When I was getting ready for law school, my dean sent out a suggested reading list. “To Kill a Mockingbird” still sits on my shelf when it’s not being loaned out to new lawyers (note: read it; don’t just see the movie). “One L” is on the shelf, too.
For those of you who did not receive the same suggestion to buy a copy before you started law school, “One L” tells the semifictional story of the author’s first year at Harvard Law School. In it, Scott Turow relates a scenario many of us are familiar with: the Socratic method of discussing cases in class. When it was my turn, Socratic case discussion was also the first time I was faced with a common question: “I know that is what the court said, but is that what the court held?”
