Based on the novel by John Jay Osborn Jr. (1971)
James T. Hart...Timothy Bottoms
Susan Fields...Lindsay Wagner
Professor Charles W. Kingsfield Jr....John Houseman
Ford...Graham Beckel
Kevin Brooks...James Naughton
Anderson...Edward Herrmann
Bell...Craig Richard Nelson
O'Connor...Bob Lydiard
Moss...Lenny Baker
Toombs...David Clennon
Ashley Brooks...Regina Baff
Miss Farranti...Blair Brown
From The University of Chicago Law School:
"It should be one of the functions of a teacher to open vistas before his pupils, showing them the possibility of activities that will be as delightful as they are useful." These words by Bertrand Russell capture what my colleagues and I aspire to do as law professors. Many of us use, at least occasionally, the style of legal pedagogy known as the Socratic Method. Most students have heard of the Socratic Method; some remember Professor Kingsfield from The Paper Chase and the terror his students felt every time they entered his Contracts class. Kingsfield's performance is an exaggerated and outdated caricature of the Socratic Method; this essay will provide you a more accurate picture of the interactions among law professors and students that occur in many University of Chicago Law School classrooms.
From LawSchooli:
This is really the only serious flick about law school life. It’s brooding and intense, perfectly capturing the dynamic between law professor and student. The movie is worth watching just for actor John Houseman’s academy award winning performance as Professor Kingsfield. Every school still has a professor that knows how to absolutely terrify the 1Ls — for us at UChicago, that was Richard “The Hammer” Helmholz. The Paper Chase’s Professor Kingsfield is like a distillation every one of these scary Arch-villain type professors. I doubt you’ll run into any professor quite as intimidating as Kingsfield, but the movie is still instructive: if watching makes you want to be 500 miles away from a classroom situation like that, you might want to rethink those law school plans! Also, while the depiction of the socratic method may be exaggerated, the movie is deadly accurate in showing what studying for finals is like. Law school finals are all-consuming!
And from Dan DeWoskin, Esq. Read his entire comment. It's also available on my teacher page.
This film operates best in demonstrating the pressures that exist for 1Ls and the dangers that these pressures pose. There were several people who began law school with me at Georgia State who later dropped out. One of them is a very close friend of mine. She transitioned to a Masters in Public Administration and is successful, warm, well-adjusted person. Although nobody I went to law school with committed suicide, there are those who have sadly had those feelings and acted on them. There are many who abuse drugs and alcohol to try to cope, or drugs to try to focus and keep an edge. There are books written specifically to advise students how to cope with law school itself. At Emory, they bring in dogs into the law library to alleviate the stress that students feel during exam time.
From the film: Socratic Method:
What happens when a student is unprepared:
Studying for finals (where your whole grade depends on it):
And how law school can rule your life.
So:
1. How would you describe law school as depicted in this movie? What word or phrase would best
characterize it in your mind—and what scene or scenes best support this characterization. Plus: is this
what you expected? If so—why? If not—why not? If you want to be a lawyer, does this make you
second guess that desire?
2 A. Would Caroline, Avery, Cal, Layney, Evan, Taylor, and Madeleine address this question: what do
do you think of Hart? Characterize him and what supports this? And—being an English teacher for a
second—what is his conflict? Why is this movie about Hart and not Ford or Bell or Anderson...or
Kevin?
2B. Anna Claire, Victoria, Tate, Daniel, Noah, Rainey, Emma, and Kaiya: what do you think of
Kingsfield? Characterize him and what supports this? Finally: is he a good teacher? Why or
why not?
3. Everyone: after reading Dan's essay on this movie, what particular point in it jumped
out at you—and why? Go ahead and quote from his essay in your response. Please don't repeat
what others have said—or add something new to what they said. And what specifically would
you like him to address in our discussion of the movie and law school tomorrow—what question
or questions would you like him to address?
Finally: this moment in the movie Whiplash reminds me of Kingsfield's class.
We'll finish the movie and see what happens: will Hart and Ford pass their tests? Will Hart
continue to worship Kingsfield? Will Susan take Hart back? Is HLS worth $297,000? Stay
turned.
1. If I had to describe law school in the movie in one word, it would be stressful. Best illustrated by how the students can only think about law, and that the pressure drives Brooks to suicide, Harvard Law is slowly eroding away at these students minds. The one thing is, this is exactly what I thought would happen. I’ve heard the horror stories from my grandpa and other family friends, and it’s safe to say I never looked to being a lawyer as my number one career choice.
