Customer Reviews

One L

5 star:		(85)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Even though this memoir was first published almost 25 years ago, it is still the best depiction of what law school is *really* like. When I went to Harvard Law School (starting in 1995, exactly 20 years after Turow), everyone told me "It's not like One-L anymore." That's only half true -- One-L is overly dramatic, but the basic events and emotions he depicts rang true again and again. Of course, as the other reviews show, some law students are able to blow off the intensity, others (like Turow) become consumed by it, and the rest (like me) swing back and forth between panic and enjoyment. All in all, this is an excellent peek at the law school experience. Just don't use this as your only basis for deciding whether to go to law school and/or to Harvard.

Turow's book is the generally accepted bible of law school life and it lives up to that reputation in part. His depictions of the pressures of the first year of law school are by-and-large accurate, for law schools throughout the U.S., not merely at Harvard. First and foremost, the amount of work required to succeed at law school is at least double or triple the amount of work that a law student expended in college. I attended one of the five most difficult, academically competitive and intensive universities in the country as an undergraduate, studied twice as much as the average college student and was completely unprepared for the workload required at law school.

There is some competition between students, but the most extreme cases of this usually involve students whose ambitions outstrip their abilities.

Some discussions that Turow left out:

1. Should the student even be in law school? Most law school graduates, upon obtaining some experience after graduation, realize that they made a mistake and should have done something else with their lives. There are reasons for attorneys' dissatisfactions with the law, including excessive pressure, workload and stress from dealing with unreasonable clients, counsel and judges.

2. What should be the goals of the law student or law student-to-be? Turlow relates the pressures of competition for a high class rank and membership on law review, but does not even hint that within five years of graduation, those factors become minor and have nothing to do with job satisfaction post-law school.

However, Turow's failure to discuss these issues is consistent with the naive notions of most first year law students. The majority of 1L's believe that success and happiness in life are guaranteed by obtaining a job with a large, prestigious law firm and most rate each other not just as potential lawyers, but as persons, based on whether or not the law student has suceeded in obtaining that six figure salary with the ten office firm. Most (but certainly not all) lawyers do not like working in large firms or even smaller private firms. It is unfortunate for most law students that they do not understand themselves well enough at the time they enter law school or even by graduation, to figure out what will make them happiest for the long run. Turow's book will not provide that information.

So, what Turow does provide is a reasonable accurate account of life as a laws student, interspersed with fiction. This year- long tale is not purely a work of historical accuracy, as Turow does add some additional elements to keep it interesting. Chief among these fictional interludes is the storyline of the death of Turow's fellow student who could not handle the pressure at school. One of my professors was in Turow's class at Harvard and categorically denied that any student in their first year committed suicide or died.

Overall, a decent, if somewhat sensationalized account of law school from a student's perspective. If you are contemplating attending law school, though, you should first determine from reading books on the actual practice of law and from talking to practicing lawyers, whether the profession is right for you. Pick up One-L only after you have made a conscious and well-reasoned decision to go to law school or are intending to read the book purely for pleasure.

I originally read ONE L, I think, because I was a big fan of The Paper Chase. This version includes an afterward, written after PRESUMED INNOCENT was published.

As a first-year law student, Turow had to study the law of Contracts, Torts, and Property, Criminal Law, and Civil Procedure. A lot of this reminded me of the Paper Chase with professors using the Socratic method in which students are interrogated at length on selected court cases from which they are expected to deduce legal principles.

Rudolph Perini, Turow's Contracts professor, will definitely remind you of Professor Kingsfield. "Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, the mornings we have Contracts . . . I'm nearly sick to my stomach. . . . I can't believe it, but I think about that class and I get ill," Turow complains.

Another Paper Chase element is the study group. A small number of students, usually between four and eight, would meet regularly to discuss common concerns. Turow valued his group for its therapeutic function. At first Turow and his cohorts in the study group disdained grades, but that gradually changed as Midterms drew closer. The top five or six people in each 1L section would be elected to The Law Review the next summer. Those elected would glean faculty contacts, the opportunity to teach at a law school, and the possibility of a Supreme Court clerkship.

