<p>What would be a typical assignment?
Is there a big variety?</p>
<p>Depends on class and style of teaching. For many, where the socratic method is still the norm, you basically have a casebook to read which has shortened versions of actual case opinions with each opinion followed by questions you can attempt to answer. As a freshman, you will be assigned some of the cases to read per class. Often it is only 10 to 15 pages of material per class. However, as the phrase was coined by Scott Turow, the author of One L, you will quickly discover that trying to read and understand the material is "like stirring concrete with your eyes." You are trying to figure out what the case actually stands for legally and how it applies to other situations. You end up reading, re-reading, thinking, doing some of the questions. You even go to things called hornbooks for explanations of legal principles to see if that will help you understand. After about 4 or 5 hours covering 10 pages, you will think you might have it. Then you go to class and the Prof just starts asking questions that relate to the cases, never giving any real answers but attempting to drag out understandings from students who are put on the spot and lead them into the direction of where they should be. About 5 minutes into the class, you realize that you understood nothing of what you read and you feel lost in the wilderness and pray the prof doesn't call on you. You want to give up that seat you initially took near the front of class where you might be called on and move where you can't be seen. Here you are an A student in college and you feel like you are ignorant. That lost in the wilderness feeling continues in varying degrees for a couple of months. Then, at some point, say 6 to 8 weeks into the semester, little lightbulbs start going off in your head and suddenly you actually understand what you did in the first two weeks of class. Thereafter, you play mental catch-up for the rest of the semester.</p>
<p>Interesting. What's your homework like?</p>
<p>You should be able to get some idea of the readings and workload for the classes that all law students take, including Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Real Property, Torts and Civil Procedure, by simply googling the topic with the word "syllabus". As drusba noted, reading for law schools is probably unlike any reading or studying that you have ever done before. Often, it does indeed take hours to read a very small number of pages of materials, plus a student often has to consult additional materials to try to make sense of what has been read.</p>
<p>I've attached links to a syllabus or two (or three or five . . . ) for some typical first year courses below:</p>
<p><a href="http://www.law.duke.edu/curriculum/courseHomepages/Fall2004/110_02/%5B/url%5D">http://www.law.duke.edu/curriculum/courseHomepages/Fall2004/110_02/</a>
<a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/torts01/syllabus/%5B/url%5D">http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/torts01/syllabus/</a>
<a href="http://www.law.duke.edu/curriculum/courseHomepages/Fall2000/130_03/%5B/url%5D">http://www.law.duke.edu/curriculum/courseHomepages/Fall2000/130_03/</a>
<a href="http://www.law.pitt.edu/madison/contracts/fall06/syllabus.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://www.law.pitt.edu/madison/contracts/fall06/syllabus.pdf</a>
<a href="http://www.columbia.edu/%7Eak472/contracts/syllabus.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.columbia.edu/~ak472/contracts/syllabus.html</a></p>
<p>You can certainly find more should you want to do so.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information.
Have to say, tho, the "unlike any reading" comments are a bit cocky.
There are stuff in math/science/engineering that most people will never understand. Dense readings are also found in philosophy/literature but those can be open to interpretation.
Again, just commenting & doesn't lessen my appreciation for the info.</p>
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There are stuff in math/science/engineering that most people will never understand.
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<p>true enough. doesn't undermine the prior statement though. law school reading will be unlike reading you have done before. it is not like math or science reading. the fact that they may also be intense and difficult, doesn't mean that they have prepared you for law school reading. its not a matter of being cocky -- its not a matter of saying law school is harder than anything else. it's DIFFERENT -- and it takes time adjusting to it.</p>