ReplyDelete2. In my opinion, Kingsfield seems over the top. He’s so pointlessly tough that he almost seems fake, and he reminds me of a drill sergeant who’s goal is to break his students until they respect him. This is best shown by how on the very first day he humiliates Hart, ripping him to pieces so much that he vomits from embarrassment and stress. Personally, this is not a good way to teach. If I’m afraid of my teacher, why would I want to pay attention? Why would I respect someone who doesn’t have respect for my sanity or schedule? If I feel like I can approach someone, I would be more likely to listen and respect them.
3. When I was reading the essay, what surprised me the most is that everyone thinks that it’s necessary to be as tough as possible to make a college kid into a lawyer. Why is there a narrative that being able to study and memorize for hours on end helps you to litigate or draft contracts? I understand that you have to have an understanding of the subject, but wouldn’t some practice come in handy? It just seems like I’ve always learned best by doing rather than watching, and often I retain the most information from classes where I have a minute or two to think rather than just fighting to keep my grades above the surface.
From what I saw in the movie, I would describe law school as being very stressful, and incredibly competitive between peers. The movie showed a tremendous amount of the competition even between friends to succeed. If I were to choose a single word I would choose “stress.” A scene that best characterizes “stress” in this film is when Hart takes on the extra assignment the same weekend he is supposed to travel to the Cape with Susan. Throughout the scene he is seen multiple times falling asleep and pulling all-nighters in order to complete the assignment. Before watching this movie I did expect for law school to be as stressful as depicted in the film, but I did not think there would be as much competition as is shown in this film. Watching this film definitely does make me wonder if I would ever attend law school because I do not think it would be fun to be so stressed and have to compete with my peers all the time. I think Hart is an extremely intelligent man who is able to fully devote himself to passing his final exam. I think his willingness to put his schoolwork ahead of his social life, like when he takes on an additional assignment for Kingsfield’s class, is what truly characterizes him as person and character. Hart’s conflict is that he is worried about not succeeding and not having everything perfectly planned out. I think this movie focuses on Hart because it shows how Hart goes from being incredibly scared and intimidated by Kingsfield, to being confident in his learning and relationship with Kingsfield.
ReplyDeleteThe quote “Whether or not this is true, the experience that many lawyers have of law school is that the 1L year, the first year, is a conglomeration of hazing rituals performed by academics and reinforced by 2L and 3L students who have, of course, endured the same abuse.” stood out to me because it describes a lot of what we see happening in terms of pressure and competition in the movie and I think it is very accurately describes what the movie portrays. A question I would like to ask Dan is how did you study for your exam, and also were you part of a study group like the one in this film?
1. Law school gets depicted to us views as very stressful. It tells you the reality of law school. The best word to describe law school in my mind would be taxing. Law school seems so stressful and killer. It takes a big toll to you in my opinion. I didn’t really expect law school to be this hard. I knew it was hard but never thought it was this hard. I have never had the thought of being a lawyer and this adds more reasons why I shouldn’t be a lawyer.
ReplyDelete2. I think Kingsfield if a good person. I believe that he just acts tough in class to make sure his students don’t think law school is a joke. I think he does a good job as a teacher. He is a strict teacher which is good for the students. I’d characterize him as a strict teacher with good virtues. Outside of class he doesn’t seem as bad. You never see him being rude to his daughter or anything meaning he is nice outside of class.
3. I was reading the essay, a question that rose in my head was, “Is 1L the hardest year? And if not which year is the hardest.?” It sounds as if 1L is the Time with the most stress while both reading the essay and watching the film. Is this true?
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ReplyDeleteIn this movie, law school is depicted as an extremely stressful, rigorous experience. The word I would use to describe it is brutal. Professor Kingsfield pushes his students to the limit. He expects them to master a huge amount of material before every class with the knowledge that they could be called on with any question at any time. Some students rise to the occasion, others seem to sit paralyzed hoping to not be called on. One example of how brutal it can be, is when Kingsfield assigns Hart to do research work for him. Hart cancels his plans for the weekend, and works non stop. When he goes to to tell his professor that he’s almost done, but needs to condense it in order to make it better, his professor dismisses him and says he has already found someone else to do it. I did expect that law school would be very rigorous and that there could be professors like Kingsfield, but I didn’t think it would be constantly stressful like they portrayed in the movie. I have thought about becoming a lawyer and this movie doesn’t turn me away from thinking more about that.
