the Cost of Law School

I went to law school. basic law courses the first year torts, criminal law, constitutional law, contracts, legal research & writing, etc. You do have to do mock trial, but there is more emphasis on your writing than on the oral presentation. The second and third years there are a couple more required classes and then you take electives. You want to focus your electives to what is on the Bar exam or where you have interests. You never have to take trial-type courses if you do not want to.

Law is so large and complex that there is no one set of information that you could call "the law." There are so many things to learn and so many ways to learn them that different law schools take wholly divergent approaches. Prestige attracts more qualified candidates, who in turn are able to engage material in different ways. Employers know this and hire those who have attended prestigious law schools, both because the law school admissions process has acted as an initial screening mechanism and because they have a sense that graduates from more prestigious law schools have been challenged by more qualified classmates and professors.

Study- get outlines from 2Ls, commercial outlines, answers and explanations. But, the most important thing in my opinion is practice exams. The fact is just about everyone studies enough to know the law well. If you take practice exams, and can learn write answers that are close to final draft copy under a time pressure situation you will have a chance at being in the top 10%- which is critical if you want to get on law review / have any career prospects if your not going to a top school