I've been asked whether students should choose law school courses that will, in effect, focus on a planned practice area.  Or, should students simply take courses that interest them?

While in law school, I planned to go into corporate practice and took every tax, securities law and corporate entity course I could get my hands on.  Sometimes I chose a course knowing that it would likely cost me, GPA-wise.  While other students were taking courses like "Sports Law", I took the most difficult challenging courses I could find.

Ironically, my two primary practice areas today are intellectual property and employment law.  I took neither in law school.  You might ask whether I regret not taking them; or alternatively, whether I regret spending so much time and energy on courses I'm not really using today.  Even funnier is that fact that today I actually do practice Sports Law and  work with all of the major professional sports leagues.  The truth is, that I benefitted from taking the courses I took, regardless of whether I ever actually used the substantive law.

You should certainly do some planning as you think about courses.  But at the same time, understand that plans change.  The great thing about law school is that after your first year, many if not all courses are electives (I went to Vanderbilt, and most everything I took after that first year was at my election).  So, you have a wonderful opportunity to explore and take courses that interest  you.

Further, if you plan to practice law long term, it is likely that at some point in your career, you will run into areas of the law where familiarity will be of benefit.  So the good news is that virtually any course you take will likely be of benefit in practice.

I think the most important thing is to graduate from law school with a set of skills that will enable you to learn new areas of the law.  In practice, you will likely be exposed on a frequent basis to new laws and regulations, but also to new clients, industries and businesses.  So, the important thing to learn in law school is how to learn.  As a result, your goal for a legal education should be to learn, think, write and act like a lawyer.  Some of these skills can be taught in the classroom; others are picked up on the job.

At the same time, you should consider that your bar authorities, by virtue of their exam, expect a minimum level of competency in certain subject areas, in order to earn the right to practice law.  Some of these subjects, such as Uniform Commercial Code courses like Secured Transactions aren't much fun and many students shy away from them.  However, trying to learn any subject, especially a difficult one, quickly for a bar exam makes for a stressful two month bar preparation experience.  So, you should consider taking courses that are "bar exam" courses, as well as courses that will enhance your legal skill set. 

You may also want to talk with lawyers-  ask them which courses they wished they had taken in law school but didn't.

Finally, its axiomatic in law school that "you don't take the course, you take the professor."  And I think there is a lot of truth to the axiom.  A good professor can make a bad course an absolutely enriching and enthralling experience.   And vice-versa.  Talk to students ahead of you.  Ask to review the professor ratings, if they are available.  Consider talking with the professor before you sign up.  Ask him or her what their objective for the course is.  Do some due diligence.

But with most law schools, I think it would be difficult to make a bad choice in any course.  They will all benefit you in some way.  So, relax and enjoy the experience. 

At the same time, you are spending a great deal of money on your legal education.  And yet many students spend more time considering the ripeness of a cantaloupe in their local supermarket than they do on their course decisions.  Take some time to consider courses.  It will make your law school experience infinitely richer.

Best wishes in your legal education.

Contrary to what many incoming law students believe, the typical law school curricula is a very general educational program.  Most schools require a fixed number of hours to graduate; many schools' first year curricula are set and the student has no choice with regard to classes.  These courses are the basic law courses, designed to assist in the development of your legal reading, reasoning, research, and analytical and writing skills, as well as begin the formidable task of teaching you the "black letter" law.

In many schools, your second and third years are largely completely at your discretion.  However, if you participate in Law Review or other publication, and/or Moot Court (or Mock Trial), a great deal of your time will be dedicated to those activities.

That said, I do believe that it is useful for law students who have a general idea of their future practice areas to take certain courses.  For most people, the first choice is pretty basic-  whether to litigate or engage in a transactional practice ("transactional" as in corporate and business transactions, such as contracts, mergers and acquisitions and the like). 

And even if your plans change, in my opinion, it is almost always of benefit to litigators to know something about transactions, and for transactional lawyers to understand the basics of litigation.  The two are inetricably interwoven:  transactional disputes lead to litigation, and in that litigation, the litigators must understand the substance of the transaction in dispute.

So, if you plan to litigate, you should definitely plan on taking Evidence (usually in your second year), which usually deals with the Federal Rules of Evidence (the rules describing the admissibility and handling of evidence in litigation).  You probably have already taken Civil Procedure your first year (which deals with the mechanics of litigation), another extremely helpful course for future litigators.  In addition, you should consider any courses or legal clinics which will give you faux or actual experience in the area.  For most people, the hardest part of litigation is simply understanding the landscape-  who does what.  These courses will help you to "hit the ground running" after you start that first legal job.  There are numerous other courses which are of benefit, however, if you understand the basic procedures involved in a lawsuit, you will be well on your way to a successful litigation career.

As an aside, there are certainly substantive specialty courses you should consider, especially if you know the specialty that you will practice in.  For example, if you have always wanted to practice in family matters, you should definitely take your school's course on Family Law.  However, generally these courses can only give you a very broad overview; the reality is that you will master the law and practice area only by actually practicing it.  So, don't be alarmed if you find yourself working for a firm that wants you to do legal work in an area with which you are unfamiliar- the resources of the firm, its other lawyers and your own experience will help you to master the area.

Corporate transactional work, on the other hand, is a bit more technical.  For example, tax law and securities law are both very statutorily-based and require a great deal of technical knowledge.  I think it would be very difficult to begin a career in securities law without having taken the '33 and'34 Act courses while in law school.  Likewise for tax and some of the other more specialized areas in the transactional discipline.  So, if you plan to engage in a transactional career, I would advise you to seriously consider taking the core "business" law courses-  tax, securities law, secured transactions, commercial paper, and the like.

Regardless, the point of all of this is to not stress any of it too much.  I also recommend that you simply take courses that interest you.  Talk to 3Ls and professors, or any other people you may know who have gone there before you.  It is almost axiomatic in law school that you take the professor, not the course (meaning that a bad professor can make a great subject pretty ungratifying, and vice versa).  Do some due diligence and perhaps even take a few risks.  If you make a mistake and realize it early in the semester, you can drop the course if necessary.

Law school is a general educational discipline.  It is more concerned with teaching you how to think than doling out the "black letter" law.  As one of my professors said, "We don't worry about teaching you the black letter law; you take Barbri for that."  However, at the same time, you are likely investing a great deal in this educational experience.  You will only do it once; make the very most of it you can while you are there.