ReplyDeleteAs for professor Kingsfield, he is multifaceted. He is an extremely tough professor whose classroom environment evokes anxiety and fear. The large amount of stress in his classroom and his incredibly difficult demands led one character to attempt suicide. Despite that, one could argue that Kingsfield has some positive influences on his students. His students must work very hard and be well prepared for class which forces them to learn the material. He also makes them think analytically rather than just memorizing facts which is good training for their future in law. On the negative side, his students are so consumed by his class that they barely have time for anything else. And to reiterate what I said earlier, the amount of stress and workload can cause harm to the students and actually interfere with their learning.
In Dan’s essay, one thing that jumped out to me is that, “At Emory, they bring in dogs into the law library to alleviate the stress that students feel during exam time.” This is a real life example of how stressful law school can be. I’m curious to know, if Dan had a teacher like Kingsfield as well as a more nurturing teacher, which one taught him more and inspired him to work harder/what style of teaching better prepared him for the court room.
Based on this movie, they depict law school as being exceptionally difficult. The man who attempted suicide because there was too much presssure to succeed exemplifies how exceptionally difficult law school is. This is fairly surprising to me because I obviously knew law school was difficult, but I didn’t know how it was almost impossible, from intense competition to regularly sleepless nights. I think Hart is the most relatable person in the movie. He is not a legacy, and did not go to an Ivy for undergrad. When he shows up to the first day of class unaware there was homework due, it showed how he doesn’t have a leg up (unlike the guy with the photographic memory or the man whose relatives all went to HLS). I do not believe he has an overarching conflict. Like every person, he messes up sometimes (when he blew off his girlfriend to do school work) but not exceptionally more than any other person. I believe he is, in fact, the strongest person in this movie. He fought for his place and knows how to clam everyone down. He may be one of the only true friends in the movie. In Dan’s essay, the thing that jumped out to me the most was the quote: “The A students become law professors, the B students become judges, and the C students make all the money.” This was surprising to me because it seems as though everyone who goes to law school is bound to succeed in life. In fact, it arguably would not be in your best interest to get an A because the paths from Bs and Cs seem relatively better. I want him to address the question how law school could be fixed to where it still prepares you to become a lawyer, but the astronomically high stress rate is lessened? Do most lawyers end up not being happy, and, if so, what would be appealing about becoming a lawyer?
ReplyDelete1. Watching this film definitely made me not want to go to law school. Intentional or not, the high pressures to get good grades along with the strong competition and unapologetic teachers would cause stress to anyone to say the least. I could never handle the amount of stress that is placed on Hart, and we do get to see how that stress affects other characters too. For example, Bell shows no signs of struggling with the workload whatsoever while Kevin Brooks is driven to suicide. If I wanted to be a lawyer, I would definitely second guess myself. I’m not sure if I could handle workload as well as Bell or Hart.
ReplyDelete2A. Hart is a very complex character who unlike Bell or Brooks, finds law school difficult but manageable. While he seems unaffected by his other law classes, Hart’s struggle throughout the movie is proving himself to Kingsfield, one of his law teachers. It really emphasizes this struggle by only showing Hart struggling with Kingsfield’s class, and there are no mentions or scenes of Hart in other classes. Hart is so terrified to be caught unprepared by Kingsfield that he takes it to extreme measures, such studying instead of sleeping. Added to this conflict is Susan, whose relationship with Kingsfield causes Hart even more confusion and stress. Hart has a difficult time balancing his time with Susan, and working for Kingsfield. We especially see this when Hart chooses to work for Kingsfield over going to the beach with Susan.
3. I found your comments on the Socratic method fascinating. Did you ever have a professor who used the Socratic method in the classroom, or was it just added to the movie to enhance Kingsfield’s intense character?
As harsh and intimidating his methods are, I can clearly see how Kingsfield turns out stellar lawyers. His class seems like a rite of passage for the young law students, and it almost feels like once you take his class, you are prepared for the rest of law school. His unwavering and inflexible attitude, as well as his outdated teaching methods make him seem callous and heartless, but I am curious as to how the rest of the film plays out, and if he changes at all. Kingsfield certainly doesn't help alleviate any stress for the 1Ls, he is not the sole cause of it. The film focuses on his class, because he is the most intimidating professor mentioned, but he is not the only reason for Kevin's breakdown right when we stopped this afternoon. I do not see Kingsfield as the worst part of Hart's experience. Through Hart's eyes, we see him as a looming figure, but it seems like if you are prepared for his class, he likes you fine.
