What in your opinion was the most boring class in law school?

[Johnny-Alky]

2L here. Haven’t finished school yet but my pick to start us off would have to be either Crim or Wills and Estates. 

I know this is subjective but I found both extremely dry. I was warned about this with Wills but didn’t listen to my detriment lol. Would like to know your takes to see if I should reconsider any of my course selections for this term.

Edited January 10, 2022 by Johnny-Alky
Give more context.

[CleanHands]

Dropped Trusts after a week as it was literally the most incredibly boring material I have ever been exposed to in my life, in any context. Had been advised by mentors it was a useful course, but I did not have the attention span or discipline to tolerate it.

Also, you're insane for choosing Crim.

[BlockedQuebecois]

I agree that selecting crim as the most boring is wild. 

The clear answer is securities. It's just a bunch of not-all-that-smart people who have just learned the basics of securities regulation asking hypothetical questions because they think they've discovered a clever way to commit securities fraud legally that the moderately-smart securities regulators haven't figured out, all while the professor explains ad nauseum that if you think you've figured out a clever way to commit securities fraud legally, you have in fact not done that. 

[cherrytree]

I really struggled with Securities Regulation, having to take it during my first full semester of Zoom classes in 3L just made it that much worse.

I thought Wills and Estates was fine. Didn't love the late afternoon/early evening timing of the class, at UofT the class is taught by practitioners so it has to be after business hours, but the dryness of the material was offset by the professors providing real-life cases they've encountered as examples to illustrate course concepts, so I still enjoyed it for the most part.

[Apple]

Business Associations. I love corporate law but my prof was terrible. He was a practicing lawyer that was so far up his own it wasn't even funny. He didn't teach a single thing. 

[CleanHands]

Just now, Apple said:

Business Associations. I love corporate law but my prof was terrible. He was a practicing lawyer that was so far up his own it wasn't even funny. He didn't teach a single thing. 

My Property Law professor was not only tenured, but had successfully sued the school for age discrimination when they had attempted to force him to retire. So he was basically the most untouchable employee in the history of employment, and he was well aware of that. I was also part of the last class he taught before retiring after 50 years of teaching.

I've never met anyone who put in so little effort to even bother keeping up a pretense that they were doing their job. I would bet my prof beat your prof in terms of who did less teaching.

(Wasn't the most boring class though because the prof was at least funny and the material was dull but not Trusts-tier awful.)

[Apple]

22 minutes ago, CleanHands said:

My Property Law professor was not only tenured, but had successfully sued the school for age discrimination when they had attempted to force him to retire. So he was basically the most untouchable employee in the history of employment, and he was well aware of that. I was also part of the last class he taught before retiring after 50 years of teaching.

I've never met anyone who put in so little effort to even bother keeping up a pretense that they were doing their job. I would bet my prof beat your prof in terms of who did less teaching.

(Wasn't the most boring class though because the prof was at least funny and the material was dull but not Trusts-tier awful.)

That sounds horrific!! To give a flavour of what my prof did, he forced the zoom administrator (person who helps facilitate online classes) to put together Kahoot quizzes for a group of law students to do. This was an upper year course by the way. The Kahoot questions were all based on American law. Ohhh, what a disaster. Fortunately, I know how to read a statute and had access to notes from other students in years prior. 

He also just took stock images from the internet and would ask "what do we think this says". It was some weird inkblot test only with stock images and a online class full of upset 2L and 3L students. 

Edited January 10, 2022 by Apple

[OntheVerge]

Contracts, but only because the prof spoke so softly you couldn't hear him. He was funny and really nice, always helpful during office hours, but oh my god, trying to hear him in a giant classroom was nearly impossible. Everyone would get there early, throwing elbows to sit in the front row. I, inevitably, would end up in an acoustic desert. Turns out I can try to learn or I can try to hear, but I cannot do both. After about 10 minutes, I'd give up on both counts and zone out for the rest of the class. 

[Vizslaw]

Mine was civil procedure, but the prof made up for it in two wonderful ways:

1. At the beginning of every class, we played "Rules for Dollars". He would offer to buy a coffee to the first student who could find the Rule he quoted (computers had to be closed for this part). At one point is went from coffee during the break to a $20 bill each time.

