Why is law school more than one year?

I have just finished my second year of law school. For most law students, that would mean one year left. As a part-time student, that means I have two more years.

The question I have: why on earth is law school more than one year? In the first year, students have to learn quite quickly “how to think like a lawyer.” This involves reading cases, briefing cases, dealing with hypothetical questions (“hypos”) posed by professors and struggling through outline creation. (Actually, it involves reading, reading, reading, reading . . . . Struggling through cases and learning how to determine what the law is in the case is the whole point of the exercise. Until you realize that most people deal with statutes and regulatory agency rules.)

After the first year, everybody can “think like a lawyer,” more or less. Therefore the second and third (and fourth) years are, essentially, practicing what was learned in the first year.

Having a musical background, I understand completely the need for “getting to Carnegie Hall.” What I balk at is the cost: a year of law school costs a gazillion dollars. Practicing “thinking like a lawyer” during years two and three (and four) is wasting money. Practicing a musical instrument in my apartment is free (until evicted).

The other problem is that law school does not prepare you for real world practice. If you’ve never taken a law school exam before, consider this analogy: Suppose that you take a music appreciation class. During the class, you listen to hours and hours of “classical” music forms, read the history and the theory. During class you listen to excerpts and talk about what you’ve heard and read. You might have come up with a little ditty in class when the professor asks. Then the final: write a symphony.

Given what you have done for the class, absolutely nothing has prepared you for writing that symphony.

To bring this back to law school: finals are 100% of your grade and are completely written. But no actual writing was done during the class! Professors do not give out writing assignments and then provide feedback. Reality: students must find old exams and model answers and then use those to teach themselves how to write for a final.

But wait! Why am I paying a gazillion dollars when I have to teach myself? Why can’t a professor bother to give mid-course feedback on my writing? I’m at law school to learn and make my mistakes when it doesn’t cost anybody anything besides my gazillion dollars. Give me some feedback before the final so I don’t completely hurt my future career by getting that C.

This is where law school does a disservice. Students only learn because law schools refuse to teach.