Some parts of ONE L are rather funny. For instance, students often retaliated against a professor by hissing, "a piece of student weaponry frequently used when a professor dismissed a student's comments unfairly or said something hardhearted". Another instance would be the night before Midterms when Turow took a sleeping pill, and a Valium, but still couldn't get to sleep. He got up and had a drink, then another, had sex twice with his wife and finally fell asleep at three. Also, on test day, Turow brings along earplugs, paper, four pencils, four pens, three rolls of mints, two packs of cigarettes, a cup of iced coffee, a Coke, two chocolate bars, a pencil sharpener, an extension cord for my typewriter.

We also get to meet a rather famous personage. Turow signs up for Constitutional Law taught by Archibald Cox, but quickly drops the course because Cox is a dull lecturer. There is also the beginning of fundamental change. Nearly a quarter of American law students were now women. In Turow's class ten percent were black, three percent Latin, twenty-one percent women. The first female president of the Law Review was also elected.

Turow has several suggestions on how to improve Harvard Law school, especially the first year: Smaller classes, more opportunities for students to write and to make contact with the faculty, different formats for evaluation of student performance, election to the Law Review without reference to grades. He also felt that being frightened was more detrimental than motivating. He would supplement case reading with film, drama, informal narrative, and actual client contact.

Turow ends by suggesting more of a practical application. Students should be taught "brief writing, research, courtroom technique, document drafting, negotiation, client counseling, and the paramount task of gathering the facts." He would also emphasize legal ethics, suggesting that the general public has a dim view of lawyers, rating them only slightly higher than used car salesmen. What are the ethical imperatives for a lawyer who is confronted with a client who wishes to save his business, his liberty, his life, by lying under oath? he asks, implying that this sort of thing happens more often than one might think.

Scott Turow's first book is a true inspiration to those who are entering law school or any school for that matter. A true account of his first year as a Harvard Law student, Turow explains how he narrowly escaped a nervous breakdown from studying so hard. As a Harvard alum myself, Turow's description of life in Cambridge is exact in every detail. A friend of mine was a classmate of Turow's and his character is actually mentioned in the book. He confirmed what their first year was like and praised Turow for such an accurate account. If reading about students studying all day and all night motivates you to get better grades..since that is all that matters at most schools, then this book is for you. If you are entering undergraduate or graduate studies to slack off and disapear from society for several years, don't read this book. It would really depress you.

One of my classmates told me about this book about six weeks into my first semester of law school. I read it and it scared me to death; I'm glad I didn't read this book BEFORE I submitted my application to law school.

As an academic prima donna in college who really never had to WORK to get good grades, the tenor of this book was something of a shock. Looking back, I found it to be pretty accurate. It also helped me to understand that I wasn't the only one who felt out of my league. Turow's descriptions of the mood of his first year class in those innocent, early weeks to the shell-shocked dread he describes just before finals is really close to what I saw in my first year. Unlike the other reviewers, I saw some of my classmates crumble. I heard about the panic attacks first hand. I saw marriages disintegrate, nice people become really weird and pedigreed academics like me get cut way down to size. Finally I watched as the attrition rate kick in, and I knew it for what it was. This book helped me understand what it was I had gotten myself into. Turow doesn't hold any punches. I, for one, appreciated his candor. It was something to hold onto during those sleepless nights.

My advise to anyone who is thinking about trying for law school: Look before you leap and find out as much as you can about what you are getting into. Law school is nothing like college. And Turow illustrates that pretty clearly in this book. That having been said, don't let Turow scare you. Your first year is going to be ugly, but once you make it through, and you will, you're a completely different person.

Dan Lobnitz - University of Denver College of Law (2L)

As a lawyer who followed Turow into Harvard Law School's hallowed halls a decade later (I'm certain they raised the standards after I graduated), I found One L entertaining. Unlike Turow, though, I actually enjoyed my experience -- and I was not one of the top students. Aspiring law students should read Turow's book, but not take it too seriously. I think most 21st-century U.S. law schools -- including Harvard -- are more humane institutions than the place Turow describes. For those who have read One L, I highly recommend another book, Dead Hand Control. In fact, I'd go so far to say that novel should be required reading for anyone considering law as a career, especially if their only insight into law school is from One L. Dead Hand Control chronicles a second-year law student's journey through classes, interviews, and the law-firm environment. The author, Tim Stutler, is an attorney who attended Harvard as well as Boalt Hall (U.C. Berkeley). The law school experiences described in Stutler's book are much closer to my experience (and far more entertaining) than those in One L. Equally enlightening is the book's depiction of life after law school. I don't know if One L or Dead Hand Control will change anyone's decision to attend law school, but they certainly reveal little secrets of the profession never mentioned in law school brochures. That can't be a bad thing.