ReplyDeleteA huge cause of the Harvard law school stress seems to be the competition between the students. I was surprised about how much the students we see compete with each other, instead of trying to help each other make it through law school alive. Even within study groups, we see "Liberty Bell" reveal his plan to only show his notes to Hart, because everyone else in the group is a "pimp." It doesn't hurt Bell at all to xerox his outline to everyone, especially since they split it up so that they desperately need his outline. I thought that such rude, standoffish behavior had to be a part of the moviefication of Harvard Law. However, after reading Dan's analysis, I realized that students were graded against each other, and class ranks were a much more personal situation than I thought. This immense social pressure, combined with unforgiving proffesors and hard to grasp concepts make me question if law school is something I will ever be prepared for.
One quote in particular stuck out to me from Dan's analysis: "I call this abuse because, in my experience, the intense pressure that is thrust upon law students, that sense of being overwhelmed that is embraced as necessary by law professors, is used to justify and explain those who do not ultimately matriculate." This quote perfectly captures the backwards mindset of the law proffesors and students. The fear that one exam will make or break not only your law school experience, but your whole career in the legal field is enough to make even the strongest students panic. Paper Chase is doing an excellent job so far of showing the stress and pressure of law school as well as the outside "distractions" and general life experiences of men in their mid 20s.
1. Based on this movie alone, I believe that law school is a very stressful environment. Every move you make, every answer you give aloud in class seems to define you not only as a student, but as a person as well. In this film version of Harvard, you’re either fit to be there, or you aren’t. The words “suffocating”and “overwhelming” come to my mind when I attempt to characterize this place. There are countless examples to backup my characterization. The biggest being that one of the characters, Kevin, tried to kill himself due to the pressures and stress of law school. Another is that their study group is falling apart because rather than be light-hearted yet studious, they are being competitive and rude. Honestly, this version of law school, especially Harvard, was definitely expected. Based on what I’ve heard and seen, law school is a lot of work. There’s tons of stress and competition. After all, everyone wants the same thing--to be a great lawyer. I did in fact want to be a lawyer. I still do, but watching this film has for sure made me rethink some things. Law school seems so stressful, and I don’t know how much of that I could handle.
ReplyDelete2A. Personally, I feel as though Hart is the most witty, charming, and interesting character in the movie. For starters, he finds similar patterns between Kingsfield and himself, and he uses those to his advantage. But not before doing more research. By this I mean the scene where he reads Kingsfield’s notes from The Red Set. However, Hart is also compassionate and sensible. He attempts to help Kevin many times out of the pure goodness of his heart. He also keeps the study group in order whenever things get too rowdy. His conflict, however, is that he is at times too practical. He is so focused on succeeding as a lawyer that he negates other things in life. As for his almost unhealthy idolization of Kingsfield, he constantly tries to impress him, which at times renders Hart looking foolish in class. I believe that the film is centered around Hart due to his “midwest charm”. He’s not your typical Ivy League law student. He didn’t come from a rich family, nor did he marry rich. He simply went after what he wanted.
3. The biggest point that jumped out at me from Dan’s essay was that: “Law school is by its very nature competitive like few other things. There is a class rank. You are graded in comparison to the others in the class.” Did it surprise me that he called law school competitive? Absolutely not. However, I was surprised that the fact that one is judged based on the performance of their peers. I would’ve thought that one gets judged solely on their own abilities, not the abilities of others. This seems slightly unfair to me, but such is the world I suppose. I would like to ask Dan about the memorization of cases and case studies. How does one go about that process? After becoming a lawyer, how does one cite those cases (if necessary) in court?
