Entering the World of U.S. Law 11that courts make mistakes, do we really want the legal system to police this or that
kind of injustice or unfairness? To what degree are we going to require a certain
level of maturity, to respect individuals’ rights to make their own choices—which
also means expecting them to accept the consequences of their own decisions? On
the other hand, when are we going to recognize that the playing field isn’t always
level, and that certain players lack the fundamental power required for their deci-
sions to be truly voluntary? And so on. Sometimes you may feel pleased that your
thinking now allows you to overcome initial passionate, but perhaps misguided,
reactions. At other times, you wonder if, trapped in the maze of “ifs” and “thens”
and “maybes,” you’ve lost touch with some fundamental aspects of what brought
you to law school in the first place: concerns with justice, fairness, or helping
people.^15 You entered law school with the ambition of helping people and eventu-
ally performing public interest work aimed at improving poor people’s access to
justice. But more and more, you find yourself thinking that maybe you’ll just start
out in a lucrative job in a large law firm, at least for a little while—maybe just until
you pay off some of your massive law school debt.^16
To introduce the kinds of issues with which this study is concerned, I have
painted a stark picture, omitting many of the nuances and complexities. Although
this portrait does not do justice to the wide variations in emphases, teaching styles,
and attitudes to be found in today’s legal academy, it captures some core aspects
of the initial law school experience and of the change required of law students during
their initiation into the legal arena. The detailed discussions to follow provide more
of the subtleties and complications needed for a fuller understanding of the law
school process.