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One book answers every important question facedby today?s new law students and their families: Law School Insider is an easy-to-read, step-by-steplaw school guide taking readers through every stage of the law school experience from applyingto graduating and beyond. Includes special sections tailored to the diverse concerns of modern female and male law students.
Open Book: The Inside Track to Law School Success, 2E is a book that every JD and LLM law student needs to read, either before classes start or as they get going in their 1L year. Now in an expanded second edition, the book explains in a clear and easygoing, conversational manner what law professors expect from their students both in classes and exams. The authors, award-winning teachers with a wealth of classroom experience, give students an inside look at law school by explaining how, despite appearances to the contrary, classes connect to exams and exams connect to the practice of law. Open Book introduces them to the basic structure of our legal system and to the distinctive features of legal reasoning. To prepare students for exams, the book explains in clear and careful detail what exams are designed to test. It then devotes a single, clearly written chapter to each step of the process of answering exams. It also contains a wealth of material, both in the book and digitally, on preparing for exams. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Open Book comes with a free suite of 18 actual law school exams in Civil Procedure, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Criminal Law, Property and Torts, written and administered by law professors. These exams include not only questions, but: (1) annotations from the professors explaining what they were looking for; (2) model answers written by the professors themselves; and (3) actual student answers, with professor comments that explain why certain answers were stronger of weaker. As Open Book explains, there is no better way to prepare for exams than by practicing, and these unique materials will enable students to get the most out of their pre-exam practice.
They say that there are more students in law school than there are practicing lawyers. If they’re right, then you need every possible advantage. In this insider’s guide, Georgia State University School of Law student Justin Spizman helps you get the head start you need. Whether you are considering law school or are already ensconced in the curriculum, Spizman tells you what you need to know to survive—and thrive! With firsthand experience and interviews with both professors and practicing attorneys, Spizman gives you the edge you need to manage your workload, figure out what your professors really want, get an edge on your future in the legal field, determine the right type of law to pursue, reduce stress, and more. In addition, this guide addresses current issues that law students like you face every day, including computers in the classroom, electronic databases, the Socratic method, outlining and study tips, balancing a heavy workload with everyday life, and making time for friends and family. The Insider’s Guide to Your First Year of Law School promises to show you not only how to get through your first year—but how to get ahead!
Prepare yourself for a long strange trip from which there is no return - The Law School Trip - a twisted insider's guide to the surreal world of legal education. Written by an award-winning law professor and humorist, The Law School Trip is the step-by-step guide that unlocks all the secrets of law school (to unlock the actual school, purchase The Lock-Picking Trip separately). In this one book, you'll learn about: * The LSAT® and other registered trademarks * Rankings: Feeling good about not getting into Harvard * Surviving the Socratic method with treatable injuries * Lucky charms and other tips for exam success * The Horribly Evil Bluebook * Fun, Fun, Fun and the Rule Against Perpetuities * Learning to love Mrs. Palsgraf * Strange Creatures from Outer Space and other law faculty * Law's Greatest Hits: Best First-Year Cases * Writing a resume your therapist would be proud of * And much, much more! The perfect gift for law students, lawyers, and anyone who has wondered what law school is like. REVIEWS "A delicious read from beginning to end." -- Grif Stockley, bestselling author of Probable Cause and Religious Conviction "Fly, drive, walk, or crawl to buy The Law School Trip, a superb and highly entertaining parody of legal education." -- Professor Timothy R. Zinnecker "Heaps and mounds of undulating and ululating laughter. ... McClurg makes the law school experience sparkle and shine." -- The Law Teacher, Official Publication of the Institute for Law School Teaching "Howlingly, gut-wrenchingly, turn purple and blow food out your nose funny!" -- The Bimonthly Review of Law Books "McClurg brings legal humor to new heights. ... Very, very funny!" -- Professor Myron Moskovitz "More pure pleasure than anything I've read in months." -- Professor Marianne Wesson, bestselling author of Render Up the Body and A Suggestion of Death "The perfect antidote for legal education... A must read for law students, professors, and lawyers." -- Professor Gerry Hess, Institute for Law School Teaching "What a Trip'! ... Truly a classic of legal humor." -- Professor David G. Owen "[A] one of a kind piece of work that you don't have to a lawyer or law student to love." -- Text-Book.com "[D]ispense[s] buckets of advice without ever removing tongue from cheek. ... [A] loving parody ... from the eyes of one who knows." -- National Jurist, The Magazine for Law Students
A concise, highly accessible guide to exam success. Provides an insider s view of what professors look for in exam answers, and how exam-taking connects to good lawyering. Accompanied by a Web site with content that is both free (e.g., sample outlines, class notes, case briefs) and for-sale (e.g., sample exams and memos written by professors giving feedback on the answers). Features: High-profile, experienced authors from elite schools with hands-on experience teaching the majority of the courses in the traditional 1L curriculum Distinctive central pedagogy: the pinball method of exam-taking Accompanied by Web site with content that is both free (e.g., sample outlines, class notes, case briefs) and for-sale (e.g., sample exams and memos written by professors giving feedback on the answers). Explains to students not just the how but the why of law school exams what makes law school exams different from exams students have encountered in other settings Detailed examples provide concrete demonstrations of exam-taking techniques Highly readable: prose is straightforward and humorous; key points accented with memorably amusing illustrations Not just an exam prep book; students are offered guidance on getting the most out of classes, and law school more generally
Going to law school has become a very expensive and increasingly risky gamble. When is it still worth it? Law professor Paul Campos answers that question in this book, which gives prospective law students, their families, and current law students the tools they need to make a smart decision about applying to, enrolling in, and remaining in law school. Campos explains how the law school game is won and lost, from the perspective of an insider who has become the most prominent and widely cited critic of the deceptive tactics law schools use to convince the large majority of law students to pay far more for their law degrees than those degrees are worth.DON'T GO TO LAW SCHOOL (UNLESS) reveals which law schools are still worth attending, at what price, and what sorts of legal careers it makes sense to pursue today. It outlines the various economic and psychological traps law students and new lawyers fall into, and how to avoid them. This book is a must-read if you or someone you care about is considering law school, or wondering whether to stay enrolled in one now.