As depicted in this movie, law school seems to be a place full of stress and peer competition. Hart and his friends are competing with each other and their classmates, trying to appear the smartest in their classes. The Socratic Seminar style of teaching stresses on these students the idea of being ready and prepared at all times. I have seen this style of teaching in many other movies that depict law school, but I think that it would feel very different if you were truly experiencing it. Because both of my parents are lawyers, I do plan to pursue this career for my future, but this movie does help me understand more about what they went through in their law school years. Hart is a very smart student. When he puts in the work, Hart has no problem understanding the material. Hart faces a mental block while trying to move into the group of people who are confident enough to participate in class. Hart has support from not only his study group but also from Susan, even when he doesn’t realize it. Many times, Hart is told that you cannot balance girls and first-year law school at the same time, but he does not listen. Now, he is struggling with letting go of Susan and the distractions that come with her, knowing that it will give him more study time with the upcoming exams. Hart also has the conflict of wanting to be the best student his professors have seen. He is the main character of this movie, not because he is sleeping with his professor’s daughter, but because he has a good arc. We see Hart at his lowest self-confidence in the beginning scene of the movie, and we transition to get to know a guy that becomes a leader to his classmates and peers. Dan wrote “In short, everyone can’t be great, and certainly, everyone cannot be the best,” about law school ant the competitive nature that it brings out in people. I think that this is a very interesting view. There is only one best. In law school with class rankings, the competition must be at an all-time high, and some people must know that they will fall short of being great. I wonder how realistic it is to be in a position with study groups that bail on you? While attending law school and learning about contracts do these students leave themselves this vulnerable?
ReplyDeleteAfter having watched The Paper Chase, I would describe law school as a demanding job. It demands that you not only do the readings, but also heavily analyze the material. I believe that the scenes where Ford and Hart have to sacrifice events in order to study demonstrate how demanding law school is. Ford declines going to his friend’s birthday party and Hart loses sleep while trying to balance school and his relationship. The students from the study group even discuss how law school does not permit you to have a relationship because of how time consuming and demanding the courses are. I did not expect law school to be as stressful and demanding as the movie portrays it to be. However, I don’t think this has made me second guess my desire to become a lawyer because I can only imagine how much more demanding medical school and other graduate schools can be in comparison.
ReplyDeleteI believe Kingston is a professor that represents the difficulty of law school. He is demanding and requires that you heavily analyze the cases studied. Using the Socratic method of teaching, he doesn’t stop when a student describes a case, but he continues to ask in depth about the case. Even though I think that it was harsh for Kingston to reject Hart’s paper because it was late, despite having spen all weekend working on it, I believe it demonstrates the limited amount of time a lawyer may face with a case. I personally believe Kingston is a good teacher because he is strict, there’s no doubt, but that doesn’t mean he is mean. I believe that he is sincerely trying to prepare his students (let’s not forget that they are Harvard students). By constantly asking questions , he is helping his students put into practice the skill of analyzing.
I found it interesting that Dan mentioned in his essay that “most of [his] colleagues obsessed about success and failure” because we can view that in The Paper Chase through Kevin. He is desperate to pass the final exams and is worried that he will fail. I found it interesting because I feel that most law students as seen in the movie are more concerned about passing and succeeding than finding an interest or passion in law. It reminds a lot of the environment here at Paideia and I wonder if that means that we’ll be familiar with the environment in law school. I would like Dan to address whether or not law school is worth the tears and sweat as someone who wants to become a lawyer. Additionally, I would like him to talk about the academic demand in law school and whether or not it permits students to have a social life. What about students who need to work while in school? How does it go for them?
I would describe the law school depicted in this movie as very hardcore and grade-oriented. In a way, it reminds me of Darwin’s concept of survival of the fittest; those with the best genetics and abilities will succeed. A scene that best describes this is the scene where the guy who tried to kill himself (i don’t remember his name) says that even though he has a photographic memory, he does not have the other abilities needed to thrive in law school. In other words, he has a certain ability that helps him in some stuff, yet it does not help him in law school. As for the depiction of law school, it is more extreme than I thought it would be. I knew that law school was serious and stressful, but the only thing I knew about law school prior to watching this film was from Legally Blond. Also, I do not want to be a lawyer, and watching this makes me even more confident in my decision.
ReplyDeleteI think Hart has a big ego and thinks that he is really smart. I know that he says that he still has to work extremely hard to do well in school, but I think that once he got over his fear of speaking in class, everything became easier for him. He is naturally gifted in analyzing situations in his contracts class yet he does not want to admit it. This is proved by how he becomes Kingfield’s favorite student and provides very intelligent answers to all of his questions. His conflict is that he cares too much about Kingfield’s daughter. The other students are not the main focus of the movie since their primary focus is school. Hart is focused on school and his “girlfriend”.
