29 May, 2007
Preparing for law school over the summer
A friend of mine who is taking a bar preparation course (three guesses which one) said something to me that made me think. Something to the effect of "if torts were taught this way the first time around, I would have understood it so much better...I would have nailed the final."
I think he's right. And I think this is an argument for preparing yourself for law school prior to your first semester in law school by learning some basics. (More Below)
Difference between bar review and law school classes
Let me back up. You may not know this, but a law school
class is generally taught with professors making students read a bunch of appellate
level cases. The student is expected to pull something from each of
these cases, couple if with class discussion, and somehow develope adequate knowledge of that area law.
In real life this causes
confusion. If you're like me and come into law school knowing nothing
about law (let alone even what an appellate decision really was) the way classes are conducted does
little to help you learn what you need to know.
You don't know what to focus on in the cases or lectures. And when it comes exam time, the minutiae of those cases about which you probably stressed so much is pretty unimportant. Issue spotting within a hypothetical and elements of law are. By the end of the class a lot of times you end up relying on the outlines and supplements that are much more straightforward.
In contrast, the bar review course is straight forward law. No cases, no socratic method. Just law with elements laid out in a straight forward manner.
What does this have to do with anything?
So the comment from my friend about the
bar review got me thinking. Why not counteract the fact that you are going to be lost trying to decipher cases and by the professor playing "hide-the-ball" in the classroom by already being familiar with some of the law that you are going to be dealing with?
Professors and school officials especially seem to discourage preparing for law school beforehand in anyway. Why are students discouraged from learning some law school before law school starts? I have never really heard a legitmate reason why this is this case and I question whether this is what is best for the student going into the law school environment as it is.
Would it really help?
I've seen some evidence that preparing before law school is effective. There are courses like Law Preview and Bar/Bri's Law School Prep Program. I know for a fact that the person who was number one in my class at Chicago-Kent took Law Preview (here's the proof). I know this guy and that's a pretty good endorsement for getting a head start on things in some way.
The book Planet Law School (in second edition) endorses a preparation program before law school. This book certainly has some drawbacks that I won't get into, but the preparation program suggeted seems somewhat effective. It endorses actually reading some of the supplements like Examples and Explanations, Gilberts Outlines, etc. before school starts.
I've seen many testimonials that attest the books' preparation program's effectiveness. And just looking at the author's suggestions as a law student who has been through it, I can tell you that if you followed the proposed preparation program in that PLS you would be at an unbelievable advantage compared to students like me who just showed up to law school having read a couple of flimsy "how to succeed in law school" books written by professors.
And not unrelated, this is one of the reasons CALI opened up its library of lessons to pre-law students at learnthelaw.org. Which we've had some pretty good feedback on ourselves. From a student who used CALI lessons:
- "I just want to say, your site really is a great tool for learning and self-testing, thank you! I highly recommend the pre-law package to any student planning on entering law school. It really gave me a lot of confidence going in to my 1L year, and I ended up at the top of my class. Thanks again!"
You can learn more about that at www.learnthelaw.org.
What should you do?
I honestly think that if you have time over the summer, it would help you to start familiarizing yourself with some of the basic concepts of law in your first year classes. It will save you a lot of confusion.
It's so much easier to read a case and at least have an idea what you are looking for. It's easier to participate in class having some background knowledge. It may sound unappealing to start studying before school actually starts. But with the divide in the type of jobs that top students get compared to the rest at some law schools, if you can muster up the motivation it may be worth it.