What Law School was Missing: Practical Education

Guest post by a current law student

On my first day of law school, the Dean made it clear to us that they were not going to be teaching us how to be lawyers.

Everyone had already been told that law school was indeed not very useful in practice, but we all assumed it was just a running joke. We were wrong.

I got one of the highest averages in 1L, and I now see how true my Dean’s statement was.

I had the highest grade in Criminal Law, but I couldn’t tell you the difference between a preliminary trial and a real trial. I can, however, give you a robust explanation of why we punish first-degree murder more severely than second-degree murder and the role that stigma plays in our justice system.

I had the highest grade in Property Law, but I have no idea how to navigate a tenancy dispute. I have, however, read dozens of pages on the rule against perpetuities and how revolutionary of a step this was.

I had the second highest grade in my Torts class, but I couldn’t tell you how to begin to sue someone for cricket balls falling onto your property. I can, however, recite to you Cardozo’s rationale from a decision given almost a hundred years ago.

My class spent a dozen hours throughout 4 classes (and one guest lecture) debating whether Andrew’s or Cardozo’s ruling was right, despite neither being Canadian jurisprudence.

I had the second highest grade in Contracts, but I had no idea what the governing law clause meant when a lawyer I worked with this summer asked me. I can, however, recite a dozen case names by heart that demonstrate why past consideration is not fresh consideration, and then another half dozen that go the other way.

I had the second highest grade in Legal Ethics, but I don’t actually know what behaviour will land me in front of a tribunal for conduct unbecoming. I do, however, know that child predators are often deemed fit to practice law as long as they show remorse.

I had the third highest grade in Constitutional Law, but I would never know where or how to sue the government. I have, however, read over a dozen cases commending the “living tree approach”, along with listening to 3 guest speakers talk on how important it is to our free and democratic society.

I took part in four moots, and each time I was told by the judges (who were usually litigators) that “this isn’t actually a topic we ever litigate”.

I learned more practical skills in a few weeks at Renno & Co than I did during the whole school year.

20 minutes of hearing my senior partner go on a tangent about an opposing counsel’s mistakes in contractual interpretation proved more useful to my law career than 60 hours of contract law classes.

From my 1 year of law school, I have accrued an impressive amount of student loan debt.

In return, I mostly gained: a sleeping disorder, stress, distance from my family, and the ability to be more interesting at a dinner table by telling stories about the absurd cases I have read.