<p>Are the law classes offered at undergraduate institutions (like the ones usually offered by political science departments) a good gauge by which to learn whether or not I might be interested in going to law school and becoming a lawyer? I have heard mixed things about these classes, and I realize it probably depends to a large extent on the undergrad institution and class itself, but what is the general opinion of classes like these? I'm trying to find experience over the summer shadowing associates at law firms, but I'd also like to get a better sense of what the work itself will be like, rather than just the work environment. </p>
<p>I took a con law class in the poli sci department of my undergrad school, and it helped affirm that law school was a good choice (I liked reading and analyzing cases, and we did a mock trial that was fun and good preparation for similar activities in law school).</p>
<p>I wouldn’t take tons of these classes, or expect to gain a lot of substantive knowledge from them (I can’t imagine something much more annoying to hear in a law school class than “well in my undergrad law class we learned that…”) but while law school classes will always be a little different from undergrad ones, they can only add information to your decision about whether to go to law school.</p>
<p>I took an introduction to the social organization of law taught in the Socratic style.</p>
<p>We read, analyzed, and discussed 51 cases, a number of scholarly articles (Armour, Dershowitz, Steiker, Kafka, Cover, Leventhal, Noonan, Skolnick, etc.), four books (A Crime of Self Defense, Liability, A Society of Captives, Mercy on Trial). We watched and discussed five films (Adam’s Rib, The Sweet Hereafter, The Accused, Serpico, 12 Angry Men) as well.</p>
<p>It was the most intellectually intense, challenging, and entertaining class I’d ever taken.</p>
<p>I am now certain that I want to pursue a career in law.</p>
<p>I took an admin class that kind of went the same way without the socratic method, mostly lecturing. It was HARD stuff. Really hard. I don’t think I’ve ever worked so hard for such a low grade.</p>
<p>And then I also took a law and society class that wasn’t as hard but still hard nonetheless. Read all sorts of stuff, from Durkheim to Abel to the Torture Memo to Bush v. Gore. She used the socratic method, it’s intellectually challenging if I ever got around to reading the material completely.</p>
<p>I also did law school shadowing (shadowed a law student for one class) and I think the only thing I remember from that was “substantial performance.” The class was hard and intense, but kind of exciting in a nerdy geeky kind of way.</p>
<p>I’m also teaching mock trial for a program that NYU has for local high school kids, we had a lot of fun doing that too. </p>
<p>I’m now completely convinced that I want to be a lawyer :)</p>
<p>Now my only hurdle is the LSAT-last time I took a practice test, I got a 143. To be fair, it was freshman year, I didn’t get much sleep beforehand, and I took it completely cold. Hopefully with practice I can get that up into the high 160 low 170 range (despite the naysayers on this board that would have you believe that this is impossible-to hell with them, the LSAT is just a test, it’s just as learnable as the SAT or the ACT).</p>