spread. I mean just look at her reviews, they're definitely not even close to being on par with Rakoff or Goldsmith.

[despina]

Rubenstein is a fantastic teacher. As somebody said above, read cases you have some kind of geographical connection to very carefully, and watch out if the case name sounds like your name or your college name (somebody who went to Temple got cold called for Temple v Synthes, lol). If you're not American, or if you're from a state with more students than cases (NJ), all bets are off.

Opinion on Suk is divided because not everybody loves the traditional-ish socratic style -- she definitely grew on me and I was totally sold by the end of the semester. She's intimidating because she's brilliant, gorgeous, and 100% willing to call anybody on their bullshit. She has worked as a prosecutor and mostly writes about family and crim law, but... http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/opini ... 757F1ADEB9

People love Rakoff for Contracts. I also hear good things about Barron and Steiker. Supposedly Hanson doesn't actually teach torts in Torts, but it's interesting anyway?

[polareagle]

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[Doorkeeper]

Doorkeeper - out of genuine curiosity, how do you feel able to offer an actual informed opinion on so many professors? After all, you've only had one set of them. I have strong opinions about the professors I've actually had, but regarding all the others, I have just scattered opinions of friends, and I wouldn't feel confident using that as a basis for offering authoritative-sounding info ITT.

ETA: totes not trying to be a dick, if it comes off that way - because you do sound genuinely informed, but I'm just wondering how.

I put a disclaimer up front that the opinions were a mix of my professors, second hand information from my friends across the 1L/2L/3Ls, and professors that I didn't have but visited for office hours. I like hearing about other professors, so I always asked my friends in other sections their thoughts about their professors so that I would be informed for 2L/3L. Obviously I don't have a straw poll of everyone, but I'd rather disclose my information with the necessary word of caution than have people guessing.

[Lovely Ludwig Van]

Can someone comment on the following line-up of professors?

Fall:
Civil Procedure - Greiner
Torts - Lazarus
Legislation and Regulation - Davies
Contracts - Kennedy (Randall)
Lesearch Research and Writing - Davis

Spring:
Criminal Law - Meltzer
Property - Benkler

Would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Any dirt on Section 2 profs?

[Mista Bojangles]

yeesh. can we please once and for all halt this nonsense about suk being "gorgeous" or for that matter even attractive? i don't understand people's gushing over her.

she has a harmless, matronly kind of look to her, but only when judged among a bunch of other law professors could she possibly be found sexually attractive.


judge for yourself, 0Ls, before you get dem law school goggles:



--ImageRemoved--

[Mista Bojangles]

Can someone comment on the following line-up of professors?

Fall:
Civil Procedure - Greiner
Torts - Lazarus
Legislation and Regulation - Davies
Contracts - Kennedy (Randall)
Lesearch Research and Writing - Davis

Spring:
Criminal Law - Meltzer
Property - Benkler

Would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Any dirt on Section 2 profs?

Meltzer was, I suspect, the smartest of all my 1L professors. He kind of just oozes brilliance all over the place but unfortunately doesn't always remember to pick it up and arrange it neatly for you. He's extremely cerebral in his approach to teaching, and that approach probably is a good thing in a course that can at times treat really incendiary subject matter. Also, be prepared for some really bizarre and fucked up murder/rape scenarios. The man has quite an imagination.

Davies was a fan favorite in the section. She's very witty, very feisty, and has a thing for engaging in some playful thrust-and-parry with coldcalled students who are up for it (but she isn't mean-spirited and doesn't go out of her way to humiliate unprepared students unlike some other profs). I kind of second what was said earlier about her lectures being somewhat lighter on substance, because she spends so much time drawing amusing analogies and giving us anecdotes from her time on the hill. In all, one of my more entertaining 1L classes.

I've had only those two, but I'd say each of them is a good roll of the dice to end up with (though in v different ways).

[094320]

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[pillowcase33]

Can someone comment on the following line-up of professors?

Fall:
Civil Procedure - Greiner
Torts - Lazarus
Legislation and Regulation - Davies
Contracts - Kennedy (Randall)
Lesearch Research and Writing - Davis

Spring:
Criminal Law - Meltzer
Property - Benkler

Would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Any dirt on Section 2 profs?

Meltzer was, I suspect, the smartest of all my 1L professors. He kind of just oozes brilliance all over the place but unfortunately doesn't always remember to pick it up and arrange it neatly for you. He's extremely cerebral in his approach to teaching, and that approach probably is a good thing in a course that can at times treat really incendiary subject matter. Also, be prepared for some really bizarre and fucked up murder/rape scenarios. The man has quite an imagination.

Davies was a fan favorite in the section. She's very witty, very feisty, and has a thing for engaging in some playful thrust-and-parry with coldcalled students who are up for it (but she isn't mean-spirited and doesn't go out of her way to humiliate unprepared students unlike some other profs). I kind of second what was said earlier about her lectures being somewhat lighter on substance, because she spends so much time drawing amusing analogies and giving us anecdotes from her time on the hill. In all, one of my more entertaining 1L classes.

I've had only those two, but I'd say each of them is a good roll of the dice to end up with (though in v different ways).

Thank you for the information! It's greatly appreciated.
Does anyone have any former experience with these professors?

[cayennepepper]

Thank you for the insights - very much appreciated!

[Doorkeeper]

Can someone comment on the following line-up of professors?

Fall:
Civil Procedure - Greiner
Torts - Lazarus
Legislation and Regulation - Davies
Contracts - Kennedy (Randall)
Lesearch Research and Writing - Davis

Spring:
Criminal Law - Meltzer
Property - Benkler

Any dirt on Section 2 profs?

Would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Greiner and Lazarus are both quality. Greiner's Civ Pro will be difficult, and his previous tests have been brutal, but he's a great teacher and one of the nicest professors I have ever met. Lazarus is one of the most well known and well respected environmental litigators in the country. No idea on Randall Kennedy and Benkler as professors, but Benkler's scholarship is really, really good. All the sentiments I've heard about Meltzer and Davies echo what Bojangles said.

[roranoa]

Have you met anyone yet and thought 'Wow, that guy (or girl) is going to be President (of the United States) someday!'

Or a potential senator maybe?

[094320]

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[tomwatts]

Have you met anyone yet and thought 'Wow, that guy (or girl) is going to be President (of the United States) someday!'

Or a potential senator maybe?

I've definitely met a couple of people who I'm pretty sure are going to be running things some years down the line.

This may be weird, but after being here for a few months, I watched Obama talk, and I felt like I noticed how HLS he is. There are indescribable things about how he speaks and how he presents himself that makes him seem a little bit like the people in class with me.

[lawschoolboundfuture]

Opinions on section 1 professors?

Cohen, Civ. Pro
Gelpern, Contracts
Singer, Property
Torts, Sargentich
LRW, Stoughton

[tachikara]

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[Lovely Ludwig Van]

Kinda late to ask this, but are lockers recommended for people living in North?

Thanks to everybody who's answered questions!

[pillowcase33]

Kinda late to ask this, but are lockers recommended for people living in North?

Thanks to everybody who's answered questions!

I may be wrong, but I had the impression that people who lived in dorms couldn't sign up for lockers.

[pillowcase33]

Opinions on section 1 professors?

Cohen, Civ. Pro
Gelpern, Contracts
Singer, Property
Torts, Sargentich
LRW, Stoughton

There were a couple of people up above who provided some helpful descriptions of the professors you have.