You are awesome for having the smarts to even consider leaving!I have seen students struggle, and then get kicked out their third year. Law schools will gladly take your money, and give you lip service about 'potential' and 'applying yourself'. If you have a 1.71 at a 4T school, get out, get the refund, re-evaluate and go from there. YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE $100K in debt with no J.D.!!!! And if your school is money hungry, they may give you just enough of a gpa throughout your 3-4 years, and then flunk you out your last semester! (Don't believe for a second the administration doesn't have some bearing on your grades)

Unfortunately for those of us who really have to go, many students use the 'bathroom ploy' to get out of being called on. I had two profs who made it policy that bathroom breaks were not allowed, ever! (and both profs were female, and stated female issues might work for the male profs, but not for them)

Officially, our school requires every case be briefed as part of class preparation. This policy is largely ignored by the profs under 50, and enforced by the older profs.

As far as being late for class, yes, your prof is overreacting > because he can. His mindset however, is that a client, a court, and a firm/public entity will expect you to be punctual and prepared. Before fire laws took effect, some profs would lock the doors to the classroom at starting time. Keep in mind, if you think he is an egotistical jerk, wait until  you're in front of a judge > particularly the over 50 crowd. Your prof may be doing your class a favor > particularly those going into criminal law (criminal law judges are inherently insane) or civil litigation.

My school categorically denies there is a curve, but if you get a prof to open up after a few cocktails, they'll tell you there is no other way to grade. This is largely because of the firms that hire students based on grades, and the school wants to ensure the firm has not made a mistake > thus so more students from that school will be hired.