Suggestions for 1L prep

[$Bill]

I'm reading a lot of books for pleasure, and with law school probably starting a year from now, I'd feel amiss if I didnt start prepping now...anyone have any first year prep tools or books that they think are particularly excellent.

[I am Penny Lane]

I think there is an old thread somewhere called "Best books to prepare for law school" or something to that effect. I have been putting off looking at it until I am done with apps, but it might have some good advice.

[$Bill]

thank you much

[jumpyoulikeabattery]

Planet Law School II (take it with a grain of salt)

Delaney's Learning Legal Reasoning

and if you're really ambitious get the examples and explanations for torts, civ pro, con law, contracts.

that should keep you busy.

[juliemccoy]

You don't need anything to prepare for 1L. But if it makes you feel better, than read Getting to Maybe and Delaney's Learning Legal Reasoning.

I promise you this. Last year, I didn't believe any of the lawyers and law students who gave me the advice to relax and enjoy myself. I was convinced there was a huge conspiracy to leave 1L's unprepared for law school.

And then I started law school. And ... there was no conspiracy. I learned everything I needed to know about preparing for class during my orientation, and about 2 weeks in, I figured out which supplements I might like best.

Don't pre-prep. You will burn out AND you have no idea what your first year profs might focus on. Your torts prof might be really into intentional torts and spend 1/2 the semester on that, or he might turn up his nose and hasten through it in 1-2 weeks.

You're not going to law school to learn the law. You're going to law school to learn your law professor's view of the law. That's the best pre-prep advice I can give. No outside knowledge is needed to be successful in law school.

What I do advise:
Save $$$$ for supplements, BarBri registration and your Bar pre-application for the character and fitness test. There are a lot of expenses in 1L.

[StudentUVA]

You don't need anything to prepare for 1L. But if it makes you feel better, than read Getting to Maybe and Delaney's Learning Legal Reasoning.

I promise you this. Last year, I didn't believe any of the lawyers and law students who gave me the advice to relax and enjoy myself. I was convinced there was a huge conspiracy to leave 1L's unprepared for law school.

And then I started law school. And ... there was no conspiracy. I learned everything I needed to know about preparing for class during my orientation, and about 2 weeks in, I figured out which supplements I might like best.

Don't pre-prep. You will burn out AND you have no idea what your first year profs might focus on. Your torts prof might be really into intentional torts and spend 1/2 the semester on that, or he might turn up his nose and hasten through it in 1-2 weeks.

You're not going to law school to learn the law. You're going to law school to learn your law professor's view of the law. That's the best pre-prep advice I can give. No outside knowledge is needed to be successful in law school.

What I do advise:
Save $$$$ for supplements, BarBri registration and your Bar pre-application for the character and fitness test. There are a lot of expenses in 1L.

I actually disagree with you on this. You still need to learn the black letter law for the majority of your classes; for instance, in contracts you will study consideration. And no matter what your prof thinks about it, he will most likely use the restatement version. For more technical classes like civ pro, there is almost no room for real variation. You will likely study the same cases and the same tests. In fact, the other day i talked to a 1L in a school in Arizona, and it turns out that his class read the exact same cases and studied the exact same black letter law as we did (purposeful availment, min contacts etc.).  So i think that there are things that you can learn before school and that you will see again in law school. 

[Special Agent Dana Scully]

You don't need anything to prepare for 1L. But if it makes you feel better, than read Getting to Maybe and Delaney's Learning Legal Reasoning.

I promise you this. Last year, I didn't believe any of the lawyers and law students who gave me the advice to relax and enjoy myself. I was convinced there was a huge conspiracy to leave 1L's unprepared for law school.

And then I started law school. And ... there was no conspiracy. I learned everything I needed to know about preparing for class during my orientation, and about 2 weeks in, I figured out which supplements I might like best.

Don't pre-prep. You will burn out AND you have no idea what your first year profs might focus on. Your torts prof might be really into intentional torts and spend 1/2 the semester on that, or he might turn up his nose and hasten through it in 1-2 weeks.

You're not going to law school to learn the law. You're going to law school to learn your law professor's view of the law. That's the best pre-prep advice I can give. No outside knowledge is needed to be successful in law school.

What I do advise:
Save $$$$ for supplements, BarBri registration and your Bar pre-application for the character and fitness test. There are a lot of expenses in 1L.

I actually disagree with you on this. You still need to learn the black letter law for the majority of your classes; for instance, in contracts you will study consideration. And no matter what your prof thinks about it, he will most likely use the restatement version. For more technical classes like civ pro, there is almost no room for real variation. You will likely study the same cases and the same tests. In fact, the other day i talked to a 1L in a school in Arizona, and it turns out that his class read the exact same cases and studied the exact same black letter law as we did (purposeful availment, min contacts etc.).  So i think that there are things that you can learn before school and that you will see again in law school. 

maybe you can learn them...i don't think there's any real need to.

[Leo]

I'm reading a lot of books for pleasure, and with law school probably starting a year from now, I'd feel amiss if I didnt start prepping now...anyone have any first year prep tools or books that they think are particularly excellent.

It wouldn't hurt to learn how to brief. You can also read some books that might give you a basic overview of what first year couses cover, since that can help you put what you're learning in some sort of context. Anything more than that is probably too much

[juliemccoy]

You don't need anything to prepare for 1L. But if it makes you feel better, than read Getting to Maybe and Delaney's Learning Legal Reasoning.

I promise you this. Last year, I didn't believe any of the lawyers and law students who gave me the advice to relax and enjoy myself. I was convinced there was a huge conspiracy to leave 1L's unprepared for law school.

And then I started law school. And ... there was no conspiracy. I learned everything I needed to know about preparing for class during my orientation, and about 2 weeks in, I figured out which supplements I might like best.

Don't pre-prep. You will burn out AND you have no idea what your first year profs might focus on. Your torts prof might be really into intentional torts and spend 1/2 the semester on that, or he might turn up his nose and hasten through it in 1-2 weeks.

You're not going to law school to learn the law. You're going to law school to learn your law professor's view of the law. That's the best pre-prep advice I can give. No outside knowledge is needed to be successful in law school.

What I do advise:
Save $$$$ for supplements, BarBri registration and your Bar pre-application for the character and fitness test. There are a lot of expenses in 1L.

I actually disagree with you on this. You still need to learn the black letter law for the majority of your classes; for instance, in contracts you will study consideration. And no matter what your prof thinks about it, he will most likely use the restatement version. For more technical classes like civ pro, there is almost no room for real variation. You will likely study the same cases and the same tests. In fact, the other day i talked to a 1L in a school in Arizona, and it turns out that his class read the exact same cases and studied the exact same black letter law as we did (purposeful availment, min contacts etc.).  So i think that there are things that you can learn before school and that you will see again in law school. 

Yes, but law school will teach you the interpretation of the black letter law that you will need to delight your professor when you take his exam.

You guys can pre-prep to your heart's content, but the people who follow PLS2 style pre-prep are not usually the ones with top grades.

[Special Agent Dana Scully]

My Ks prof is a legal realist.

@#!*. 

Chirelstein?