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Law in Contemporary Society
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Why Law School Is Like Hogwarts
1. The acceptance. No one truly knows whether they are going to get into Hogwarts, until that magical acceptance letter shows up at your door. Just like law school, you can never be sure of getting in, until you receive your acceptance letter (by e-mail).
2. The sorting ceremony. When you arrive at Hogwarts, the first thing that happens is you get sorted into your new house where you’re going to live and you meet the people you’re going to spend all your time with. At law school, when you arrive, you get your schedule. The first day of classes, you realize everyone in your classes has the exact same schedule. You’re going to be spending all your time with these same people, day after day after day.
3. The first dinner. When you arrive at Hogwarts, it is overwhelming, as you get introduced into this whole new life of people and places. Orientation is just like this when you hear a bunch of the professors talk and make speeches about how you are entering into a whole new world and you will be forever changed because of your time spent in law school. You’re going to make life-long friendships, perhaps even meet your spouse, and you will never be the same.
4. Professor Snape. He was downright scary, all the students were afraid of him…he cold called and you knew had to be on top of your stuff. Law school professors = a bunch of Professor Snapes. They all (well most of them) set out to be intimidating with their cold calling and trying to get information from you, pressing and pressing with their probing questions. It’s supposed to help you learn, but does it really?
5. The first year classes. At Hogwarts, Harry certainly didn’t get to choose what he was going to take. In law school, neither did we. Actually much of first year in both schools you get told what you can and can’t do. And that list is long. Coming from a world of autonomy, law school can be stifling as you face these limited choices. What if you don’t want to go into constitutional law? Too bad, it’s not your choice and you have to take that class.
6. Hermoine. At Hogwarts, she was the one who knew it all. How to correctly pronounce Wingardium Leviosa so that the feather would rise. She read the books before the first day of class, and was simply a know-it-all. At law school, I learned that there are these types of people here too. Yes, even at this law school, there are Hermoines. In fact, I used to be a Hermoine, I don’t really know what changed. Even though being a Hermoine is apparently curable, but you may not want to cure this, because she is the one after all who kept on saving Harry and Ron from being killed. Maybe these law school Hermoines will save people from being wrongly sued or perhaps even being wrongly incriminated and incarcerated for a crime they didn’t commit.
7. Robes. At law school, they’re called suits. You wear them for special occasions (interviews). Some peoples robes and suits are better than other people. But that doesn’t make them better people. Just think of Ron Weasley and his tattered robes, and we all know he was one of the top wizards at Hogwarts!
8. The Exams. No one knows what they’re going to be on exactly. Before you knew the format of your tests and what was going to be tested. Not at Hogwarts, the professors just threw you into some sort of situation that you had to get yourselves out of. Same in law school, they give you a fact pattern and you’re expected to critique and provide analysis for the client. You think you’ve been learning something all semester and then you get to the exam.
9. The lack thereof of learning practical skills. At Hogwarts you learned all these spells, but you didn’t really learn how to apply them. Harry even had to start his own club to start teaching people how to use magic to defend themselves in real world situations. Here at law school, I’m learning that law school doesn’t teach us how to be lawyers, a fact which confuses me. Apparently we don’t learn black letter law, or anything useful that would help us actually practice law. I even thought back to my Contracts class, and realized we never even read an actual contract. Just like in Defense of the Dark Arts, they never fought real dark arts, either.
10. Belief systems. You’re taught at Hogwarts to believe that good is good and the students are indoctrinated into a certain way of thinking. Here at law school, it appears that Career Services is trying to indoctrinate us into a way of living. Make good grades. Get a good job. Those who attempted to stray off the path did not succeed at Hogwarts. In fact, people at law school who don’t think that grades are the most important thing are often seen as crazy.
11. Nothing is as it seems. Literally, in Hogwarts, staircases moved, paintings talked, mirrors could show you things other than your reflection. At law school, I feel like this is the case. Because things don’t always go according to plan. And some professors, even though they seem mean, might be the nicest people ever. I think I am still discovering more uncertainties as I progress through my time in law school.
Paper Title-- By RaynaReid - 16 Feb 2012Section ISubsection ASubsub 1Subsection BSubsub 1Subsub 2Section IISubsection ASubsection BYou are entitled to restrict access to your paper if you want to. But we all derive immense benefit from reading one another's work, and I hope you won't feel the need unless the subject matter is personal and its disclosure would be harmful or undesirable. To restrict access to your paper simply delete the "#" character on the next two lines:
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