One L, Scott Turow's journal of his first year at Harvard Law School, reveals his fundamental concern with the training given to aspiring lawyers. As 550 of the best and brightest arrive at Harvard Law School to become one L's (the designation given to first year law students), they are systematically demoralized and defeated by the demanding workload and the rigors of the Socratic method. The students also worry that their indoctrination into the law has begun to alter many of their fundamental values. Gina Spitz, one of the one L's, complains, "They're turning me into someone else. . . . They're making me different."

Turow also questions whether law school training actually prepares students to face the difficult issues they will confront as lawyers. He observes, "Too much of what goes on around the law school and in the legal classroom seeks to tutor students in strategies for avoiding...