Most useful non-1L classes? What do you wish you'd taken? Forum

[rawlsohard]

There have been surveys about this and I've read them, but I'd like to know what grads on TLS think.

Of the classes you took after 1L, what do you find the most useful?

Of the classes you didn't take, what do you think would have come in handy if you did?

[JollyGreenGiant]

I am never going to do anything Tax-related, but I found that class to be very useful. Corporations and Bankruptcy are two good classes as well.

I wish I took more Con Law classes even if they basically have no applicability to the practice of law. If only to understand those issues a little more fully.

[kryptix]

Independent Study Best class ever to fit into a full time work schedule.

[weaselology]

Classes that I found useful: Securities Regulation, Bankruptcy, Start Up Technology Law Clinic, Business Planning Seminar

Classes I wish I had taken: Secured Transactions, Venture Capital

I think the answers here will vary significantly depending on the practice area of whoever is answering though.

Just as a bonus:

Classes that I enjoyed but that aren't as useful for me: Con Law II, Taxation of Real Estate Transactions, Financial Crises Seminar, Chapter 11 Reorganization Seminar

Classes that were terrible/useless: Ethics, Estate & Gift Tax, Ethics, Evidence, Ethics, Corporate & Partnership Tax, Ethics

[jarofsoup]

Commercial papers I found to be very useful in life. I know more about checks than I ever dreamed I would.

[A. Nony Mouse]

A lot of this will vary by what you end up doing. One of the most useful classes I ever took was Evidence, which someone else here ranked as useless. But I'm doing litigation. And actually, as much as I hated it at the time, Ethics was fairly useful, too. (So again, running counter to weaselology!)

Other good classes (as in, they still feel they were useful): Trial Advocacy, Motions Advocacy, Employment Law

I regret not taking Crim Pro.

I didn't enjoy learning Corporations, Secured Transactions, Commercial Paper, Partnership, and Agency for the bar without having taken the classes, but so far, I don't regret not having taken them. At all. (No, I am not a corporate lawyer.)

[iconoclasttt]

Useful in terms of career applicability, or just generally?

In terms of classes with long-term career utility in my day-to-day work, I took almost every upper-level legal writing class I could get into (brief writing, transactional drafting, "advanced topics"), and those classes were far more useful to me than any doctrinal class.

For my practice (patent), the most useful doctrinal class was probably admin law (though dry, recommended to any folks who think they may deal with any federal or state agency).

For general knowledge--personal business, fielding random questions from friends/family, etc.--I've gotten a fair amount of mileage out of wills and estates as well as secured credit. Business associations (i.e., corporations and other entities) has also been useful to a lesser extent.

I can't think of anything practice-specific that I would have taken, except perhaps a class in remedies (not offered at the time). In terms of general knowledge, probably tax and bankruptcy.

[utlaw2007]

Most useful: Evidence and Advanced Legal Writing. I am a trial lawyer.

Wish I had taken: Corporate Finance

Most useless: ERISA, Bankruptcy, and Wills and Estates

[utlaw2007]

I didn't take it as a class, but doing interscholastic mock trial was single-handedly the most useful law school experience I had. I learned invaluable skills in that class that enable me to do what I do as a lawyer.

[kalvano]

Most useful: Admin, Evidence, Creditors' Rights, Employment, Crim Pro, Advanced Legal Research.

[Mick Haller]

bar classes