Law Students

Movie Review: The Paper Chase (Or: How Law School Messes With Your Head)

By Casebook Sherpa

I can’t imagine a law school blog that does movie reviews without including one on The Paper Chase.

Having watching it recently, I’ve been thinking about it a lot. And there’s probably not much I could say about the classic movie The Paper Chase beyond what’s already been well-said.

It’s the story about Hart a 1L at Harvard Law School, his adjustment to law school, and his obsession with impressing his Contracts professor, the legendary Professor Kingsfield. The setting is your stereotypical law school - professor calling on students, giving far too little time to answer questions, students competing to have the smartest answer in class, students crumbling under pressure, some figuring out how to manage it all.

Here’s a taste of it from the movie’s opening scene:

So, I won’t bore you with a plug for the movie. Instead, I’ll bore you with how I thought the movie captured a side of law school that has really struck me as its essence. That is: law school messes with your head.

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Full post as published by Fight The Hypo on January 14, 2008 (boomark / email).