Law School Open House: Mock Class

Comments

• LastLSAT Alum Member

  March 2018 edited April 2018 1028 karma

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• westcoastbestcoast Alum Member

  March 2018 3788 karma

  @LastLSAT said:
  Vandy?

  Nah illinois urbana
• Seeking Perfection Alum Member

  March 2018 4428 karma

  @westcoastbestcoast said:
  Does anyone have experience taking a mock class in open house? The school gave us a case to study to prep for class and I dont know what to expect. The class will be taught by the dean

  Two, one at Duke's ASW and one at Michigan's. You could probably get by just reading the case. However, I recommend briefing it for the practice.

  I have heard varied advice about whether to brief all cases for law school or to develop an abbreviated method, but just in case the Dean goes all Socratic method on you, you want to be ready. This will also help you follow the issues more easilly when they are presented rather than stumbling on simple factual things.
• FixedDice Member

  March 2018 edited March 2018 1804 karma

  Had about three. None of them cold-called; the professor relies on volunteers to get the discussion going. There is no need to analyze it like (how I expect) one would in law school. It might benefit you to read the case though; some of those classes can be very, very engaging.
• westcoastbestcoast Alum Member

  March 2018 3788 karma

  Thanks @"Seeking Perfection" and @FixedDice !! I'll definitely do a write up and be ready just in case I get called on. What cases did you guys get?
• Paul Caint Alum Member ⭐

  March 2018 3521 karma

  Yeah I sat in on one at Cornell. It's really interesting! The Professor probably won't coldcall. Depending on the school, you'll probably have a good amount of people who are eager to volunteer so don't feel pressured to be on call! At the same time, it's a great time to try your first (tho I guess pseudo) experience speaking in front of your classmates and professor in a law school setting
• FixedDice Member

  March 2018 1804 karma

  I'm not sure. Some of the schools I visited gave me more than one option, and I read all the cases I was given before I made my decisions. I believe I read ones on criminal law, property, remedies, and torts. @westcoastbestcoast
• 1 Like

  Seeking Perfection Alum Member

  March 2018 4428 karma

  @westcoastbestcoast said:
  Thanks @"Seeking Perfection" and @FixedDice !! I'll definitely do a write up and be ready just in case I get called on. What cases did you guys get?

  At Michigan, mine was a torts mock class taught by Sherman Clark. The case discussed was actually two hypotheticals about nuisance law which had different outcomes. I mentioned the Socratic method because the prof did cold call and basically stuck with the same person the whole time. He oscillated between sort of teaching the case by asking questions about it to the one prospective student and a few others and also trying to situate the Socratic method in the overall purpose of law school and the skill of lawyering. The student handled the questions fine and she clearly had read the case. I think everyone there, but especially the student he asked the most questions to was more likely to attend U Mich following the class and to have a better understaning of how law school, law school exams, and the Socratic Method all fit together.

  At Duke, I attended a Corporate Law mock class which was more interesting than I expected. The professor used the example of an article which was written about Delta choosing to cancel it's discount for NRA members in the wake of the Parkland to discuss what options corporations with different structures have regarding acts that may not be to their direct fiduciary advantage. She called only on people who raised their hands.

  I'm more likely to take a corporate law class wherever I go now 2L year because I found the discussion at Duke very interesting, but I felt the Michigan mock class answered more of my burning questions about law school.

  The Duke mock class felt like a more representative experience of later 2L and 3L classes. The Michigan torts mock class felt like I was immersed in a first year torts class being taught by the most charismatic professor UMich has to offer.

  One slightly unexpected feature of both mock classes which I enjoyed and felt comforted by as an Econ major was that they both touched on externalities. Professor Clark quipped something to the effect of "We'll come back to that in a second. If we were over at Chicago we would jump right on that least cost avoider angle." At Duke, Professor Elisabeth de Fontenay brought up externalities in the discussion of whether corporations ethically ought to obey the law, be profit maximizers(even if it means breaking the law and paying fines), or try to reduce externalities beyond the amount mandated by law.