Charlie.Home wrote:How does the lawyering class operate? Group work?
No group work. The lawyering class is a small-section class worth two credits per semester, and it's graded just like all your other classes. In addition to the professor, each section has four "Honors Fellows," who are just TAs picked from the 2Ls and 3Ls who did well in Lawyering.
You have 2-3 assignments each semester that make up your grade, usually in the form of memos, motions, appellate briefs, etc. (depending on which lawyering professor you have). In the spring most (all?) sections have a moot oral argument, where they argue the issue on which they wrote the last brief in front of the lawyering professor (and sometimes the TAs). The TAs critique your written assignments and hold office hours where you can go and get help.
In addition, there is a research component to the class. Each class is assigned a librarian who teaches classes on legal research, and you have a few short (non-graded) research assignments. The research classes are insanely boring and no one cares about them.
I'd say lawyering is taken more seriously at Cornell than elsewhere (probably mostly because it's graded). Some people hate it; I thought it was useful and actually benefited a lot from it w/r/t my 1L and 2L summer jobs.