8 comments & 0 Trackbacks of "Advice For New Law Students: Web Roundup"

Here's a good list of hornbooks from an IU law student:

http://oldcowhand.blogspot.com/2006/07/law-school-hornbooks-outlines-and.html

Posted by Jon D. 27 Aug 2006, 15:12

Thanks to everyone for the great comments and advice for the incoming 1L's. Keep them coming!

Posted by Austin 21 Aug 2006, 14:47

Try this: http://www.ilrg.com/glasser.html I wrote it back in '94...still holds up IMHO

Posted by Charles Glasser, Esq. 21 Aug 2006, 14:11

I posted my own short list of tips for entering law students here, containing the kind of rare advice you won't usually find elsewhere.

Posted by Lincoln Adams 20 Aug 2006, 17:14

Get. Out. While. You. Still. Can.

Posted by Cecil 20 Aug 2006, 02:07

I'm a lawyer and former law student and have put some advice here

Posted by Protagonist 19 Aug 2006, 22:04

My biggest suggestion--the one thing I wish I had done differently when studying for my first law school exams:

request a sample exam, take it under timed conditions, and discuss it with a small study group.

Legal issue spotting requires a different test-taking approach than most any undergrad test you ever took. It is really too late to discover this during your first exam.

Posted by sir ss 19 Aug 2006, 19:17

Here are a few comments I wrote on another blog to another starting law student. There are two posts that is why the numbering starts over

1. Use as many study aids as you can afford (do not buy the expensive hard bound "horn books.") People will tell you that they are a crutch, that you learn more if you don't use them. That is TOTAL bs. Law school is not about memorizing black letter law, although that is necessary. What you are really leaning and being tested on is your ability to spot legal issues and then apply the law to the facts with a logical argument (some teachers like you to argue both sides of an issue). Emmanuel’s is very good for most subjects, but there are some very good ones for individual subjects such as civil procedure.

2. Make your own outline. Start creating an outline early on in the semester. Don't worry about most of the facts as your exams will have made up facts anyway. Get the black letter law down (use study aids to help, but you need to personalize for your teacher). After the black letter law, get the reasoning of how the law was applied. You are going to need to do that on the exam.

3. Make friends with 2Ls and 3Ls and get their outlines (especially if they had the same teacher).

4. Always review the sample exams (with answers) made available by your teachers. They will show you the exact type of reasoning they want. Take practice exams provided by your teachers. This is stressful and time consuming, but you really need to know what your teacher wants and if you take a practice test, you won’t freak out in the actual exam when you see a five page fact pattern. If all you do is study the black letter law, you won’t know how to apply the law and argue your case.

5. Don't waste time "briefing" cases, although you may want to do this for a month until you can figure out exactly what is important(after that make notes in the margins). Read the case, make some notes about the basic facts, figure out which rule the case is an example of--the black letter law(i.e. a battery is an intentional unconsented to touching, while assault is the perception of an impending intentional unconsented to touching battery). Then learn how the court applied the rule to the facts. This last part is what the teacher will grill you on in class. Also expect hypotheticals (how do you think the court would have decided the case if these facts changed--you will have to apply the law to new facts on the fly).

lectures in law school. Teachers will call on people and ask you questions. Some teachers do this randomly. Random calling is less and less common as it often seen as a form of torture to law students especially 1Ls. If your teacher is a random caller you need to be prepared every day. They have a seating chart and will call on you by name.

Some teachers call on people in alphabetical order so you know when you are up in class. I found this type of class to be the best type. You don't waste hours memorizing all the worthless minute facts of a case until you are up. You are still grilled by a teacher, but you know when it's coming. Remember the grilling is meant to make you "think like a lawyer" so even if it isn't your turn, think about how you would answer the question.

2. When called on in class, ALWAYS stick to your guns unless you are clearly and obviously wrong. A teacher will almost always are the opposite of whatever side you take. Stick to your argument and look for flaws in the teacher’s argument. There will almost NEVER be a right answer. I have seen students flip flop 3 or 4 times in a few minutes because the teacher kept switching sides. Don't be that student.

3. If you don't know who the class idiot is, it's you. You won't be the class idiot, but there is one in every class. This person raises their hand every five minutes to make a completely illogical point. They argue completely from emotion. When confronted they say "oh, I was just trying to stimulate discussion, I don't really believe what I said." Then they proceed to do the same thing over and over every class. They hog up all the class time so no one with an intelligence question or analysis has time to speak. Don't be the class idiot. Don't try to reform the class idiot. They can't be reformed.

4. Start a study group. This can be you and another person or you and 3 other people. Over four total and it starts to get too big. What a study group isn't: A study group is not like the one in the Paper Chase. You don't sit around arguing fine points of law. A study group is a few people who you share outlines with (because you will always miss something) or divide up outline duty. if you are having trouble you can call them and go over an issue. You study for exams together to go over how to apply the facts to the law (you should already have the black letter law outline made and memorize on your own.) In summary, a study group is your support system. Don't do law school alone. You need people to bounce ideas off and you learn better by explaining it to someone else.

5. Don't hog notes/outlines. Don't be the person who won't share notes because you want to do better on a test. Notes and outlines of black letter law are the bare minimum to take a law school exam. You are really tested on your reasoning. That is why most law school exams are open note or open book. No one cares about your ability to memorize. So share, you will make someone really happy and what goes around comes around. If someone is desperate for an outline in one class because they just didn't have enough time to finish, give it to them. On the other hand, don't give away every outline you have for nothing in return. People will try to take advantage of your hard work.

6. Have fun. I had a blast in law school. It was like going back to college only a lot more work (it will be a lot more so be ready). Perhaps it was because I did a masters in archaeology before hand which was much much harder, but law school was summer camp in comparison. Law school is somewhere between a full time job and college. You really need to keep up every day, but you will still have a ton of free time compared to working.

Posted by Dave 19 Aug 2006, 18:17