Study Guides for 1L Classes

The Center for Computer-Assisted Legal Instruction (CALI) provides are computer-based, interactive tutorials that cover narrow topics of law. There are over 1,200 lessons available on 60 different topics. Current W&L Law students can click here for the Authorization Code to sign up for a free account.

The Lexis Digital Library is an e-book collection of primary and secondary legal materials, plus a range of study aids for law school subjects from LexisNexis. Contains over 700 titles on 60+ legal topics, including the Understanding, Skills & Values, and Questions & Answers study aids series. Complimentary access is provided by the W&L Law Library to current W&L Law students.

West Academic offers hundreds of study aids written by top legal scholars that are designed to help you succeed in law school, including Nutshells, Hornbooks, Black Letter Outlines, Sum and Substance Audio Lectures, and more. All are free to view online or download to your mobile device with a valid W&L Law account through the linked heading above.

Online access available through West Academic. Assigned as required or recommended reading at law schools throughout the country, 1L of a Ride provides a candid, comprehensive roadmap to both academic and emotional success in law school's crucial first year. Legal education continues to evolve and so does this classic work. Told in an accessible first-person voice, covered topics in this completely updated fifth edition include: pre-planning, top student fears, the first-year curriculum, the Socratic and case methods of teaching, effective class participation, the top habits of successful students, essential study techniques, legal research and writing, exam strategies, maintaining well-being, online learning, career planning, and much more. Combines comments from hundreds of law students, empirical research, and authentic samples of signature documents from the 1L experience, including exam questions, Socratic dialogue, and student case-briefs, class notes, and course outlines.

Online access available through West Academic. For about 150 years, law schools have relied on the Case Method to teach the skills and art of legal analysis to first-year law students. Cracking the Case Method, 3d ed., provides concise and accessible instruction on how to succeed in law school by answering these questions--and many others. Students need to know what to study and how the opinions they read and discuss in class relate to law school exams.

Online access available through West Academic. Reading cases and statutes is challenging for students and attorneys. However, everybody can learn critical reading strategies and become effective legal readers and advocates. Critical Reading for Success in Law School and Beyond identifies the reading strategies used by expert legal readers and presents the strategies in a systematic sequence. Readers will learn: the purpose for reading cases, how to read with focus, case structure and important civil and criminal procedure terms, techniques for understanding complex text, strategies for identifying the parts of a case, how to brief a case, legal analysis skills such as analogical reasoning and case synthesis, and strategies for reading statutes.

Online access available through West Academic. The first of its kind, this book offers a global overview of the first-year curriculum in a single volume. In short, accessible lessons, Get a Running Start covers all the major concepts taught in each of the courses most commonly offered in the first year of law school: criminal law, torts, civil procedure, constitutional law, property, and contracts.

Online access available through the Lexis Digital Library. Getting to Maybe: How to Excel on Law School Exams has been the best-selling book on law exams since its original publication in 1999. What sets it apart from its competitors is its frank recognition that law exams test legal reasoning and that legal reasoning cannot be reduced to any simple "check the boxes" template. It avoids abstruse lectures and instead offers a clear, readable, and often humorous guide to how lawyers and judges deploy legal reasoning in real-world disputes and how law professors test such disputes--and the reasoning required to resolve them--on law exams. Responding to reader feedback, the authors offer a much-anticipated second edition with new material focusing on exam preparation; drafting successful exam answers while avoiding common mistakes; and tackling multiple-choice questions.

Online access available through West Academic. The Guide to Belonging in Law School is the only book of its kind and should be required summer reading before law school. First, it requires readers to engage in an authentic, rigorous, mini-law school semester involving reading, studying, five Socratic classes (through the connected website), exam preparation, and exam writing. Second, the book provides a foundation for students from marginalized groups to recognize and manage both subtle and explicit barriers that can impede their progress.

Online access available through West Academic. Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could enhance your happiness and cognitive firepower? If you could reduce your law school stress and expand your resilience, self-confidence, and overall joyfulness? What if your mind could be clearer, more focused, and flat-out better at learning, reading, outlining, memorizing, public speaking, exam-taking, decision-making, and various other law school competencies? In this book, law students will learn a wide collection of easy-to-apply, science-based tools for drastically improving their emotional well-being, mental strength, and academic success. This book provides a roadmap for thriving mentally, emotionally, and cognitively in law school, in the practice of law, and in life.

Online access available through West Academic. Written for every law student who ever wondered how to get better grades in law school, How to Write Law Exams: IRAC Perfected provides students of all levels with a detailed, comprehensive, and practical guide to success on law school exams. What's more, How to Write Law Exams applies equally to all subject matters, making this text an ideal supplement for every law school course. Focuses on law school and bar exams rather than the kind of assignments seen in legal writing class.

