What Was Your Most Memorable Law School Class Session?

Anon
Oct 8, 2009 8:16 AM CST

None.  I can’t think of a single memorable incident.  Nor did I learn anything that was particularly helpful to me as a lawyer.

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Old Lawyer
Oct 8, 2009 9:51 AM CST

Nothing sticks in my mind more vividly than the occasion in Civil Procedure my 1st year - a long time ago - when a classmate responded to the professor’s question: “What does ‘pro tanto’ mean, Mr. ____” with “Gee, Professor ____, the only Tanto I ever heard of was an Indian!”  Of course, had we known back then he’d have said “Native American,” but at least he didn’t say anything about a cross, God forbid!

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speechless
Oct 8, 2009 10:25 AM CST

It was first-year contracts.  My father had come from out of town to visit, and he wanted to sit in on that class because it was taught by Archibald Cox, a name he recognized from the Nixon years.  We sat in the middle of the third row.  Prof. Cox broke his long-standing tradition of going down the rows to call on people and called on me instead.  I was literally, completely, speechless.  Total humiliation….

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Meg Tebo
Oct 8, 2009 11:52 AM CST

Crim Pro. Professor, a locally well-known civil rights advocate, was waxing about how one should never, ever, ever consent to a search by police. “If they ask to search, they’ve already decided to find something,” he said. One kid, clearly not getting it, raised his hand and said, “But if I have nothing to hide, why would I refuse the police the opportunity to look around and see that I have nothing to hide?”
The whole class gasps at this display of ignorance of what the professor was just saying. Silence for a beat. Then the professor starts walking toward the side of the room where the kid is sitting. Standing a few feet away, he says to the kid, “Stand up.” Kid gets warily to his feet. “Take off your pants,” says Prof. “Whaaa?” says kid. “Take off your pants. You have nothing to hide, right? So what’s the problem with me asking you to take off your pants?”
Kid grabbed his books and shot out of the room like he was being chased. Didn’t see him for the rest of the semester. Heard he dropped the class.

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Esq.
Oct 8, 2009 4:15 PM CST

Sorry, just one more. ..  I took an evidence class where (I’m a little fuzzy on the topic)  professor offered as an example that if a one were to admit a transcript into evidence showing that a person has completed level IV French, a reasonable inference could be made, based on that transcript, that the person was proficient in the French language.  Well, some genius classmate raised his hand and said with dead seriousness and conviction “no, they could be in French IV because of affirmative action.”

A little too far outside the box on that one.

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john vail
Oct 9, 2009 5:40 AM CST

First year con law, with a wonderful professor known for “Paper Chase” style grillings.  The student in the dock was flubbing the facts of an early, convoluted case and was paying a price.  Finally, the student reached into his back pocket, pulled out his wallet, flipped it open in front of him, looked at it and commanded, “Beam me up, Scottie.”  The room, including the professor, roared.

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Monica
Oct 9, 2009 5:47 AM CST

In our first semester, we started to change classes and noticed some strange young men loitering in our hallways.  There were about 4 or 5 of them, all dressed the same and standing in different spots in the halls.  After switching out our books and fetching coffee, we returned to our classroom for the next class.  The professor began to speak for a few minutes, and then a police officer and one of the loiterers burst through the door wrestling and making loud commotion.  Seconds later, the arrest was made and out they went.  Of course we all looked at each other utterly confused and in shock of what just interrupted what was to be another long hour of a Lawyering Skills lecture.  Turns out, the young men were all sons of the professor and it was a set up to teach us the difficulty of interviewing a witness.  After the incident, no student could agree on what the kid actually looked like.

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silencedogood
Oct 9, 2009 6:40 AM CST

In my 1L property class we were discussing a line of cases regarding the long track record of losses by American Indians when trying to obtain property rights or restore them. 

I went to an extremely politically correct law school so when the professor called on a friend of mine (who was well known as not only a complete smarta$$ with a Dave Chappelle/Chris Rock sense of humor but one who also liked to push people’s buttons) everyone in our section was primed for something. 

He began by stating in a completely deadpan manner that it was well settled law in the United States that in property disputes, indians always lose before launching into a discussion of the cases which, while valid and completely on point, also included some comedic barbs such as stating “the slippery slope problem exists here and raises such questions as X, Y, and Z.  Where would that logically end?  We are not going to give back Montana.”

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Debra Bollinger
Oct 9, 2009 6:59 AM CST

I had two.  The first was in Civ-Pro.  The day before the day in question I had been grilled for the second half of the class.  I assumed (my mistake!) that I would be safe the next day.  However the professor had other ideas, “Ms. you did so well yesterday, let’s continue.  If the guy behind me hadn’t whispered the answers to me (thank goodness the prof was hard of hearing and I wasn’t), I wouldn’t have made it through.  The sad thing was the guy quit law school shortly after that! 
The other was a typical school prank.  Between classes we would go down to the student lounge which had a TV.  In mid-morning they use to run one of those religious talk shows, 700 club or something like it.  One guy went on and on joking and laughing at the show.  Needless to say he was a pompous jerk and no one in the class liked him.  So, we submitted $10 bucks in cash in his name to the group.  I think he’s still on their mailing list….

