Lawyers and lawyers only, babies aka law students do not enjoy rights of audience in this thread.
What was your least favourite subject? Mine was Civil Procedure. Followed closely by Trusts.
Tax. Funny thing was, I really liked the professor, and I did ok in the class. I just found the material painfully dull.
Please tell me Tax was a compulsory subject in your course.
Community Property. All those formulas to figure out percentages of property after divorce were brutal. Especially because there’s actually no need to manually figure out all that crap, there’s software out there that does it for you. Hate.
Civ Pro also sucked. Total yawnathon.
Real Property. I liked the professor fine, but I just couldn’t find a way to care, and the rules were so arcane.
Totally. I kinda geeked out on future interests, though, they were like little mini puzzles to figure out…
Nope. If I remember correctly, the only required classes were the first year: contracts, torts, property, civil procedure, legislation, con law, a three-semester legal research/writing class, and the third year ethics class. Tax fell in to a second tier of classes that were not required, but were recommended by most advisers, along with evidence, criminal law, criminal procedure, corporations, wills & estates, trial practice and administrative law.
There was a writing requirement–ie, a class where the grade was based on on a research paper, but you could pick from a list of subjects during any semester after the first year, or you could convince a professor to supervise an independent research paper.
Selection for Law Review, Moot Court, and Mock Trial was competitive. I did Moot Court in International Law of all things
Criminal law and evidence weren’t required in your school? What state did you go to law school in?
Corporation/Partnership/LLC (called “Business Organizations” at my law school).
I had a great professor, I just suck at it.
I don’t think they were. It was 15 years ago and I could be mistaken. I took both, and everything else my adviser recommended. He was an old school guy, taught everything with the Socratic method, and he suggested a very traditional slate of classes with a few “fun” choices to pursue areas of interest.
Secured transactions. I’d have been the damn valedictorian if it weren’t for secured transactions.
Until you notice that the software matches the legislation rather than the judicial decisions. That happened in Ontario with respect to how mortgages on the matrimonial home were treated. Folks who relied on the software did so at their peril, for the software was based on the legislation, including a section that the courts had rejected.
Tax – not so much because of the subject matter, but because the prof could barely speak English.
Federal Income Tax, a required course was boring and tedious. I did well in it. Civil Procedure was my favorite, I did poorly in it. Despite that, more than two decades later my classmates call me up on Civ Pro questions.
Bit of a geek here–I liked most of 'em. That said, there were a few–
Wills: The rather paternalistic attitude that courts/legislatures frequently (based on the selected cases!) seemed to take towards anything that wasn’t a ‘traditional’ estate plan irritated me quite a bit. Nor was I a fan of the forced elective share–while I understand it as a matter of social policy intended to keep widows off the dole, it ought to have some sort of a means test. (Besides that, I generally think you ought to be able to be an utter bastard if that’s what floats your boat.) Plus, the relentless formalities associated with making an effective testamentary instrument–really, do we doubt this was the decedent’s intent because he signed on the side of the page instead of at the bottom? IMO, wills law could stand to be knocked over and started nearly from scratch.
Legal Ethics: This was just a disaster of a course. The subject matter is important, and I might’ve liked it if the course hadn’t been such a joke. (Or not. It’s important, but I’m not sure if that is enough to make it fun.) The less said the better. Irony: I actually got a cash prize for having the top grade in my section.
Negotiation: Chalk this up to a personality conflict with the adjunct. Probably would’ve had a lot of fun with it otherwise.
Agency: This was accelerated and compressed into half of a semester, shared with Partnerships/Unincorporated Business Associations. Mostly this was a dull adjunct, but I seem to recall the reading putting me to sleep as well. (Ultimately, this became one of the only courses in law school where I didn’t do much of the reading.) When the agency guy passed the baton to the UBA guy, the class did a 180–it was engaging, fun, and I learned the material really well despite not cracking the book.
(Oops! Technically I’m not a lawyer yet–but the bar’s passed and I’m off to get interviewed and sworn in next month. Close enough, I hope. ;))
Professional Responsibility. It was one part MPRE review course, which is useful but boring, and two parts amateur philosophy club, which was tendentious and boring.
I ended up hating conflicts of laws, an elective I thought I’d like. I’m not sure why–something about the professor’s style.
Conflict of Laws is my choice. It was a required course at our school; and in addition to it being just plain difficult, the fact that it was required meant that I couldn’t take another course that interested me far more.
State and Local Tax was the absolute worst. The first half was all of the most boring cases from first-year con law (i.e., substantive due process and commerce clause cases–I’m talking case after case about filled milk and colored margarine), and the second half was boring technical rules about different ways to do a sales tax or franchise tax.
Civ Pro, without a doubt. I also hated Business Associations (aka Corporations), even though I had a WONDERFUL prof (RIP Professor Shipman) who made it as interesting as it possibly could have been. I LOVED Wills, Estates, and Trusts–that was my highest grade.