If you just want to get a big piece of paper at the end of the process, you can cruise through it. If you very work hard to learn everything you can, at the end you'll have climbed a mountain. But in both cases, what you learn in practice will matter far more than what you learned sitting in the classroom. Don't get me wrong, those classroom experiences are important. They can provide a foundation. And they can create the necessary habit of thinking critically. Note my emphasis on "can". But actually practicing law is a different animal. Never pick an attorney based on the school that appears on his degree (or based on his bill board - but that's a discussion for a different day).