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Matt
Oct 9, 2009 7:12 AM CST

Most memorable class: I attended night school.  For Legal Writing we had an experienced Legal Aid attorney.  To demonstrate appellate writing, he showed us his brief from a successful criminal appeal, where he got a rape conviction dismissed on a double jeopardy argument.  The first trial judge declared a mistrial, but his questions to the jury foreman regarding whether the jury was deadlocked were not as clear as they should have been, at least when seen in a transcript.  One student asked the professor whether he thought his client had been guilty.  The professor responded that he had no doubt that his client had been guilty, and that his client later went on to commit more rapes.  The room went silent, realizing that our professor’s “success” had resulted in more victims.  I think about that from time to time.  I don’t handle criminal law.

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Christopher
Oct 9, 2009 7:15 AM CST

A few;
- To follow on an earlier comment, the first class after 9/11 at an NYC law school in a nights program with several NYPD/NYFD sitting and wondering who wouldn’t return.  Thankfully everyone did.
- There was a guy, late 20’s/early 30’s who often read the paper during lectures (yes, we wondered whose kid he was too), and was never asked questions (ibid), so one day in Crim the professor asks him what he thinks and with an expression of great frustration he folds his paper and say,“What do you think?” stands up and walks out.  He finished with us, so he knew someone.
- A torts prof who had an accent and said a particular word several times a lecture in a kind of funny way, so we would wager on the total number and count.  Every once in a while you’d hear a groan or expression of glee as a person won or lost.

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RL
Oct 9, 2009 7:24 AM CST

In 1997, when the OJ Simpson trial was much fresher in our memories, I was in a “Law and Forensics” course. One of the two professors was Dr. Henry Lee, the noted forensic investigator. One class, he spent several hours showing us slides and providing many unique details about the Simpson case and Dr. Lee’s investigation. In particular, I recall a picture of the bloody sidewalk murder site which, per Dr. Lee, never was used in the trial, and also Dr. Lee’s explanation that OJ’s mysteriously missing new knife had actually been turned in to the court by OJ’s lawyers, but was thrown out of evidence when a judge’s fingerprints were found on it, even though tests showed it could not have been the murder weapon!

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kasey
Oct 9, 2009 7:38 AM CST

Con Law class my 2d year. Our professor was out and so one of the other law school profs filled in for him.  Rather than lecture on the 2d amendment, which is what we had been discussing, she read to us excerpts from Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto.  When she finished she asked us “Aren’t those the most beautiful and uplifting words you have ever heard?”

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Jaocb
Oct 9, 2009 7:40 AM CST

My most memorable law class was the one wherein I learned something useful.  I think it was Contracts.  No wait, Torts.  Oops, my mistake, it was biology in college; I didn’t learn anything useful in law school.

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BAM
Oct 9, 2009 7:52 AM CST

It was one of the first weeks of my 1L year in Property (2006).  We were discussing riparian rights and water law in the abstract.  Each student that contributed was offering solutions to a water shortage and how to divvy up water and access among property owners alongside a river.  I suggested that perhaps the simplest approach would be for the government to appropriate the water and provide it to the community while monitoring use and maintaining the ability to ensure somewhat equal distribution among the landowners.  As soon as the words were out of my mouth the class gunner shouted out “COMMUNIST!  COMMUNIST!”  The best part of it was that months and years later when the story would come up, no one remembered who was called a communist but everyone remembered Gary the Gunner.  His nickname was the result of both his long historical diatribes in class and more importantly, his question at orientation about the school’s concealed weapons policy.

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Kafka Esquire
Oct 9, 2009 7:54 AM CST

Modern Remedies, early 90s.  I kept trying to chat up a very cute redhead who sat in front of me, but she kept rebuffing me.  After the end of the semester, we bumped into each other in the school lobby and she (finally!) spoke to me.

That conversation led to surprize “How are you?” notes in each other’s school mailboxes, then to dates, then, ultimately, to a wedding.

We celebrate our 13th anniversary in a week; we have two great kids and a comfortable life.  I consider myself to have been very fortunate indeed.

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Mark
Oct 9, 2009 8:18 AM CST

My 1L contracts prof made the only statement that made such an impression that, almost 25 years later, I can still remember verbatim: “The difference between banks and insurance companies is that banks are stupid, insurance companies are evil.”  After years of dealing with banks and insurance companies professionally, I have to agree with both the prof and my son (“pay peanuts, get monkeys”) about banks.  Not so much about insurance companies; a few of them are not evil.