2. The prof, who was clearly having a steamy romance with the practitioner he brought to co-lecture one class, was describing the differences between an action and an application. Horribly boring stuff, but they were, like, role playing it out. "I'm an application, I'm easier to get started". "I'm an action, I'm harder to get started". The performance was terrible but you could cut that sexual tension with a knife. It was overall an incredibly memorable and cringe worthy class.

[Hegdis]

Civ Pro. Ontario school. I was heading back to BC to criminal defence articles.

It was at 8:30am on Friday.

10% of the grade was for attendance because that was the only way to get our hungover asses in our seats.

[vbcoffee]

Admin was just awful. It was frustrating to read a long case and discover that it is no longer good law. Many of cases didn't even contribute to precedent as some judges seemed to do whatever they wanted to. 

The online format and an extremely verbose and unclear prof made the class even more insufferable. 

[CleanHands]

8 minutes ago, vbcoffee said:

The online format and an extremely verbose and unclear prof made the class even more insufferable. 

Every admin law class my prof would say something that would make me think I fundamentally misunderstood the material, then I'd spend 45 minutes investigating the point I was confused about and discover that I actually did understand the relevant principles and what my prof said was technically correct but expressed in the absolute most convoluted way possible, basically adding several layers to things that I had to decipher to understand that what she was saying was what I actually did already know. It was bizarre and it's hard to describe but I feel your pain.

[СлаваУкраїні]

That feeling when a good chunk of the most boring classes in law school described here are required upper year courses at most schools, so there's no way to avoid them even if you wanted to.

[Rashabon]

Admin or International Arbitration were the two most boring ones I took. International Arbitration was disappointing because I took a class that focused on ICSID and similar items that was very interesting, and I thought the practitioner taught class would be a bit more focused on practical elements but it was mostly painful.

[PulpFiction]

Wills & Estates. 

I could only handle going to a few classes before I bailed for the rest of the semester. That awkward interaction between my prof and I when I showed up to the final exam and he thought I dropped the course two weeks in. Made the class laugh, though 

[Apple]

2 hours ago, Salazar said:

That feeling when a good chunk of the most boring classes in law school described here are required upper year courses at most schools, so there's no way to avoid them even if you wanted to.

The subject matter for these classes is actually pretty interesting. It's mostly just a bad prof that tends to ruin the course! So keep spirits up and talk to upper years about which profs are good and which to avoid. 

[Hegdis]

I liked Admin, but I had the legendary Prof Corbett for it (may he rest in peace). That dude was a brilliant one man stand up routine and he was constantly brushing his chalk covered hands on his khakis.

[TobyFlenderson]

Civ Pro for sure. The readings were 3x longer than all my other classes, and while the prof was very kind and obviously cared about their students, their lecture style was so, so dry.

It didn’t help that it was last fall, so it was everyone’s first kick at full semester Zoom school, and by October, I couldn’t have cared less.

[WhoKnows]

Structuring business transactions, prof just spoke incredibly low and monotone, was a bit tough. Worst is much different, and involved a practitioner who showed up to 4 of 12 classes and gave the most nonsensical assignments I have ever seen - and I have seen some doozys in my time. 

[BlockedQuebecois]

22 minutes ago, WhoKnows said:

Structuring business transactions

This is a bit like complaining Inglorious Basterds wasn’t a family friendly documentary. You knew what you were getting into 

[Jumbie]

I think boring-ness is prof-dependent. In selecting your courses, I always say that the prof is paramount.

Some might consider trusts, estates, and civ pro to be boring classes. The material might seem more boring at first glance; but a good prof can help you engage with the material. My professors for the three above classes were great and made the courses very interesting. I'd even go as far to say that trusts and estates were among my favourite classes in law school.

[Big Pecker]

PPSL. Last fall, so the first semester of full online-only instruction. If I never hear the term "PMSI" again it'll be too soon. 

 

It was also my first introduction to statute-heavy classes and I quickly realized I am not a fan. 

[WhoKnows]

44 minutes ago, BlockedQuebecois said:

This is a bit like complaining Inglorious Basterds wasn’t a family friendly documentary. You knew what you were getting into 

What's funny is the next semester I took advanced corporate law and they covered a few of the same topics towards to beginning of the course. It was an amazing class that I never wanted to miss. Helped the prof was a retired deal lawyer who got super practical about it. 

(I'm also a weirdo who kinda likes the structuring aspect - I know, gross)

Edited January 11, 2022 by WhoKnows