An Overview of 1L Core Classes

Your core classes set up the basis for your legal knowledge, and I've always found it very interesting that first-year law students across the country are taking the same classes. These classes are super important, even if a bit broad, and information you learn from them will be used throughout your time as an attorney.

Civil Procedure

Civ Pro was a TOUGH course for me. It's a whole lot of black letter law, which was simple to understand because it was straightforward, but my professor focused on a lot of exceptions to certain rules, lesser known rules, and other oddities. I'm just glad that in the future when I'm practicing, I'll just be able to look at the rules book and figure everything out from there.

Contracts

Contracts, for me, is pretty uneventful. It's very formulaic and tedious, so it can be hard for me to focus in lecture and while reading cases. Honestly, the only thing that keeps me focused during class is the fact that I'm kind of terrified of my professor.

Property

I'm surprised to say that I actually like property. My professor is very interested in the historical and people-focused aspects, which makes class discussions interesting. Before becoming a professor at my law school, he did some research on the health aspects of where people live and how historical neighborhood segregation affected life expectancy. He always brings in the theme of people to all his lectures, so things stay pretty interesting for each class, even on the days with very boring cases.

Torts

I LOVED torts. I'm sure it has something to do with how great my professor was, but I also liked how intuitive a lot of the material was. There are plenty of interesting cases, many of which are pretty funny. You'll start to view everyday things in a different way, too, such as spills, driving, and more.

Criminal Law

I honestly thought crim was going to be my favorite class, with tons of exciting murder cases and crazy discussions. However, it was much different from that. It's not just murder (although that was the chapter we spent the most time on); we covered all sorts of crimes and discussed tons of policy issues regarding criminal law and the justice system.

Constitutional Law

I knew I was going to like this class even before I actually started it. One of my undergrad classes, all about the First Amendment (with a big focus on freedom of speech), was what first piqued my interest in going to law school. It's such an important thing to study, especially because it's what our legal system is the basis for our country and for our legal system.

Legal Research and Writing

This class is probably the one you'll spend the most time on throughout the semester. As stressful as it is, I do love the class because it's more than just reading cases, which can sometimes get old. I'm a writer, so it's nice to have that opportunity throughout the semester to research and write your own memos and briefs. I did struggle a bit in the beginning since legal writing is much different than journalistic or creative writing, but the tips and advice I got from my professor and TA were instrumental in helping me refine my legal writing skills.

xoxo,

Rachel