Law School Stories

Inquiring Law Student Minds Want to Know

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–From Sylvia J. Feinman, Brooklyn Law School, Date of event: circa 1977.

We were in Domestic Relations class, focusing on annulment and the question of who can bring an action to annul a marriage. The problems became more and more esoteric. Who can bring an action to annul the marriage of a deceased person? Of an incompetent? Then one eager student went too far in his querying.

I closed my books decisively and said, “If I ever need to know who can bring an action to annul the marriage of a dead idiot, I’ll look it up.”

Honesty Is Not Necessarily the Best Policy

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–From Carol Light, American University School of Law, Date of event: early 1970s

I went to night law school at American University in Washington, D.C. in the early 1970s. Our class was full of interesting people with demanding full-time jobs, so it’s not surprising that one of the, er, challenges, was literally staying awake in class. One night (and I’ve blessedly forgotten which class, which professor, and which student), one poor young man lost the battle, fell both asleep and off his chair onto the floor. The fall woke him, of course.

The professor, not missing a beat, said “Well, Mr. X, are we keeping you up?”

“Just barely,” the student replied, with alacrity and admirable accuracy.

Meritorious Suit

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–From name withheld by request, Loyola University (Chicago) School of Law, Date of event: circa 1991

I went to night school at Loyola University of Chicago School of Law and graduated in 1991. In my last year of law school, I took the intensive week-long Trial Advocacy class. For one practice exercise, we had to be videotaped making an argument to have a piece of evidence admitted over an objection and we had to dress as if we were in court. Since we were all just law students without jobs, some people had to purchase suits specifically for the exercise.

A woman, whose name I can’t remember, got up to give her argument, and it was impossible not to notice that she still had the anti-theft, “inventory control” tag attached prominently to the side of her suit jacket. She was extremely embarrassed and obviously concerned that everyone watching was going to think that she had stolen her suit, so she spent several minutes at the beginning of her argument explaining that the tag had been left on by the store and she didn’t discover it until she got home after the store had closed, etc.

Then she went into her actual argument, which didn’t last nearly as long as the tag explanation.

Consensual Sex Answer Not What the Prof Had in Mind

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–From Paul Aaron Edwards, Southern Illinois University School of Law, Date of event: Spring 2005

The case under discussion in Constitutional Law was Bowers v. Hardwick. The professor called on me asking me such special questions as “What is your definition of unnatural sex?” As I dodged attempt after attempt by the professor to draw me into a farcical statement which would grant him hundreds of laughs at my expense, he finally slipped up with the following: “So, Mr. Edwards, when is consensual sex particularly harmful?”

To which I replied:

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“Whether you’re the one she likes, or the one she’s cheating on!”

The class erupted in laughter, at the professor’s expense, and I received the greatest reward of all: he called on a different student to recite the rest of the day’s questions.

 

About Law School Stories

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Enjoy Lawhaha.com’s collection of funny law school stories in these categories:

Believing that law school humor lore is part of our cultural legal heritage that should be preserved, Lawhaha.com collects funny stories about law school, with a current inventory of more than 100 stories from students and graduates of 74 law schools.

Share your funniest law school moments!  Use the Contact link at the top of every page. Please include the name of the law school and approximate year in which the event occurred.

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying law school leaves indelible marks on the psyches of those who attend. Numerous studies show law students suffer disproportionate anxiety, depression, and other psychological dysfunction compared to the public at large. But despite (or perhaps because of) all the stress, tedium, and exhausting workloads, law schools can at times be hilarious places. All lawyers and law students have memories of comic relief that broke the tension and brightened their journey down the long road toward a Juris Doctor degree. Please share yours.

Schools Represented in Law School Stories and Number of Entries Per School

Below are the law schools, and number of entries per school, represented in Lawhaha.com’s collection of amusing law school stories. Help us grow this important cultural library of legal education humor history.

University at Albany (3)
Appalachian School of Law
University of Arkansas-Fayetteville (2)
University of Arkansas-Little Rock (6)
American University
Barry University
Boston University
Brooklyn Law School
Campbell University
Catholic University (2)
University of Cincinnati
Cleveland-Marshall University
Columbia University
Cumberland University
Dalhousie (Nova Scotia) (2)
Duke University
University of Florida (3)
Florida A & M University
Florida Coastal University
Florida International University (3)
Georgetown University
Georgia State University
Gonzaga
University of Georgia (2)
Harvard University (3)
Hastings University
University of Hawaii
University of Houston
Indiana University (Bloomington)
University of Kansas (2)
University of Kentucky
Université Laval’s Faculty of Law (Quebec) (2)
Lewis & Clark University
University of Lisbon (Portugal)
Loyola University (Chicago)
Loyola University (Los Angeles)
Lousiana State University
Marquette University
University of Maryland (2)
University of Massachusetts (2)
University of Memphis
McGeorge University
University of Michigan (3)
Michigan State University
University of Nevada-Las Vegas (2)
Northeastern University
University of North Carolina
University of Oklahoma (5)
Oklahoma City University
Pacific Coast University
University of Pittsburgh (2)
Ohio State University
Regent University
Southern Illinois
St. John’s University
Stanford University (2)
University of San Diego
University of South Texas
Southern Illinois University
Southern Methodist University
Temple University
University of Tennessee (2)
Texas Wesleyan University (2)
Thomas M. Cooley University
University of Utah
Valparaiso University
University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg)
University of Virginia
Wake Forest (4)
Washington University
Washburn University (2)
Willamette University
College of William & Mary
University of Wisconsin