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Lily
Oct 9, 2009 8:21 AM CST

At USC, 1Ls are required to take a legal philosophy class called Law, Language, & Ethics.  On the last day of class, Prof. Garet let each student who wanted to speak.  We could read a poem, play music, basically do whatever we wanted to “express ourselves.”

This resulted in an impassioned speech by one student about how he shared a sandwich with a homeless man.  The student ended up in front of class shouting, “Give him the sandwich!  JUST GIVE HIM THE SANDWICH!!”

After all the emotional tirades, about 10 people, including Professor Garet were in tears.  Myself and most of the other students sat in silence, not knowing what to do.  It was completely surreal and as awkward as it gets.

We did later get some laughs out of demanding other people’s sandwiches.

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Ronald J. Styka
Oct 9, 2009 8:40 AM CST

First year Civil Pro at UM in 1968.  The professor’s policy was if not prepared, leave the room.  We had been going along briefing 3 cases per day.
With a quarter hour left, the prof called on a student for a fourth case discussion.  He replied, “Sorry professor, but I am not prepared.”  The prof’s reply was, “Sorry, but you’ll have to leave the room.”  Quickly the retort was, “Sorry, but I would rather hear what you and the other students have to say about the case.”  Then the prof says, “Sorry, but you leave the room, or I will.”  Without thinking the student responded, “Sorry, but I guess we have a Mexican stand-off.”
Red as a beat, the prof slammed his book shut, jumped down from the dais, and stormed out of the room.  Our classmate somehow made it to the prof’s office before he did to apologize.
To our relief, that student was the prime target of the professor for the next week.
This incident is now legend and called the “Mexican stand-off incident.”
By the way, that student ended up being a prominent state legislator.  How does that figure?

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Josh
Oct 9, 2009 9:09 AM CST

It’s funny, albeit not surprising, how the most memorable moments seem to come from 1L.  I’ll never forget my 1L Contracts class when, half way through the first semester, our professor switched topics by putting a copy of an email he received from a student on the projector.  He said “Now to take a moment to teach you all about the danger of email in your professional careers.”  Apparently, according to the email, a disgruntled student had written a disparaging email about the professor to another student, describing the professor as, of all things, a “heifer.”  Of course, the student mistakenly emailed the professor, and not her friend.  Apparently, the professor did not respond to the email directly, but through the forum of the class.  Kindly, the student’s name was sharpied over.  The 15 seconds of dead silence while classmates read the email and then looked around to try to determine who had the reddest face…unforgettable.

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Suzanne Van Dyk
Oct 9, 2009 9:12 AM CST

Shirley Abrahamson (now a justice on the Wisconsin Supreme Court) taught a tax class at the University of Wisconsin in 1974. It was a large amphitheater-type classroom and I was sitting in the middle of the auditorium. About half-way through the class, as Ms. Abrahamson was lecturing on the tax return of Richard M. Nixon, a door at the top of the room opened and a “streaker” - a naked man with only sneakers and a ski mask, ran down the aisle, up on the stage, and out the stage door. I saw at first only our instructor’s face first full of fear,then of mirth, and then the not so attractive backside of the streaker. Ms. Abrahamson paused slightly, explained her initial fear of seeing a masked man, then continued on with our lesson. Our absentee rate in class after that indicient was very low.

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Walter L. Wagner
Oct 9, 2009 9:16 AM CST

First Year contracts; evening.  Last day of class for the semester.  Several students had provided steins of beer, and a baggie of mariuana cigarettes for the professors benefit.
The professor began drinking the beer, and by the end of the class, was noticeably intoxicated and slurring words.  He waved the baggie around, suggesting he’d be smoking them afterwards.  At least one student thereafter brought successful suit against the lawschool for breach of contract (pun!).  All the others simply ignored it.

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Kathleen
Oct 9, 2009 9:28 AM CST

Security Devices, 2006: Professor plays electric keyboard while singing a Beatles tune that he has inserted lyrics about the course.  Very funny and creative.  Hard subject though!

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Robert
Oct 9, 2009 9:54 AM CST

Graduation Day.  President Clinton was our speaker.  Ostensibly for Security reasons, but really so they could hold back more seats to sell to Alumni, they limited each student to two guests.  Having two parents and a wife, this put me in a difficult position. I told them to blow me, and didn’t go, spending that day helping the local Kiwanis with a fund-raiser.

It was a better use of my time anyway.

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Walt Auvil
Oct 9, 2009 9:59 AM CST

During a 1-L philosophy of law class our professor was smoking - yes I know how that dates me.  While prone to distracted discourses, this day he was a bit more prolix than usual and, during one extended address removed his jacket.  However he did so while still holding his lit cigarette, thus passing the inside of his jacket sleeve over it.  The removed jacket - tossed over a chair by his desk in front of the large lecture hall - smoldered a bit but did not fully ignite.  For some reason the topic of the lecture is lost to me.

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