Best 1L Class Forum

[paisa_sandia]

Current law students:

What was/is your favorite class 1L year, and what made it your favorite? Preferably among the brick and mortar classes that everyone takes first year (as opposed to some random class your specific school might have made you take or an elective).

As a bonus, what was the hardest? 0L interested in such things. Thanks!

[yyyuppp]

I think this gonna be really professor based. You'll realize how different your experience in a particular class is from people in other sections not cuz of what's taught (generally it's the same) but how it's taught (or not taught - I had to teach myself contracts)

That said, I found the most difficult class to learn was con law, just cuz there is no real doctrine to learn ; it's just a slew of often contradictory cases (i.e. 14th amendment). That's different then like property or torts, where stuff is pretty much settled into relatively simple concepts for each area (i.e. Adverse possession) . But then again this may just be my professors. Civ pro seems like a notorisouly difficult class for 1Ls, but my professor ruled and distilled it all into really basic ideas, which made it my easiest class to learn during 1L and I know that was not the experience of people in other sections at my school.

Con law was my favorite class, but that's cuz I like US history.

[Ska_lool]

Civil Procedure is almost uniformly brutal, but my professor made it a fantastic class that I did the best in. I loved Con Law for the historical relevance and application to civil rights litigation, but my professor was sort of a bore. Definitely depends mostly on the prof though.

[deuceindc]

Favorite: Property. I'm fascinated with constitutional remedies (e.g., takings, but also habeas).
Hardest: Contracts, just due to the breadth of material.

[White Dwarf]

Favorite: Contracts and Civ Pro
Hardest / Least Favorite: Con Law

I like hard and fast rules. I'm not good with mushy doctrines (and my grades show it).

[Nagster5]

Favorite: Torts, probably because my professor was incredible, but I think the content is fascinating too. How courts regulate interactions between people.
Least: Crim. Really liked my professor as a person, but he really skimped on the rules, did a ton of normative stuff, and then totally flipped it on the exam.

[lymenheimer]

Most of my professors have said that we were the best 1L class they've had. I think it's just hot air, though

[TheodoreKGB]

Most of my professors have said that we were the best 1L class they've had. I think it's just hot air, though

Same here.

I had one professor that was really genuine and passionate in every class, then on our last day, when he was giving us the you're-the-best-class-in-a-long-time spiel, he sounded scripted and fake. It was obviously totally BS. Great class though.

[TheodoreKGB]

Favorites: Torts and Con Law. Both were taught by super passionate (and knowledgeable) professors. I liked the subject matter, and the professors were really really good teachers. They both taught the subject in a way that there was depth and understanding to the subject.

Hardest: Contracts. I liked the subject and cases a lot, but I felt it was just generally a notch harder than my other classes. (Not to blame the professor, but he told us he didn't give clear answers on cases or questions and was generally confusing because he wanted to give us incentive to learn it outside of class, on our own. Other sections at my school said their Contracts professors were not nearly as tough.)

[UVA2B]

Seconding that it's entirely professor dependent. Favorite (grade pending) was property because my property professor was incredible. Even if I get a B- on the exam, I'll probably look back most fondly on that class.

Least favorite in hindsight was crim because the professor taught in more opaque, "should it really be this way" kind of way and was tougher to nail down rules. Also infuriatingly hid the ball on the exam by asking an entire policy question on a case they explicitly said would not be on the exam. I'm not bitter though.

[RCSOB657]

My 1L classes were Property 1/2, Torts, Contracts 1/2, CivPro 1/2, LRW 1/2, Legal Problem Solving and Analysis, Public Law & Legal Process, and Competitiveness & Corruption.

Of 'normal' classes I liked Torts. I take Conlaw 1/2 and Crim Law during my 2L year (now).

[anonanonny]

Tie between Constitutional Law and Torts. Con law was super interesting because all the cases have huge implications everywhere. I think Torts was interesting to me because it's all about people getting hurt, which means the fact patterns can be crazy and interesting. (I don't mean to sound so morbid) I've always been interested in what happens when a person gets injured or hurt in this way or that, and that's what Torts is all about. You'll get answers to questions like "Who is liable when someone slips on a banana peel?" "Do I owe duties to trespassers on my property?" It was also probably the most straightforward 1L class.

Civil Procedure was a real pain for me. I found the material about as interesting as watching paint dry. It's just not an exciting subject, in my opinion. It is hugely important, just not very exciting.

[personofinterest]

Favorite was Con Law because it was the most interesting to me. It was impressive to read opinions of justices, particularly (and surprisingly) Scalia.

[NoDayButToday]

I second what everyone is saying about the prof making the difference.

I came in knowing I wanted to do crim and con law work--specifically death penalty--but crim and con law were my two least favorite 1L classes

It was definitely the professors. Both classes are inevitably political and that influences the experience. My crim professor was wonderful and beloved, but we moved way too slowly and by the end were basically a bar course with 1/3 of the course doctrine crunched into like the last 2 weeks. That was fun for no one. My con law prof was good in one respect--he believed in deep dives into short readings, so we had only ~10-20 pages of reading per night. But he wasn't very engaging. He also talked a lot of policy, but then expected us to leave policy out of our responses.

I actually ended up liking property best and that was completely unexpected because the course sounded terribly dry. Favorite prof, hands down and that really made the difference. Ditto to civil procedure. I think it could have sucked, but it was great because my prof was funny and cared about us a lot.