One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School [Paperback]

Scott Turow (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1997

Newsweek calls him "an extraordinarily canny and empathetic observer." In bestseller after bestseller, Turow uses his background as a lawyer to create suspense fiction so authentic it reads with the hammering impact of fact. But before he became a worldwide sensation, Scott Turow wrote a book that is entirely true, the account of his own searing indoctrination into the field of law called ... The first year of law school is an intellectual and emotional ordeal so grueling that it ensures only the fittest survive. Now Scott Turow takes you inside the oldest and most prestigious law school in the country when he becomes a "One L," as entering students are known at Harvard Law School. In a book that became a national bestseller, a law school primer, and a classic autobiography, he brings to life the fascinating, shocking reality of that first year. Provocative and riveting, One L reveals the experience directly from the combat zone: the humiliations, triumphs, hazings, betrayals, and challenges that will make him a lawyer-and forever change Turow's mind, test his principles, and expose his heart.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Actor Paul Rudd deftly narrates this fascinating story of author Turow's experience as a first-year Harvard Law School student. Moreover, Rudd's voice sounds remarkably like Turow's, who provides an introduction. Personal narratives written by successful, famous persons should have to pass a humility test in which all references to entrance exam scores, grade point averages, and collegial or professional honors are stricken from the text, and editors' jobs should depend on how well they apply that test. The editor of this production would receive a solid A-. Even though we know he goes on to fabulous success as both a lawyer and a writer, Turow's initial ego is beautifully subdued by the end of his year as a "One L."?Mark Pumphrey, Polk Cty. P.L., Columbus, NC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"The most accurate, complete, and balanced description yet of a century-old rite of passage in America."--Bruce Bortz, Baltimore Sun

"A sensitive, dramatically paced account of the author's fist year at Harvard Law School...I read the book as if it were the most absorbing of thrillers, losing track of the time I spent with it, and resenting the hours I had to be away from it...It should be read by anyone who has ever contemplated going to law school. or anyone who has ever worried about being human."--Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, The New York Times

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1st Trade Prn Sep 1997 edition (September 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446673781
• ISBN-13: 978-0446673785
• Product Dimensions: 5.2 x 0.8 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (178 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #340,129 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Scott Turow was born in Chicago in 1949. He graduated with high honors from Amherst College in 1970, receiving a fellowship to Stanford University Creative Writing Center which he attended from 1970 to 1972. From 1972 to 1975 Turow taught creative writing at Stanford. In 1975, he entered Harvard Law School, graduating with honors in 1978. From 1978 to 1986, he was an Assistant United States Attorney in Chicago, serving as lead prosecutor in several high-visibility federal trials investigating corruption in the Illinois judiciary. In 1995, in a major pro bono legal effort he won a reversal in the murder conviction of a man who had spent 11 years in prison, many of them on death row, for a crime another man confessed to.

Today, he is a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal an international law firm, where his practice centers on white-collar criminal litigation and involves representation of individuals and companies in all phases of criminal matters. Turow lives outside Chicago

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 47 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Still the best account of law school. August 24, 2001

By Zeldock

Format:Paperback

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.

61 of 69 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The real Paper Chase! April 1, 2005

By Dave Schwinghammer VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

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. Read more ›

43 of 49 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Read this prior to your first yeat at any school! August 3, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

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.

57 of 67 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Partially accurate, partially fiction May 1, 2001

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

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. Read more ›