Just finished 1L first semester...should I keep my notes and outlines?

[czarevich]

I'm not planning on dumping my 1st semester notes or outlines, rather I am going to file them away in a cabinet.  Is this okay or should I plan on making that info more readily available? 

[hbb]

You definitely want to make your notes and outlines more readily accessible. I'd recommend making multiple copies, to be placed in each room of your apartment in the event you are not able to instantly access your filing cabinet. Also, consider placing a copy in the glove compartment of your car. Great question - many students overlook this sort of thing.

[just dot]

You definitely want to make your notes and outlines more readily accessible. I'd recommend making multiple copies, to be placed in each room of your apartment in the event you are not able to instantly access your filing cabinet. Also, consider placing a copy in the glove compartment of your car. Great question - many students overlook this sort of thing.

^^^ Ahahaha!  I loled.


OP, seriously, I kept all of my notes and books.  I'm not sure why, but I'm very emotionally attached to all of them.  My handwritten notebooks and casebooks are on a shelf and I created a new folder called "1L Fall" that I dumped all of my individual class sub-folders with notes, practice exams, and any other info on my computer.  I have it all backed up on my EHD, too.  As far as being readily accessible, I don't know that we'll really need to look over this stuff again unless they are bar courses.  Even then, I'm planning on taking BarBri or something like that.  Of course, I'm a 1L so what do I know anyway.

[just dot]

The only reason to keep them is to make some law students' life easier next year by giving them your outlines.  Most law students burn them.  But this guy isn't debating WHETHER or not to keep them, but which drawer to keep them in.  That is the epitome of the neurotic law student.

People burn their notes?  Wow.  Different strokes, I guess.

I'm still keeping mine even though I'm not sure my notes would be any good to any upcoming 1L's.  Even if I'm pleasantly surprised by my grades, my outlines weren't as complete as some of my classmates' outlines.  I didn't bother re-writing material that I was certain was firmly in my mind.  Therefore, there are some holes in major areas.

Also, I encrypted them all in case anyone tried to steal them. 

Just kidding.   

[Pax86]

What a terrible question. Get rid of the gay picture too.

[Burning Sands, Esq.]

What a terrible question. Get rid of the gay picture too.

any problem here?

[czarevich]

Sorry that I might have sounded like such a tool in my post but I was trying to ask whether I needed to keep my outlines and such along with my supplements while I studied for second semester.  In other words, how cumulative is the second semester?  Will it be imperative that I use the first semester information to study effectively during the second? 

[Miss P]

Sorry that I might have sounded like such a tool in my post but I was trying to ask whether I needed to keep my outlines and such along with my supplements while I studied for second semester.  In other words, how cumulative is the second semester?  Will it be imperative that I use the first semester information to study effectively during the second? 

If you have two-semester courses (e.g., civpro over two semesters), it might be useful to have the previous semester's notes handy at a few points.  Keeping them in your file cabinet will be just fine.  You might want to keep your outline for that course on your computer as well so that you can reference it if something comes up in class.  But seriously, if you don't remember, it won't be a big deal.  Most of the time when professors cross-reference your courses or refer back to your previous semester, it will be a kind of idle question like "Does anyone remember another case we read last semester where Rehnquist made a similar argument?" or "Does this sound familiar from your reading of Pennoyer?" 

If you have conlaw first year and learned the structural stuff first semester, that will be helpful in many of your other classes.  Otherwise, most of what you learn 1L is how to read cases and stuff and the specific information is not all that important.

[goaliechica]

I went back to some of my Civ Pro notes during my Admin Law class this year, because we covered some of the same material. I would have been fine without them, but I did find it useful, for whatever that's worth. Some classes do overlap a bit.

[robelguapo]

The beauty of Onenote...it's all there ready to go.


I assume your Outlines will be handy come Bar exam time too. Why re-invent the wheel when you re-invented once already?

I have a feeling I may be referring back to them at some point.