This unique book is designed to introduce non-lawyers to what law is and how it is interpreted and made, and to prepare prospective law students for law school. Although primarily intended for those interested in going to law school, it is also very useful for those who simply want a working knowledge of how the American legal system actually works. The text is highly pragmatic, helping the reader understand not just theory but the realities of how law works and what lawyers actually do to assist clients in the real world. To that end, it contains a sample legal problem along with the necessary legal materials to address it and an illustrative answer.

Online access available through West Academic. "There are two things wrong with almost all legal writing. One is style. The other is content." Professor Fred Rodell, Yale, 1936. We can't do much about content. You'll have to know how the common law system works, how to read and brief cases, how to study and take exams, how to write and argue law and how lawsuits are tried. We can do something about style. There's advice and illustrations. You'll throw pots, working your first case, making your first argument, briefing cases, taking exams, and writing memos. This is not for the faint hearted nor is law school. Think like a lawyer. I won't be a bore. I'll tell jokes, some of which are actually funny. I'll challenge you intellectually. Where does law come from? Should judges follow precedent? What if your client wants to pave Paradise and put in a parking lot? If you love ideas you'll love this book and you'll love law school. (If you love people you'll love practice.)

Keeping Your Own Counsel: Simple Strategies and Secrets for Success in Law School is a unique toolkit of practical systems, schedules, and scores of (sometimes-surprising) suggestions, to help students distinguish themselves in the classroom, the exam room, and the interview room. Drawing on the author's seven years of big-firm practice and quarter-century of full-time law teaching, the book provides encouraging and immediately-usable methods to support students throughout their law school careers, starting well before the first day of classes. Keeping Your Own Counsel includes structures for mastering information, maximizing efficiency, minimizing stress, and building a portfolio of publications.

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.

Online access available through the Lexis Digital Library. Law School Exams: A Guide to Better Grades is the complete handbook for students seeking to improve their performance in law school. This book offers a concise and practical strategy that can be applied to almost any law school exam, regardless of topic or level. The new edition offers unique insights by reducing the exam format to a series of repeatable steps. It also teaches students how to "prepare for exams, instead of preparing for class," with proven time-management and outlining techniques. The main focus of the book is on law school exam success, but it also includes comprehensive guidance on reading, note-taking, use of supplements, and common mistakes made by law students. The latest edition adds guidance for in-person and online testing, and three new practice exams with model answers (on the topics of Torts, Property, and Contracts).

Online access available through West Academic. This book answers the most-asked questions of first, second, and third year law school students. Exam Preparation: How long should my outline be? What should I include in my outline? What secondary sources should I use? Are study groups effective? Should I swap outlines with other students? How do I prepare for open and closed book exams? And much more Writing the Exam: What is the best way to read the exam questions? How do I schedule my time? How do I organize my answer? When do I need to assume facts? How do I impress the professor? And much more.

Online access available through West Academic. It answers questions students have as they begin their studies. What is a tort? Hornbook? Should I join a study group? It also explains and gives examples of the best methods for studying and for taking exams. It provides questions and model answers from actual law school exams. The Nutshell also provides information about the types of legal practice that are available to you when you graduate. And it describes the opportunities that will be available to you during your second and third years of law school, such as law journals, law clinics, internships, joint degree programs, and study abroad.

The ABA and most state bar associations have identified a wellness crisis in the legal profession, and called for educating students on how to better cope with the challenges of law school and practice. At the same time, students must learn how to maximize their brain health so that they perform well in law school and on behalf of their clients in practice. The same way musicians would tune their instruments, or chefs would sharpen their knives, law students must sharpen their minds. This book aims to help students "do well" in their ability to learn, and "be well" in the process, by exploring the deep connection between brain health and wellness. Specifically, the book discusses: How to cultivate the ability to deeply focus and deal with the challenges of the 24/7 digital age; How stress affects both brain and body; How increasing resilience helps deal with challenges and setbacks; Why we need exercise for mental, physical, and brain health; Why adequate sleep is important and how it can be improved; and How what we eat affects the brain and one's physical performance.

Online access available through West Academic. Mastering the Law School Exam is designed to provide students with a knowledgeable, reasonable, and rational voice to navigate the intricacies of law school exams. This book is practical rather than theoretical where the emphasis is on providing the type of detailed examples necessary to show students precisely "how to do it" and "how to write it."

Law school, particularly the first year, can be a rather intimidating and challenging experience for many students. This book is designed to give students the tools they need to successfully navigate their way through it. It introduces students to the fundamentals of legal analysis and writing and teaches them how to read and brief cases, outline, study, master law school exams, and care for their physical and emotional well-being. In short, it prepares students for every aspect of their journey through law school.

