There are a few different ways to screen law professors before attending a law school. Visiting the law school and attending a few classes will give you first hand knowledge of what the professors are like. You will have to ask the law school before hand if they allow visitors to sit in class. If you are able to visit the law school you should try to ask a few of the students what the professors are like; you will probably find that the students are very helpful. There are a couple of websites that allow the students to rate the professors. By looking at the overall scores of the law professors you will get a sense of what the professors are like at any of the law schools listed in the site.

Professors, like all people, have varying personalities and the following are examples of the type of professors some law students routinely encounter. Most professors teach law because they enjoy it very much and you will find that most professors to be very kind, helpful, and interesting. Some professors teach in a very strict sacratic method (the typical method of teaching law whereby the professor aks the student a series of questions about the legal principle to get the student to think like an attorney and come to better understand the topic through via their own thought process) and often push the student to think and forcing the student to read the law book very carefully and take excellent notes. You may, at first, feel that the professor is being difficult, but the professor is merely doing his or her job and pushing the students to learn and think like attorneys.

Of course there may be a few professors that are brash and disrespectful, however this will most likely be the exception and not the rule. This may not be the professors natural demeanor, but the professor has regressed to this type of behavior because he or she does not want to teach at that particular law school given its low salary for professors, bad reputation, low ranking, or is not well known in the legal community. The professor may see their current position as merely a stepping stone to a much better professorship at a better school. However, this is not typical of all the professors at the lesser known schools, but is prevelant enough to be common. You may find that a very small number of professors at the lesser known schools are not very good teachers although this is very rare, but does occur mostly with newer professors.

You will almost certainly find that some professors are excellent mentors, teachers, and very nice people. Professors will go out of their way to assist you in law school; even more so than your undergraduate professors. All you need to do is apply yourself and politely and properly ask for assistance. The professors that will help you in this manner will be very popular and known to the the current law students. Therefore, visiting the school or professor rating websites will be beneficial.