PLS2: For those who followed it...worth it?

[kdeevers]

It stands for Planet Law School II.  It is a rather lengthy book, and you can buy it at any bookstore I'm sure.  I got my copy online at half.com for a lot cheaper than the bookstore prices.

[jcjc]

Thanks for the reply!

[dartmouth05]

With all due respect, JackInTheBox, you've gotten it wrong here. He muses a lot about things he considers doing, but he does not have a pay-site for tutoring. He does not have a summer pre-law camp. He doesn't make much money from the sale of the PLS2 book because his publisher reduced his cut in exchange for allowing the size of the book to remain so large. And he spends a lot of time, FOR FREE, talking to students through his yahoo group.

Sure, he recommends shelling out money for the various primers, but he doesn't get a cut from any of it--they aren't his books!

Wanted to bump this back to the top, but also add a comment as I am now near finishing the book.  Aside from the negativity that everyone has commented on, it seems this guy is really in on the sell.  I don't know if it was naive to purchase all the primers mentioned, but he goes on about how in the future he is setting up a pay-site where he will tutor you online.  He also talks about setting up a summer pre-law program (after trashing BarBri and LawPreview...earlier in the book he says something to the effect of 'There is no way you can learn legal writing in a one day seminar'; but I guess you can learn it in two days, because that is how it is offered Atticus Falcon's camp).

I'm sure this is all helpful, though; even his tutoring and 'camp' are probably helpful.  It just seems a lot of my enthusiasm is gone after reading this book; I'm also 500$ less rich thanks to the primers.

Please do let us know your feelings out there, those of you about to be 2-L's and anyone else who followed the PLS/PLS2 preschool study plan and can testify to if it helped or not.

[Mary]

I saw a link on nontradlaw about planet law school.  They have their own yahoo group which you can join if you've read the book.  The author responds to it frequently.

Post message: planetlawschool@yahoogroups.com
Subscribe: planetlawschool-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

[hmusd]

I have read most of PLSII, but have not bought all of the books and aids he advocates.  The book itself is very lengthy, and most of the time he is going on and on about how law schools don't care about you, and how the professors want to make your life a living hell (without being at all helpful, of course).  He is so cynical it's amazing.  The main reason why I didn't buy the rest of the books is because so many law students have said that you can prep and prep all you want, but it will all go out the window your first week of school.  Also that it can be risky because if you are, in effect, teaching yourself, you may concrete principles in your mind that you actually have quite wrong, or have misunderstood.  Then you have to re-learn, which is always tougher. 

In any case, I take everything AF has with a grain of salt.  I don't plan on going through his VERY comprehensive pre-law schedule, because I don't want to be sick of studying and have a fried brain before my first day even starts.  I like PLSII for the book suggestions (which I'll likely utilize once school has started) and for his advice on briefing cases (ie dont waste all your time briefing, concentrate on understanding the black letter law and doing your outline). 

[jdohno]

If you don't want to prep then that's fine. The first year of law school is a pretty negative time. You are filled with self doubt etc. So the "cynical" attitude of the book is pretty much on the mark. The first year of law school isn't a pleasant happy experience. And in law school, you have to learn the material on your own. It's not undergrad. You don't learn things in class. A topic comes up in class one day and most times it won't come up again.

And by prepping and teaching yourself, it's not risky. You aren't memorizing the prepping material. You are getting your first introduction to the legal concepts and topics. Prepping is all about repetition--the more times you are exposed to a concept then the deeper your understanding. In law school, you are exposed to a legal concept and if you don't get it--too bad. It's off to the next topic. And god help you if you have a professor who doesn't have office hours or is just as confusing during office hours as he is in class. There is no risk in prepping that you might understand something one way and have to relearn it a different way. There are professors that have their own definitions of black letter law, etc and you use their definition on the exams. But most professors and the casebooks themselves don't give you the black letter law. It's fairly easy after you understand a legal concept to change or accomodate your understanding to the professor's preference. There's a crim law professor at my school who is so bad that it's an open secret that the 3Ls have to relearn crim law on their own when they are studying for the bar exam.

And I wasn't sick of studying after I prepped last summer. In fact besides the first weeks of adjustment, I pretty much hit the ground running compared to my classmates. I started my outlines from day one, etc. I already had a structure because of the prepping. I was already used to reading for long hours and going over multiple things. In law school, you have so much time outside of class. If you don't have a structure then you waste a lot of time either spinning your wheels or not studying properly. Anyway, good luck on your first year.

I have read most of PLSII, but have not bought all of the books and aids he advocates.  The book itself is very lengthy, and most of the time he is going on and on about how law schools don't care about you, and how the professors want to make your life a living hell (without being at all helpful, of course).  He is so cynical it's amazing.  The main reason why I didn't buy the rest of the books is because so many law students have said that you can prep and prep all you want, but it will all go out the window your first week of school.  Also that it can be risky because if you are, in effect, teaching yourself, you may concrete principles in your mind that you actually have quite wrong, or have misunderstood.  Then you have to re-learn, which is always tougher. 

In any case, I take everything AF has with a grain of salt.  I don't plan on going through his VERY comprehensive pre-law schedule, because I don't want to be sick of studying and have a fried brain before my first day even starts.  I like PLSII for the book suggestions (which I'll likely utilize once school has started) and for his advice on briefing cases (ie dont waste all your time briefing, concentrate on understanding the black letter law and doing your outline). 

[broke2005]

Thanks to all the people that are discussing preparing for summer with PLS2.  Although I have not bought the book, I have bought Prof. Delaney's book as well as a copy of LEEWS tapes.  My question to jdohno (or anyone else with an opinion) is: what is the best way to dive into these things since I haven't started school?  I feel a little lost on where to begin.  Any thoughts?

[Coregram]

Just dive right in at the start. 

Delaney's book is written for prospective students, not for experienced ones. 

And LEEWS uses actual but simple, legal concepts which he explains such that it can be used and understood by students before beginning law school.  You might want to do LEEWS again midway through the semester, but I bet you get alot of out it now.

[jdohno]

Which Delaney book do you have? Learning Legal Reasoning is a nice intro to legal thinking. I didn't care for the briefing stuff towards the end. But the first half of the book is great. I love his discussion of issue statements and gathering cases. It translates well to legal writing. You want to read Leews a couple of weeks before law school begins. Since you aren't prepping, Leews by itself may be difficult for you to understand. But his advice about outlining early, etc will help you at the beginning of school. You can also read the Leews primer now so you can get an understanding of the system. You might have to read Leews multiple times to understand everything. You want to read Leews again once you have done some reading in school but at least 2 months before your exams.

If you were prepping over the summer, I would still advise you to read Leews a few weeks before school began. Along with some additional steps. I did Leews within the PLS2 system so maybe some of the other people in the various Leews posts on this site can help you with doing Leews by itself. Delaney has another book called How to do your best on Exams--something like that. It's a great great book. HTH

Thanks to all the people that are discussing preparing for summer with PLS2.  Although I have not bought the book, I have bought Prof. Delaney's book as well as a copy of LEEWS tapes.  My question to jdohno (or anyone else with an opinion) is: what is the best way to dive into these things since I haven't started school?  I feel a little lost on where to begin.  Any thoughts?

[broke2005]

Yes, I bought the "How to do your best on LS exams" by Delaney.  Should I buy the others you mentioned?