- ISBN13: 9780446673785
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
Product Description
Memoirs adapted from the author’s diary chronicle his emotionally and intellectually challenging first year in law school and records the fierce and sometimes hysterical competition that is faced by Harvard Law School students. Reprint. Tour. NYT. “… More >>
One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School
Tags: diary, First, Harvard, harvard law school, law school students, nyt, remainder mark, School, Story, True, Turbulent, turbulent true story, Year
#1 by William M. Doolittle on April 22, 2010 - 6:33 pm
I love Scott Turow’s books in general, but this one is of little interest for anyone except lawyers. Like legal writing itself, the book drones on endlessly in a language few know or care to know. On the other hand Turow’s writings about the death penalty are terrific.
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by Anonymous on April 22, 2010 - 7:58 pm
What a WUSS! Actually, on the taped version, Scott practically admits this himself. Here’s a little test; Go to a law school library, and read a couple of cases…
From “One L”: “Tried to read a case today. It is harder than hell.”
Uh huh.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by Blaine Greenfield on April 22, 2010 - 8:40 pm
Heard ONE L, the account by best-selling author Scott Turow
(PRESUMED INNOCENT, among others) of his first year at
Harvard Law School . . . although he was a student some
25 years before he wrote the book, it still gave me a gripping
account of what being a law student then was all about . . . and
though I’ve never attended law school, friends have told me
that much of his account still holds true; i.e., it is certainly not
an easy experience.
I particularly enjoyed Turow’s account of his various professors and
why he liked some–and detested authors . . . in the latter category,
he placed this one individual who had this to say on the first day
of class:
It is the hardest course you’ll take. . . . I am not an easy person.
I expect you to be here every day. . . . I expect you to be very
well prepared every day. I want to be absolutely clear on that. I
have never heard the word “pass.” I do not know what unprepared
means.
Now and then, there are personal problems. We all have these
at times, which will make full preparation impossible. If that is the
case, I then want a written note handed to my secretary at least
two hours before class.
Now, personally, I’m not sure that I will ever go that far in addressing
my students at the beginning of the semester . . . yet that said, I
do like the one part about expecting students to be very well
prepared for each class . . . I might just incorporate that one
part into my opening remarks!
Paul Rudd did an excellent job of narration.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by Michael Gordon on April 22, 2010 - 9:20 pm
I’m not sure what to make of Turow’s book. Here is a guy who goes to Harvard Law School, an institution which has existed in its present form for well over 200 years. As a first year law student, he has the nerve to have all these criticisms of the institution — that it’s hostile, that the law is not warm and fuzzy, that there are clear boundaries in the law, which seem to indicate that he has choosen the wrong field. He seemed to be quite selfish in that he wanted the school to change many of its most cheerished methods of teaching to satisfy one alienated, empty-headed student.
All readers assume that one’s first year at Harvard Law School is challenging. Ironically, it does seem as though Harvard may have listened to Mr. Turow’s complaints since I have not heard of the difficulty of the institution from other students/graduates. It is possible that they have dumbed-down the curriculum to satisfy those who would prefer to complain than learn.
At the same time, this book certainly opens our perspective in how the law school class is set up, including the Socratic method, to which I was already quite familiar with. I would urge readers not to think that Mr. Turow’s experience is at all shared by most at Harvard — or any other institution. Remember that Mr. Turow just happened to want to write about his experience, but many others who choose not to write probably had drastically different experiences. Maybe they choose to learn and excel rather than to criticize an institution ten times their age.
Mr. Turow’s analysis of the other students also appears rather superficial and shallow. The students are essentially grouped into the achievers, the complainers (who think of themselves as “intellectuals,” but who, in reality, are no more intellectual than a kindergardener with a crayon), and the professors who “harass” the students. What about the exact types of questions one faces in law school. How are the questions different from undergraduate life? Is law school merely a tarriff to prevent competition in the legal professsion? Also, as with most people who advocate change, Mr. Turow is remarkably short on specifics on how he would change the law school experience. The lack of specifics is common for those who gripe about the present but are unable to explain an alternative system to which they aspire.
This is certainly an interesting book, but I would hesitate to think that it is the Bible of the Law School experience. It is merely one story about one institution in a particular year.
Rating: 3 / 5
#5 by Erol Esen on April 22, 2010 - 9:47 pm
First of all Scott Turow writes better than Saul Bellow. I just wanted to get that thought out in the open.
Secondly the character of Rudolph Perini is interesting as everyone has already commented, but I would like to bring your attention to one specific detail of the Socratic Method (i.e. why-why-why questions about court cases that lead to deducing legal principles) Perini used in the class: That a single student was chosen as the proverbial North star for the day and bombarded with questions about a legal case. A question was deflected to another student only in the event the much chagrined star-for-the-day student heads towards a wrong path of argument. Having a reference point to which all other students can keep their bearings straight is the difficult job of a great teacher. Once the course is set back onto the correct path, the line of questioning goes right back to the star-for-the-day.
Incidentally, I believe the method used above can be very useful for understanding software design. It is imperative for all members of a software development team to understand where a product development is heading. During frequent design meetings I see much benefit for a project manager to pick someone in the team and work through verbally a scenario, which is an instance of a use case, where high-level modules interact with one another.
Rating: 5 / 5