One L

One L: The Turbulent True Story of a First Year at Harvard Law School is a work of nonfiction by Scott Turow. First published in 1977, the book describes Turow’s experiences as a new law student, and what it’s like to study at Harvard Law School. The book received a positive response upon publication, and it’s especially popular with students considering law school. Turow is a bestselling legal fiction writer. Some of his books have been adapted into movies and tv shows. Before writing books full-time, Turow worked as an assistant US Attorney in Chicago, and he prosecuted many high-profile cases.

In 1975, Turow entered Harvard Law School. From that moment, his life changed forever. In the book, Turow describes how his first year at law school transformed his personal life, his ethics, and his self-identity. He explains that it isn’t possible to graduate from law school as the same person who started the course, because a law degree changes you forever.

There are six chapters in One L. Each chapter is dedicated to a different part of the law student experience, from taking the first class to final exams. Throughout the book, Turow demonstrates that, although his fellow students are also his competitors, he mainly competes with himself. Law school forces everyone to become the best version of themselves, because building a strong character is the only way to survive.



In the first chapter, “Registration,” Turow describes seeing the law school for the first time. The semester starts on September 3rd, and Turow spends the first three days learning everything there is to know about studying law at Harvard. First-year law students are known as One Ls, or 1Ls, and they’re divided into different sections of 140 students.

Turow notes that, although there are hundreds of One Ls, it’s impossible to know them all. He’s encouraged to spend time with his own section, because these are the people he’ll study with, work with, and compete against. Although friendship and networking are encouraged, there’s an undertone of competitiveness and wariness.

Turow describes questioning his career choices the moment he enrolls at Harvard. He feels overwhelmed and unworthy of a place there, and he uses his own path into law school as an example. He’s married, he previously worked as a creative writing teacher, and he’s trying to make it as a fiction writer. He decided to pursue a legal career because, as he got older, he developed a fascination with law and legal procedure. Now that he’s enrolled and surrounded by high-achieving, younger students, he feels distinctly out of place.



As a married law student, Turow finds it difficult to balance married life with his studies. He struggles to make time for his wife or his hobbies, and he often feels disconnected from the outside world. One L cautions prospective law students against isolating themselves—school is important, but life’s important, too.

It’s normal, Turow explains, to wonder whether law school is a mistake. Even the most dedicated law student has a crisis at some point. Law school encourages students to question and criticize the world around them, and so it’s natural that students question their own lives and their life choices. In fact, it’s better to stay self-aware than to lose sight of our own emotions. Lawyers, Turow explains, struggle with feelings of detachment, and it’s important to check in emotionally with themselves every now and then.

One L covers a major struggle faced by all first-year Harvard law students—class rankings. Turow explains how everyone’s ranked by professors and classmates, and it’s a stressful and exhausting experience. Exams, assignments, and class participation all shape how the faculty perceives an individual student, and this perception stays with a student throughout their entire degree. It’s hard, Turow explains, to make friends with the students in his section when everyone’s secretly striving for the top spot.



Students are encouraged to work together on assignments to split the workloads. In a study group, each student is responsible for a certain share of the reading and analysis. If one student fails to pull their weight, the group suffers. This team-based approach encourages students to take responsibility for not just their own learning, but their fellow students, too.

By using his own experiences as examples, Turow confronts the debate about whether law school prepares students for a legal career. Although lawyers are competitive, being a lawyer is about more than simply winning or losing cases. Law is about justice, and professors forget this when they’re teaching students how to pass exams.

Ultimately, Turow accepts that there’s no one way to teach law, and that no law school is perfect. By writing One L, Turow hopes to dispel the myths around first-year Harvard Law, and to encourage students to learn from his mistakes. Just as there’s no single way to teach law, there’s no one way through law school—everyone finds their own way, and the whole experience builds character.