What are law classes actually like?

[mochimochi]

Hi,

Can someone describe their experience in law classes, especially ubc/uvic? Is it usually structured as a lecture followed by small group discussion? How often do small group discussions occur, and is cold-calling a thing here?

Thank you! 

[GoatDuck]

Usually it’s a long lecture with some very inquisitive students jumping in here and there to ask questions. Some profs have PowerPoints, others don’t. Some of your classes may be smaller with a more discussion-focused bent. Do your readings, take notes, and attend office hours and you should be fine. 

[canuckfanatic]

You get assigned reading before the class (typically excerpts of leading case law). During the class, the prof provides a lecture on the topic from that assigned reading and asks questions to students to generate discussion.

Some profs are great at keeping discussion on-topic and elaborating/contextualizing the assigned reading. Other profs have a bad habit of getting lost down rabbit holes unrelated to the point of the assigned reading.

[capitalttruth]

Like any other undergraduate lecture, really.

[SNAILS]

Class discussion tends to be dominated by a few very vocal students. This can be helpful since they often ask things you might also have asked. Cold calling is not a thing in my experience.

I do suggest doing all your readings before or shortly after class and not to get behind (i.e. if you are 600 pages behind 2 weeks before the exam, you will  to have time for practice exams and the creation of CANS/summaries). You will also have gotten much less out of every lecture if you do not keep up on your readings.

Virtual and recorded classes are becoming more and more common.

[chaboywb]

Most of my 1L classes were similar to an undergrad lecture where the professor would walk through slides and occasionally ask questions to the class that were answered by the people in the front row. One professor used what they called a Socratic method, but it was really just cold calling based on the class list. I didn't mind it (I was never the type to be prepared for class so it kept me on the ball) but I know it was anxiety-inducing for a lot of people.

Smaller classes in upper year had more discussion, but the larger/popular courses were similar to 1L.