Last Updated on October 1, 2026
Quick answer: First year law school classes usually include Contracts, Torts, Civil Procedure, Criminal Law, Property, Constitutional Law, and Legal Research and Writing. Professors teach through the case method and Socratic questioning, and most grades rest on end-of-semester exams, so briefing cases, outlining, and taking practice exams all year are essential.
First Year Law School Classes: What to Expect
If you just got into law school, congrats! You’re more than familiar with the application process now. But what’s it like once the LSAT is done, you’ve been accepted into your top-choice law school, and the semester begins? Well, your first year law school classes are likely going to be one of the most difficult experiences you’ve ever had in a school setting. [1] (Hey, I’m not going to sugar coat things for you!)
Think of your first year as a training ground. It asks more of you than any school experience you have had, and it changes how you work. At the end of it, once you make it through, you’re a completely different person.
Just about everything in your mental makeup gets changed. The way you look at problems, think about life. You can’t help it. You start to think like a lawyer. Here’s what you need to know about taking on first year law school classes.
The Socratic Method
This is probably one of the scariest parts about going to first year law school classes. While lots of law school faculty are moving away from the high pressure kind of Socratic method you may have seen in movies, most law professors use it in one way or another. [2]
The Socratic method is easy enough to understand. The professor will call out a student at random and grill them about something they were supposed to have read. It involves the person getting called by name, and asked a bunch of questions. The biggest catch is that you don’t know who is going to be called. It’s one of the ways the faculty try to ensure compliance with the daily reading assignments.
I don’t really do this justice, but the experience is stressful for sure. Meanwhile, the professors get a kick out of it. The goal is not to intimidate you. The University of Chicago Law School explains that it uses the method to develop critical thinking skills and help students reason by analogy. [2]
Exams and Grading in 1L
Final exams are one of the defining features of first year law school classes. Unlike undergraduate courses, most of your grade in most classes rests on end-of-semester or end-of-year exams, and LSAC notes that professors often give little feedback before then. [1] These exams are graded on a curve, which means only a small percentage of students will earn the highest marks, most will fall in the middle range, and a limited number will receive lower grades.
Assignments during the semester are minimal, and when they do exist, they usually account for only a small portion of your grade. You will spend the term absorbing dense material, learning how to analyze cases, and preparing to apply everything during a timed exam. The process is challenging, but with steady preparation and a clear study plan, it is absolutely manageable.
The Core First Year Law School Classes
Most ABA-approved law schools build the 1L year around the same foundation. LSAC lists Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law and Criminal Procedure, Legal Method, Legal Writing, Property, and Torts as typical first-year subjects. [1] The exact mix and order vary by school, and some schools move Constitutional Law to the second year or add a 1L elective, so check your school’s curriculum once you are admitted. Here is what each core class covers.
Torts
Torts introduces you to the foundational principles of civil liability and is often one of the most engaging first year law school classes. You will learn how the legal system handles negligence, careless conduct, and intentional acts that cause harm. Much of the course focuses on breaking down the four elements of negligence: duty, breach, causation, and damages. You will read dozens of cases that show how courts apply these elements in real disputes and how small factual differences can change outcomes.
By the end of your first year, you will have a solid understanding of how liability is established, how defenses work, and how tort law shapes everyday behavior.
Contracts
Contracts is pretty straightforward when it comes to first year law school classes. It’s the law about making deals. In a nutshell, it deals with an offer, acceptance of the offer, and then this thing called consideration. (Consideration is an exchange of one thing, for something of value.)
Once a contract is formed, it becomes binding, and if a party doesn’t perform, then there’s a breach. You’ll also cover ways to get out of a contract, and what kinds of remedies are available. You will also have to study the Uniform Commercial Code, which deals with contracts for the sale of goods.
Civil Procedure
Civil Procedure is one of the most rule-heavy first year law school classes. Civil Procedure is the law governing how civil cases are litigated. There’s the pre-trial section, with stuff like jurisdiction, venue, and discovery. Then there’s the actual trial. Finally, it covers judgments and appeals.
While the Uniform Commercial Code has a bunch of rules you’ll need to memorize, nothing in law school (except for maybe immigration law) even comes close the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. There’s a rule for everything, and for good reason. If you can get good at the rules of civil procedure, you will be one step up on most other litigators out there.
Property
When you jump into property, you’re going to be jumping into a bunch of different things. Property is basically any law dealing with property. That means you’re going to cover basic conveyances of property, real and personal, adverse possession (which is essentially a way to legally take land from another person) mortgages, and estates. You’ll also cover landlord/tenant issues, and assignment contracts.
When I took this class, I felt like my professor, bless her heart, was trying to overload my brain with new information every single time I stepped into the room. It was like trying to fill a dixie cup with a fire hose …
Criminal Law
Criminal law was probably one of my favorite first year law school classes. I got to learn cool sounding Latin words like mens rea and actus reus. I spent a week on this murder case called Dudley and Stevens (which involved a shipwrecked crew at sea who drew straws to see which crew member they would eat first). It was an amazingly entertaining class.
You’ll study all kinds of crimes against the person, like assault and battery, and murder. You’ll also study crimes against property, like trespass, burglary, larceny, and conversion.
Finally, you’ll get to study attempted crimes, and criminal conspiracy. You might be surprised to find out that people who are just bad at committing crimes, are held to the same standard as people who actually complete the crimes.
Constitutional Law
Constitutional law, or Con Law (for short), is exactly that. It’s the study of the Constitution, and the powers it gives to the government. You’ll get to study the powers of the legislature, president, and the courts. Then, you’ll get into the bill of rights, and the amendments to the constitution.
You’ll really dig into how statutes and other laws are reviewed for Constitutionality, and why we do things the way we do them.
Finally, you get into individual rights and liberties, and how they are protected and preserved. These would be things like the right to privacy and the freedoms of speech and religion. You might get into the right to bear arms, or the right to vote. At the end of the day, hopefully you come away with a better understanding of how the country works, which is definitely a good thing.
Legal Research and Writing
Finally, you’re going to take some kind of legal methods class. This class will be your first exposure to actually practicing law, at least in law school. You’re going to learn how to research the law and how to argue it. This is usually the one first year class without a single high-stakes final exam. Your final for the first semester will be a legal memorandum, while your final for the second semester will probably be an appeal brief, and then an oral argument.
You’ll come away from this class with a much better grasp of legal writing, and it prepares you for every path after 1L, and hopefully better able to speak authoritatively on a subject.
How to Prepare for Your First Year Law School Classes
You do not need to learn the law before orientation, but a few habits will make your first semester far more manageable.
- Brief every case. Before class, write a short summary of the facts, the legal issue, the holding, and the court’s reasoning. Briefing keeps you ready for cold calls and becomes the raw material for your outlines.
- Outline as you go. Every few weeks, condense your briefs and class notes into an outline organized by legal rule. Students who wait until the end of the semester often run out of time.
- Take practice exams early. Law school exams test whether you can spot issues in a new fact pattern and apply the rules, not whether you can recite them. Work through old exams from your professors whenever they are available.
- Treat law school like a job. Set regular hours for reading, briefing, and review, and protect time for sleep and exercise. The 1L year is a marathon, not a sprint.
If you are still deciding where to enroll, our guide on how to choose a law school can help you compare programs, including their first-year curriculum and academic support.
Conclusion
First year law school classes are challenging for a reason, and the core curriculum looks similar from school to school because every ABA-approved school must meet the ABA’s standards for legal education. [3] They push you to think differently, work more strategically, and build the foundation you’ll rely on throughout your legal career. The experience is demanding, but it shapes the skills and mindset that define successful attorneys.
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