Turow writes a gripping account of his first year at law school. Fortunately for many future "1L's" this account is a less then accurate depiction of a first year law experience. Law school is intense, especially the first year. No one doubts that. But his accounts of grade comparing, crying, panic attacks, etc. are not what law school is about. Law school is an academic challenge that is not impossible. Turow does encapsulate the friendships built in law school quite well. A delicate balance between loyalty and hard work, with a dash of competitiveness. This is not unlike anywhere else in the world; including undergraduate academia. I enjoyed reading this novel, and would recommend it to others as long as it was understood that law school has changed. Sure the Socratic method still prevails, but professor aloofness, backstabbing competitiveness, and law review or bust mentalities are all things of the past. I recommend it as an easy read for someone who understands the context under which the book was written(HLS in the 70's), but not for someone seeking an insiders account to law school in the 21st century.

I thought this book was an interesting portrayal of an Ivy League law school - I read it the summer before I began law school at a Jesuit law school on the West Coast.

Many of the 1L experiences will be the same no matter where one attends - the stress from competition, for example - I liked to characterize it as "the thrill of victory" (to get a cherished A) or the "agony of defeat" (to make an idiot out of yourself in class, which, I am sorry to say, I did on more than one occasion!)

My advice to prospective (and current) law students would be to buy the book, and read it with a grain of salt. I believe that each person has the ability to create their own destiny, and there's a hell of a lot more to learning the law, and succeeding in your chosen profession, than being in the top 5% and on law review - make friends, have fun, and most of all, use your knowledge to help more less fortunate than you, no matter if you went to Harvard or number #176 on U.S. News's list of 177 law schools. That's the key to success as an attorney, and in life, for that matter. Just my $.02!

There should really be two separate ratings for this book: realism, and entertainment value. As entertainment, insofar as it tells a great story with the skills of a good author, it's a good read. As a primer for law school, it will prove a disservice for those prone to paranoia. Unfortunately, in law school, over half the students are paranoid and over-stressed. Also, as some reviews have said below, not all law schools are created equally. Harvard is surely at the bottom of the quality-of-life scale, as can be seen in objective magazine reviews.

As a contrast, law school constituted three of the best years of my life. I made great friends and have terrific memories of my time in Tucson, AZ at an upper-echelon school. Turow, however, focuses on the worst year of law school at a school containing mostly kids who are educational zealots by definition and thus not well-rounded. In that sense, it's not a very educational book insofar as it purports to "prepare" the reader for law school.

In sum, most law students will enjoy "One-L" for its entertainment value and to appreciate how much better they have it than did Turow. Prospective students, however, should not read it as a Bible regarding whether the law school environment is for them.

My husband was a grad student at Harvard when he came across the book and brought it home. He had taken a Harvard Law class in conjunction with his own concentration, and loved it to the point that he was thinking of applying.

Well, he didn't apply in the long run, but I did pick up the book. And goodness, but I'm glad I did.

One-L does not just tell you about the first year of law school at Harvard in the mid 70s - it tells you what students at Harvard are thinking, feeling, and experiencing. It talks about stress, peer pressure, teachers who bore, who excite, fascinating classes, horrific encounters, and the like. Turow somehow manages to cram all the highs and lows of a single nine-month period into a single book, and by the end of it I felt that though my husband wasn't at Harvard Law, I understood what he was experiencing himself a thousand times better.

And that's a very good thing, because as anyone who's had to put a spouse through any level of higher education can tell you - it SUCKS. Whether or not the details of what Turow experienced matched my husband's daily grind don't matter quite as much as the fact that they both were having the same emotional and physical drain on a regular basis - and understanding this drain was vital to our living happily in a too-crammed apartment on Garden Street.

I still recommend this book to the spouses of friends who are going to law or grad school - although I caution the actual student not to read it until they've graduated! I firmly believe that it needs to be required reading for family members who want to better understand what their student is experiencing - there is no better way of describing what life for 1Ls is like than this book.