Nine Steps to Law School Success is the first scientifically proven study process for success in law school. Synthesized from the study processes of other successful law students, this book provides a straightforward, linear, and chronological study process for students to follow from the beginning of the semester up to their final examination. Students will learn how to complete each step, how each step leads to a deep understanding of course material, and how each step ultimately leads to success in their courses.

Online access available through West Academic. The West Academic Office Hours series is a collection of short audio and video tracks that tackle some of the thorniest questions plaguing law students. The professors answer students' most frequently asked office hour questions.

Online access available through West Academic. The West Academic Office Hours series is a collection of short audio and video tracks that tackle some of the thorniest questions plaguing law students. The professors answer students' most frequently asked office hour questions.

Open Book: The Inside Track to Law School Success 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.

Written in an engaging style and full of real-life examples, Reading Like a Lawyer approaches the topic of reading law with contagious enthusiasm and an abiding respect for the importance of learning to read law well. Now in its third edition, Reading Like a Lawyer enjoys a fresh new look and continues to include practice exercises at the end of each chapter and an accompanying website that allows students to test their growing knowledge about legal reading against that of the author. Reading Like a Lawyer uses active learning principles to help readers adapt their incoming reading skills to the skills needed to succeed in law.

Online access available through West Academic. The book provides a concise overview of the legal doctrines you will learn in your 1L classes--Criminal Law, Torts, Civil Procedure, Contracts, Constitutional Law, Property, and Legal Research and Writing. It then explains how to succeed in each of those classes by showing you the way to prepare for class, how your professor will use the Socratic Method, what study guides to buy and not buy, how to outline your classes, and the strategies for successfully taking your exams. In this book, Professor Gershowitz (a ten-time teaching award winner) shows you the forest so that you will not get lost in the trees.

Online access available through West Academic. A Short & Happy Guide to Being a Law Student is a must-read whenever worry or doubt creep in. In this volume you will find essential wisdom for the study of law and life. Learn from the unprecedented ten-time recipient of the Professor of the Year award how to be your best in and out of class, how to prepare for exams, how to succeed on exams, how to put your best foot forward in a job interview, how to find teachers to inspire you, what to do in classes that leave you uninspired, how to cope with stress and how to create value in everything you do.

Law school is different from other graduate schools. Students will be confronted by an entirely new vocabulary and unique and demanding educational methods. This book is designed to give these students a head start, both by introducing them to the fundamentals of the legal process and by helping them acquire the study skills necessary for success. The first chapters introduce students to the stages of a lawsuit from the lawyer's initial contact with a client through the filing an appeal. The next chapters include cases that illustrate the different roles the trial court, jury, appellate court, and court of last resort play in a lawsuit, knowledge helpful in doctrinal courses, but crucial in legal writing assignments. The final chapters suggest how students can effectively read and analyze cases, outline, and apply what they have learned on exams and in legal writing assignments.

In the third edition of Succeeding in Law School, Professor Ramy continues his mission of demystifying the law school experience. In addition to essential chapters on topics like course outlining, legal writing, and exam preparation, this edition includes multiple new exercises so that students can self-assess in order to improve their analytical abilities. As the first year of law school comes to a close, students can then use chapters on interviewing techniques, creating a writing sample, and writing a résumé to help market themselves to prospective employers. Whether students are seeking advice in the summer months or are looking for help once the school year has begun, this book is an important tool for helping them get the most out of their abilities.

The Bluebook® provides the rules for legal citation, but it can be intimidating and frustrating to use. With its simple building-block approach, this survival manual teaches how to understand and master the essential rules for legal practitioners. Rules are fully described and illustrated using: Clear explanations and illustrations of the basic components of legal citations; Step-by-step instructions for building citations to the most common authorities cited by legal practitioners; Detailed guidance for citing legal materials to both print and electronic sources; Examples, comparison charts, illustrations, and bullet-point explanations designed for quick mastery of basic Bluebook citation rules; Tips, hints, and cautions to help users avoid common citation errors; Cross references to the controlling Bluebook rules; and A user-friendly format gathering The Bluebook's scattered rules for each authority into one place.

Online access available through West Academic. This book gives law students weekly checklists explaining the skills necessary to successfully navigate their first year of law school. Each chapter provides a checklist of things to do that week, such as briefing cases, going over notes, outlining classes, or doing practice questions. When a new concept is introduced, this book clearly explains the concept and its purpose and provides examples. Instead of merely providing advice, this book lays out a detailed plan for students to follow. It also includes a bank of over 100 short, medium, and long practice questions in six first year subjects.