The Successful Law Student: An Insider's Guide to Studying Law is the ultimate companion for all prospective and current law students. Packed full of insights, advice and perspectives from current and past law students it is the only student guide to offer you the inside track on how to make the most of your law degree and your time at university. The Successful Law Student: An Insider's Guide to Studying Law is perfect for you whether you're taking a one-, two-, three- or four-year degree course or planning to take a year abroad, whether you're a full-time, part-time, or mature student, or whether you'll be balancing your studies with work or other commitments. The focus is on the things that will make a big difference to your student experience, including making a smooth transition to university level study, getting the most out of lectures and feedback from tutors, advice on how to approach law exams, and finding a rewarding career. Complemented by a variety of insider voices from students and alumni, which add valuable context and real-life insight, Imogen Moore and Craig Newbery-Jones use their extensive experience as law teachers to explore the learning process and look beyond it to consider the wider definition of success, and help you manage the pressures of legal study. Digital formats This edition is available for students and institutions to purchase in a variety of formats. The e-book offers a mobile experience and convenient access along with functionality tools and navigation features. www.oxfordtextbooks.co.uk/ebooks
Offers one hundred rules that every first year law student should live by “Dear Law Student: Here’s the truth. You belong here.” Law professor Andrew Ferguson and former student Jonathan Yusef Newton open with this statement of reassurance in The Law of Law School. As all former law students and current lawyers can attest, law school is disorienting, overwhelming, and difficult. Unlike other educational institutions, law school is not set up simply to teach a subject. Instead, the first year of law school is set up to teach a skill set and way of thinking, which you then apply to do the work of lawyering. What most first-year students don’t realize is that law school has a code, an unwritten rulebook of decisions and traditions that must be understood in order to succeed. The Law of Law School endeavors to distill this common wisdom into one hundred easily digestible rules. From self-care tips such as “Remove the Drama,” to studying tricks like “Prepare for Class like an Appellate Argument,” topics on exams, classroom expectations, outlining, case briefing, professors, and mental health are all broken down into the rules that form the hidden law of law school. If you don’t have a network of lawyers in your family and are unsure of what to expect, Ferguson and Newton offer a forthright guide to navigating the expectations, challenges, and secrets to first-year success. Jonathan Newton was himself such a non-traditional student and now shares his story as a pathway to a meaningful and positive law school experience. This book is perfect for the soon-to-be law school student or the current 1L and speaks to the growing number of first-generation law students in America.
Please note: The second edition of The Complete Legal Writer will be out in August. The Complete Legal Writer lives up to its name, providing everything legal research and writing professors and students need in a textbook, including citation literacy, research skills, writing process, a wide range of legal documents, and more. Using the cutting-edge Genre Discovery Approach, this book teaches students to guide themselves through the process of writing unfamiliar legal document types and thereby prepares students to write independently in upper-level classes and the workplace. To aid in teaching Genre Discovery, the authors provide three exacting samples of each document type covered in the book, a rhetorical analysis of each document type, and specific questions to guide students as they study the samples. The Complete Legal Writer covers document types that are traditionally taught in the first year, such as office memos and appellate briefs, as well as document types taught in upper-level and non-traditional first-year curricula, including trial briefs, demand letters, and employer blog posts. Furthermore, this book covers an essential skill for all legal writing classes: giving and receiving feedback. In addition to explaining how to give feedback to and receive feedback from peers, an important skill given the rise of peer-feedback practices in the LRW classroom, The Complete Legal Writer also covers how to receive and implement feedback from professors and workplace supervisors in order to improve both a particular document and future documents. "The Complete Legal Writer lives up to its name: it presents a comprehensive, fresh, and intuitive approach to teaching legal writing that invites students to confidently and enthusiastically cross the divide between their prior writing experiences and the world of legal writing. By giving students the tools they need to critically examine the documents that lawyers write, the authors'' genre-discovery approach empowers students to meet (and exceed) the expectations of their new reading audience, even when they are faced with the challenge of writing a document they may not have seen before. With the text''s warm tone, humorous touches, and vivid examples, the authors have hit a homerun that will engage faculty and students alike while arming students with skills they will use throughout their professional lives." -- Ruth Ann McKinney, Emerita Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law "This uniquely reader-centered text indeed empowers students to grow into complete legal writers. The authors gently yet firmly guide students through "genre discovery": careful study of sample legal documents, by which students construct for themselves the conceptual frameworks that writers of such documents need. Students thus till the soil, plant seeds of understanding, and harvest their own insights--and thereby enjoy "ground-up" rather than "top-down" learning that is refreshingly autonomous and remarkably effective." -- Craig T. Smith, Assistant Dean for the Writing and Learning Resources Center and Clinical Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law "The Complete Legal Writer promises much and delivers more. The text covers fundamental concepts including legal logic and analysis, research methodology, the writing process, and citation literacy. The overall tone is refreshingly readable and will undoubtedly resonate with students. What sets the text apart is not the wide variety of sample legal documents offered, but its potential to equip students with a method of evaluating all documents/genres using an approach that will prepare them to write and ultimately to practice more effectively. The rhetorical legal genre approach is quite a discovery, and no law library collection would be complete without this book." --Marie Summerlin Hamm, Law Library Journal
