I spent most of my LLB thoroughly mystified as to what my professors wanted from me. Good results were often as mysterious as bad ones - 'but why on earth is this good?' I emerged from the experience feeling, well, stupid. So I'll admit that I was terrified that I wasn't smart enough to cut it at UCLA Law, and that I would fail my first paper and be sent home under a cloud of institutional disappointment. Well, it turns out that the problem may not have been me.
As part of our orientation, international LLMs have to take a five-day course on American law. It's called 'American Law in the Global Context', but it's really just American law. In this course, we're taught about the basics of the American common law system, the interaction between federal and state law, American sources of law and so on. A lot of this was familiar because I come from a legal system that is, at least in part, a common law one. Also, I have the benefit of speaking and understanding English.
What is totally unfamilar to me though, is the way a class is run in an American law school, how to extract the key points from a reading (after three years at law school? Really?) and how to gain the most from lectures. I was terrified by the Socratic method, and it still frightens me a little (I'm not the sort to chat away in class about my thoughts on the reading), but you know what? It beats the system that I'm used to, that is, where the lecturer has a solid 45 minute word vomit, we take down notes until our hands cramp, and then we regurgitate everything the lecturer said in our final assessment and pray that we cited enough authority (basically a citation for each thought we write down).
No, no. That's not how it's done here. Here, we do the readings the night before. Oh, and we've been told to skim read most of our cases and focus only on the few paragraphs relevant to the lesson being taught. And if you're under-prepared? That's okay! That's what class is for. Oh, and the exams? They're open-book because our professors want to see us apply what we've learnt to facts, they're interested in actual argument. Argument? At a law school? What a novel idea.
In short, I think I might be in love with my new school. Of course, there are other variables that I can't ignore: I want to be studying, and I'm learning about things that actually interest me. And I'm being challenged in a way that doesn't scare me. Oh, and I've had a real job for the past year so I know how to work quickly, and how to concentrate (which is good, because our lectures are generally 2-2.5 hours long). I am so excited to start.
Bring. It. On.
