Recommended Law School Supplements

Below is a list of the most recommended law school supplements for each class.  If you are having trouble with class materials, you should consider purchasing at least one supplement for the course.

Whether you are preparing for law school, or just starting your last year, a great book you can purchase is "How to Win at Law School: Setting Goals for Law School Success."  You can read more about the book, which is currently only available in eBook form, here.

TORT LAW SUPPLEMENTS

The Law of Torts: Examples & Explanations, 4th Edition

I bought this E&E just before finals to prepare for the exam. It was definitely worth the price. It helped clear up any uncertainties I had and gave me a "big picture" perspective of the semester. Each topic is broken into a chapter that gives an overall explanation, and at the end of each chapter there are 10+ questions that reinforce/give additional information about the process of applying the topic to a fact pattern. There are also exam tips and 2-3 long essay samples with sample answers.

This book is very helpful in easily explaining a concept and explaining how things relate to each other. I wish I had ordered the book at the beginning of the semester to read each chapter as we were discussing the topic in class. I feel it would have been very helpful.

This is a great tool for a study aid, but it can not be used to ace an exam without going to class or taking good class notes. It only explains majority opinions on topics, and often professors will cover both majority/minority opinions and their applications to be tested on them. Additionally, although it does touch on the Restatement, it does not go into much detail about the Restatement approach for many topics, so if you professor focuses on that you will need additional instruction.

I used this book in conjunction with the CrunchTime: Torts . I found that combined, they were a great prep tool and plan to use both again for other classes. With that said, the Torts E&E was far more helpful than any other E&E. I would not recommend an E&E for every class, and think you should look at the book in the library before you purchase it to see if it would be a decent supplement for your class.

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW SUPPLEMENTS

Constitutional Law: Principles and Policies (Erwin Chemerinsky)

"This is probably the best money I spent my first year of law school. I am still using this book for Con Law II in my second year of school, and it is still just as invaluable to me. For Constitutional Law, canned briefs like legal lines do you no good. You need someone to spell out the principles and the analysis. No one does this as well as Chemerinsky. I could probably name at least 10 other students at school who ordered this book after they saw my copy. My text book for Constitutional Law is a piece of crap, and I would not learn anything if it were not for Chemerinsky. I have a different teacher for my second semester of Con Law, and he teaches verbatim from this book. My first Con Law professor was so impressed from a comment I made in class through something I had read in Chemerinsky that she came up to me after class and thanked me for helping further the class discussion. She was so impressed that I didn't want to tell her I was a fraud! I credit my final grade for Con Law I to Chemerinsky as well.

I know the price for this study aide is a little higher than some of the others, but you will get to use it for at least two semesters. I also heard it is helpful if you take a class on the First Amendment.

Other study aides I bought were barely opened. This one was read more than my text book!"


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LAW SCHOOL SUPPLEMENTS BY SERIES:

GILBERT LAW SUMMARIES

These are America’s best selling outlines and have set the standard for excellence since they were introduced more than thirty-five years ago. It’s Gilbert’s unique combination of features that makes it the one study aid you’ll turn to for all of your study needs! Walk into class prepared with a comprehensive outline of the law, a concise capsule summary perfect for a quick review before class, charts of every kind, a text correlation chart so that you can match your specific reading assignment to the relevant pages in the Gilbert outline, and an index and table of cases. Ace your final exams with a step-by-step approach to attack your exam, exam tips, and sample multiple choice, true-false, and essay questions.

Gilbert Law Summaries are great for using for both law school exam preparation as well as bar exam preparation.

Gilbert Law Summaries on Property
Gilbert Law Summaries on Contracts
Gilbert Law Summaries on Civil Procedure
Gilbert Law Summaries on Torts

EXAMPLES AND EXPLANATIONS:
 
Many law school students purchase the Examples and Explanations supplements, and many use them to study for the exam.  While many wait until the end of the semester to cram for exams with these supplements, the best advice is to open them early and work through them at the same time or right after you go over the material in class.

The Constitutional Law version of E&E is not as highly recommended as Chemerinsky supplement on Constitutional law.  Otherwise, the E&Es are great.  One reason is because E&Es have hypos and detailed explanations of the correct answers.

E&E's generally have a table to cases in the index of the book, so if you focused on a major case, look it up in the index and find the corresponding section in the E&E so you cover what was discussed in class.

Some individuals claim that the E&E for Civil Procedure is key to getting a top grade in the class.  Some individuals actually go as far to state that they only read the E&E for Civil Procedure and did not even open the textbook.  While this may or may not be true, the verdict is that the E&E is highly recommended as a study material to help you get a high grade in law school.

FIRST YEAR CLASSES:

Examples & Explanations: Property
Examples & Explanations: Civil Procedure
Examples & Explanations: Contract Law
Examples & Explanations: Torts
Examples & Explanations: Criminal Law
Examples & Explanations: Constitutional Law

UPPER DIVISION CLASSES:

Examples & Explanations: Evidence
Examples & Explanations: Wills, Trusts, and Estates
Examples & Explanations: Federal Income Taxation
Examples & Explanations: Corporations
Examples & Explanations: Corporate Taxation
Examples & Explanations: Administrative Law


COMMERCIAL OUTLINES:

CRUNCHTIME

"The Crunchtime outlines present a more concise and easier to navigate supplement (at least in terms of commercial outlines). I also loved the charts in each Crunchtime that walked you through the best way to analyze certain exam questions that you are certain to see (parol evidence in Contracts, equal protection in Con Law, etc.). There were also short hypos in the book and "exam tips" (which are also in the larger outlines) that I always went over the night before exams. They were helpful in refreshing your memory about the entire body of law that you will have crammed in your head."


CrunchTime: Torts, Fourth Edition
CrunchTime: Contracts, Fifth Edition
CrunchTime: Criminal Law
CrunchTime: Constitutional Law
CrunchTime: Civil Procedure
CrunchTime: Property

GLANNON GUIDES

"The format of the Glannon Guides is similar to an E&E in that each chapter presents a summary of the body of law in a certain area (i.e., Easements, Future Interests, Joinder) and tests your knowledge with multiple choice questions. There are no essay questions in this book, as they are all multiple choice. It is a great way to test your knowledge of the body of law, and each multiple choice questions contains a detailed description of why each answer was right or wrong. I used this book in Civ Pro (where I had multiple choice on my final) and in Property (which was all essay) and found the books helpful in each class."

The Glannon guides are great bar prep books, due to the multiple choice examples that they provide.

The Glannon Guide to Property: Learning Property Through Multiple-Choice Questions and Analysis
The Glannon Guide to Constitutional Law: Governmental Structure and Powers
The Glannon Guide to Criminal Law: Learning Criminal Law Through Multiple-Choice Questions
The Glannon Guide to Civil Procedure: Student Manual


1 comment:

  1. Check out this Biglaw litigator's guide to law school supplements.

    www.lawschooltransferguide.com/law-school-supplements

    ReplyDelete

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