So they send you to law school for three years to learn how to be a lawyer. In those three years you learn to think like a lawyer, act like a lawyer, and ultimately be a lawyer; or so they say. Law school is the breeding ground for new lawyers and is undoubtedly a prerequisite to actually practicing law; but does law school really teach us how to actually be lawyers or just how to pass the bar exam so that we can legally practice law? Where do we learn how to be an actual attorney, in law school or in the real world practice of the law? We have students weigh in on the issue below and will continue this discussion with insight from current prosecution and defense practitioners.

Pulling Faces & Hitting Aces: The Dos and
Don’ts of Courtroom Decorum

Kate Loudenslagel
Washington and Lee University School of Law ‘09

Most law students anxiously await that day when they finally become practice certified and are able to appear in court, either through internships, clinics, or practica. The thrill of being the “lawyer on record,” however, can quickly be replaced with fear if not fully prepared. This short list of dos and don’ts may seem like commonsense to most, but I found them extremely helpful this past summer when I interned for a state prosecutor’s office. Teachers always say you cannot learn Evidence in class but through experience. Well, I am here to tell you that you can learn courtroom etiquette—or at least some of it—through this short list.

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Illogical juries: How I learned to stop caring and love the system

Pavan V. Parikh
Saint Louis University School of Law

“Not guilty.” Like arrows into St. Sebastian, these two words strike pain and fear into the heart of any prosecutor. At first you think of failure. Law school prepared you for that. Law school taught you that not everyone gets an A. Law school taught you that only because you can fail you can succeed. It teaches you to channel that pain and fear into the next semester, the next paper, the next exam. It makes you stronger.

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