What is the most difficult 1L subject ??

[In your opinion , what subject is the most difficult for 1st year law students ?]

In your opinion , what subject is the most difficult for 1st year law students ?

Civ Pro

 22 (42.3%)

Property

 7 (13.5%)

Contracts

 15 (28.8%)

Torts

 1 (1.9%)

Con Law

 4 (7.7%)

Crim Law

 3 (5.8%)

Total Members Voted: 52

[laurenlaw]

I agree, it's largely dependent on your teacher.  Contracts was my hardest, because our class was taught in a nonsensical order, we barely covered breach, and it was largely philosophy based.  I prefer more straightforward subjects like Civ Pro.

[kilroy55]

It really depends.  Some people, such as myself, do well in courses that are procedural or constitutional in nature.  I had nothing but As in Con Law, Crim Pro and Civ Pro, and then later in Conflicts (essentially Adv. Civ Pro I took third year).  But, I always sucked at Torts and Family law.  You will find you might have a strength in some areas but not in others.  Most people think Civ Pro is the hardest first year course, but I personally think it is contracts.  Civ Pro is hard because most people take it their first semester of law school.  It is a scary and intimidating class to have right out of the gate, but if it were taught second-year I think most people wouldn't think it was so bad. 

[Nimmy]

I vote for Property.  There is so much material to know, especially for an introductory course.

[philibusters]

I would add Legal Research and Writing, this is the class that many 1L's female dog about more than any other. It can be frustrating and a time consuming chore.

Mine was pass-fail, which kept it at annoying level rather than hellish.

[jeffislouie]

Property was the toughest for me.
Our teacher was brilliant, but an awful teacher.  The material is dry and complex and it can be frustrating because future interests illustrate the folly of man and his desire to control his property from beyond the grave.
Here's a fun future interests question to illustrate exactly what I mean:
"Montague conveys his estate, Verona, "to Romeo for
life, and on Romeo's death to Mercutio for life if he
outlives Romeo; but if Mercutio does not survive
Romeo, on Romeo's death to Lawrence and his heirs."
Mercutio predeceases Romeo, leaving everything to
Tybalt.  Does Mercutio's interest in Verona pass to
Tybalt?"

And that's an easy one.....

[pig floyd]

And that's an easy one.....

Yeah it is, since it can be answered without any knowledge of Property. 

To the original question -- ConLaw.  The readings are dense, boring and ultimately pointless.  Compound that with the fact that constitutional law only pretends to have black letter elements, the readings become inscrutable as the justices attempt to fit their personal opinions to the magical words allowed by precedent. Additionally, an intro course is too short to hit every controversy that might be interesting to any given 1L; you're stuck with a shortlist of controversies that may or may not be your bag.

Fun times.

Edit to add:  It's not that ConLaw is difficult by any measure.  It's just significantly more painful to plow through those cases than the cases in other classes.  And for this pig, pain decreases desire.

[jacy85]

I thought contracts was the most difficult.  It was the first class where there really isn't a set number of independent pieces that all may apply; instead, there's really a couple of big issues, and tons of smaller pieces that fit together w/in those issues.

For example, in torts, or crim law, or property, you'd look for a number of crimes you talked about, or torts, or in property, you'd get a landlord/tenant question, and run through your list of issues.

But contracts was more difficult for me because there are 3 big issues:  is there a contract?  Was there a breach of that contract?  And what should the remedy be?  First semester 1L I had a very difficult time pulling *everything* together into those 3 major pieces.

I'm not sure if other people have had this problem.  I've found that its stuck with me, as my copyright class seemed very similar (can the work be copyrighted?  Is it copyrighted?  Was the copyright infringed), and both contracts and copyright were 2 of my lowest grades in LS.

[Pauly680]

It looks alot like property is one of those things you get or you dont . Alot of people on here and that Ive talked to seem to think that it is fairly straight forward and youre easiest class . Ive been trying to review a little bit and im finding it to be a pain compared to the other subjects . Im at least glad to see that some other people on here found it to be confusing in some aspects also . Does anyone think that it is one of those subjects you just get or you dont ?

[MiamiHurricane]

Except for the Rule Against Perpetuities in Property, I don't think that any 1st year subject is actually difficult to understad.  Even with Property, the rest of the course is actually pretty easy to grasp, so it really isn't a difficult course overall.  The difficulty of any individual course depends on the quality of your professor, and whether that particular professor's style meshes with your learning style.  Con Law was hardest for me because my professor had a very unusual teaching style.

[Special Agent Dana Scully]

I would add Legal Research and Writing, this is the class that many 1L's female dog about more than any other. It can be frustrating and a time consuming chore.

Yea I female dog about it...but I'd female dog about it more if it was graded instead of p/f.

I say Ks and Property.