The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School

INTRODUCTIONOne L is the inaugural attempt at non fiction writing by Scott Turrow, an attorney by employment and a best selling novelist. Mr. He graduated from Harvard Law School and He has been a partner in the Chicago office of Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal, a subject field practice of law firm, since 1986, Turrow has won multiple awards for his writings including the Heartland Prize in 2003 For Reversible Errors and the Robert F. Kennedy award in 2004 for Ultimate punishment. He is best kn have got for his second non false make The Ultimate Punishment in which he discusses the death penalty. He is currently a Member of Illinois Executive Ethics Commission. Turrows fictional work is widely popular and although he confines his writing only to the murder mystery genre his work is commendable. Turrows reasons for finding this genre the most engrossing are simple he says Only in the mystery novel are we delivered final and unquestionable solutions. The joke to me is that fictio n gives you a truth that naturalism cant deliver. (Scott Turrow, 2001)SUMMARYTurrow in his book One L gives an account of what a first year law assimilator goes through. Scott Turrow interprets the authenticity of the life of law students ubiquitously. He describes an array of situations beginning of course with the excitement of being accepted into an Ivy League school, Harvard Law the most prestigious law school in the country. Mr. Turrow tended to(p) law school in the 70s unless he manages to narrate his story in a manner that seems enduring enough to oblige a reader captivated all through the book he becomes a tad dramatic at times giving details most anything one might experience in the first year of law college from the unusual kinds of students to the remarkable teachers, the stress the pressure even some horrific accounts astir(predicate) the way students are treated by the professors.It is common knowledge that Teachers in most law schools use the Socratic method o f teaching which apparently comes as a surprise to Turrow The first year law students have to study the law of contracts, torts and criminal law. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, the mornings we have Contracts . . . Im nearly sick to my stomach. . . . I cant believe it, but I think about that class and I get ill, writes turrow. As a common practice in colleges Turrow write about his study group.He withal has ideas for improving the system and the overall experience of the first year law students. He suggests brief writing, research, courtroom technique, document drafting, negotiation, client counseling, and the paramount business of gathering the facts. Mr. Turows study of the other students also appears rather outward and small-minded. The students are basically stereotyped into the achievers, the complainers clevers, but who, in reality, are no more intellectual than a kindergartener with a crayon and the professors who harass the students. He mentions nothing about the types of que ries one comes across in a law school.He attended law school while he was married and his marital life added to the dilemmas of law school but what Mr. Turrow never mentions is that the add up first year law student is not married his problems can not be compared to an average law student which eradicates the validity of the book as a true experience of an average student in addition to all these factors the fact that the seventies experience can not be compared to a present day experience should also be taken into accountAnother factor which is different in the present times compared to the time Turrow attended law school is the admissions procedure students think to go to law school nowadays have the option of taking an editing test which means a lot of studying before the veridical admissions meanwhile in the seventies students got admissions on the basis of their grades only Scotts work though comprehensive and interesting at times is nothing extraordinary overmuch better bo oks about first year experience as a law student have been written his style is true to his attorney ego and drags the story along in mostly a negative tone giving the readers every horrific account possible with great insight into his own emotions and at times it almost sounds like hes suggesting people should stop going to law schools just because the first year is tough. Mr. Turrow forgets to mention that for every student starting college being nervous is a natural thing and the first year of college anywhere is just as tough as the first year of law school. Also an Ivy League school can not be compared to other schools.CONCLUSIONTurrows story is completely inborn without any comprehensive insight into the facts of the situation and at times dramatic to the point of being annoying and pretentious, reading a book about another(prenominal) persons life experience should open up a new world for the reader instead of imposing the authors ideas. mayhap it never occurred to Mr. Turr ow that a school like Harvard would not change its 200 years old methods of teaching just because the first year students didnt get a warm enough welcome at the school. Although Scott makes an honest effort to convey in the best possible way all his experiences he fails at achieving his goal. Its an good enough book for students planning to go to law college but people with no interest in attending a law college would find this book over rated.WORKS CITED1. Amazon inc (2006) book Review of One L The Turbulent True Story of a First course of study at Harvard Law School. Retrieved on 12th October 2006 fromhttp//www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews2. Scott Turrow (2006) biography of Scott Turrow. Retrieved on 12th October 2006 from