Lastly, something that stood out to me from Dan’s essay is, “competition is not exclusively for students”. This stood out to me because in the film, only one professor was shown, so the idea that professors competed against each other never occurred to me. A question that I would like him to address is what classes he took in law school, how many courses did he take per year, how often and how long were his classes, and what his favorite and least favorite classes were.
Based on this movie, I would describe law school as incredibly intense and demanding. The students were not only under extreme academic stress to be able to memorize the facts about many, many cases and the procedures that occurred in them, but also were surrounded in an environment solely based on competition between their fellow students and themselves. This constant exposure to such rigorous situations creates an extra level of psychological torment that consumes the lives of the students, and is simply too much to bear for some. The scenes that demonstrated this the most to me were in the hostility of the study group. With a few exceptions, the members really weren’t in it to help one another, and ultimately ended up doing the opposite.
ReplyDeleteKingsfield is undoubtedly extremely tough. His methods of teaching are harsh and very intimidating, but it’s arguable that his methods prove to succeed with some students. He enforces students to come to class prepared and knowing the facts of the cases. Further, his students learn to think on their feet and be prepared for all sorts of questions that might be thrown at them. If his students can overcome the amount of stress and exhaustion the class puts on them and put the effort in needed to achieve in the class, then Kingsfield can produce strong results.
What jumped out at me the most was how widespread this ideology about pressuring students over the top is. One might expect such matters at a school with the esteem and grandeur that Harvard presents, but I was surprised to read that this occurs as commonplace at law schools. The quote “Most of my colleagues obsessed about success and failure and how their grasp of a single concept would result in a life well lived or one in the gutter” reminded me of this. I’m also curious to know if the academic or social aspects of law school were harder to handle and did that change as the years in law school went by?
In “The Paper Chase”, law school is depicted as a full-time, serious, anxiety-ridden program. I was surprise to see the professor call out random people, and I was also surprised by the amount of preparation necessary before each class. While I did expect it to be serious, I also expected to see more of a balanced college experience with breaks and free time. For example, Hart admits that his busy schooling does not allow the time or mental space for a relationship. Law school also seems very competitive. The students, especially in the study group, seem very eager to beat each other in grades and attention from Kingsfield. I have thought about becoming a lawyer, and I am very interested in the profession, however if law school is similar to the way it is in this movie, it might not be the path for me.
ReplyDeleteI disliked Kingsfield. His Socratic Method of teaching seems very intimidating and promotes an environment that is too high-stress to retain information. Personally, I would not want to sit in a class fearing being called on. I can see how this might motivate some students to prepare more and work harder, and while this is true to an extent, I think the added level of stress is unnecessary.
The extreme element of competition jumped out to me because it seems to outshine the point of law school: learning all the skills to become a great lawyer. Dan wrote, "Law school is by its very nature competitive like few other things. There is a class rank. You are graded in comparison to the others in the class. In short, everyone can’t be great, and certainly everyone cannot be the best.” The competition in law school environments seems discouraging and disheartening. I would have thought schools like Harvard would want to produce as many fantastic lawyers as possible, not just a few A students labeled as “the best”. Scoring work by comparing it to the rest of the class promotes tension among the students.
Law school in “The Paper Trail” is shown as the closest thing on earth to hell. In a word, dreadful. Though the students aren’t experiencing the most extreme forms of labor that could be possibly presented in a situation, law school seems like a very realistic form hell that could be accessed by a fair amount of people. The scene that really helped me decide my opinion was when Hart and Susan were spending time together and they were at this beautiful house and had a gorgeous view of the ocean and all Hart could think about was school. I think the most terrible part of law school is that it was always in Harts mind, he could never escape it.
ReplyDeleteThere is a big difference in a good teacher and someone who teaches well. In Kingfields class, the students will come out having learned something, however, they will have learned it miserably. I believe a “good teacher” is one that sympathises with the students, and tries to motivate them based on personal progress as opposed to fear.
I think it’s interesting how many people, including Dan, realize how ineffective it is to value a lawyers intelligence based on an objective grade point average. I think it's interesting that while many people have said this, including renowned people of their field and even professors themselves, yet this way of valuing a potential lawyer is still being used. I would like Dan to address the reality of the movie. Is law school really as brutal as “The Paper Trail” shows? How did Dan deal with law school- obviously he is a lawyer now but how did he manage it all?