One L

Rating:
Summary: Well written, fun to read
Review: I loved this book! Turow is gifted in his ability to describe the intensity of the first year. Having been through Medical School and preparing for Law School, I found this book helpful in that Turow's description of the emotional aspects of the first year of Law School are similar to what I experienced in Medical School. The fear, the competition, the realization that you are surrounded by people who have always excelled, and chances are good you're going to be average for the first time in your life. I assume that things have changed greatly at HLS since Turow's day, but I can say I'm glad to have chosen a smaller, more practical, less pretentious school!

Rating:
Summary: Good read; mandatory for future law students
Review: I read "One L" prior to going to Gonzaga Law School in part to brace myself for what was going to come. Turow does get one thing right for sure in his book---the crushing work load that every law student has to take on. There is pressure, that is for sure but I found it to be solely due to the huge amount of material one had to master in what seemed to be a very short period of time. And he also got the stress of law school final exams right. Nothing in undergraduate school will prepare a student for the single exam winner-take-all format that most law classes still follow to this day.

What I didn't find accurate from his book is the cutthroat competition amongst law students. That might've been what it was in the early 1970s when he was at Harvard. It certainly wasn't what I experienced. I cannot recall a single occasion where my classmates sat around talking about grades, speculating about who would make Law Review, or battling in study groups like Turow describes. Maybe Gonzaga was just a more humane place than Harvard.

Still, I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what the law school experience is like (or was like). And if you're thinking of going to law school, be prepared for the biggest academic challenge of your life, wherever you go.

Rating:
Summary: Essential read for pre-laws; still a good read for others.
Review: This is a great book. If you are thinking about Law School, you HAVE to read it. Understand, though, that the Law School experience--and the HLS experience, in specific--has changed a lot since the time this book was written. Still, nothing can give you a better idea of what law school will be like than this book. Today, hundreds of law students keep blogs of their experience--this phenomenon was clearly inspired by this book, which is written like (and, in fact adapted from) Turow's journal.

Even if you're not Law School bound, this is an exciting, engaging book that tells a great story. Turow is, of course, a successful author and an established writer. This book stands on its own as a good read.