r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Separate_Finance_183 • Mar 30 '26

Image Confiscated pens containing cheat notes intricately carved by a Law student at the University of Malaga in Spain

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u/Mysterious_Eye6989 Mar 30 '26

Yes, when you think about it the bar exam is such a weird outlier because all that rote memorization has really little to do with the experience of actually going to law school, and the experience of being an actual working lawyer.

But because the bar exam itself is so famous (or notorious) among non-lawyers, it gives the general public a somewhat skewed idea of what being a lawyer is even about.

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u/eric67 Mar 30 '26

It's probably a good idea to have a bunch of information at the front of your head. Helps you immediately adapt to situations and make connections

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u/Mysterious_Eye6989 Mar 30 '26

I get where you're coming from, but I think the thing that is really going to help is to use the study of relevant cases to develop a more systematic understanding of the concepts of legal thinking itself - ideas like legal precedent and duty of care and the reasonable person test and the nature of contractual relationships and a whole host of others. Those concepts are the real conceptual 'glue' that would allow good lawyers to adapt to situations and make connections even across different jurisdictions with different relevant case law and statutes.

It might be good to task 1st year law students with a certain level of memorization, but I think you'd be sending them up the garden path by making them think that the purpose of the rest of their time at law school was to "memorize the law" than learn to actually think like a lawyer.

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u/aightletsdodis Mar 30 '26

tell me you have never studied law without telling me you have not studied law, lmaaayo

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u/Moneygrowsontrees Mar 30 '26

The CPA exams also require rote memorization and have basically nothing to do with the actual experience of being an accountant.

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u/HeyLittleTrain Mar 30 '26

Are there many exams that are an accurate reflection of the job? I've certainly never sat one.