This book is for entering law students and law school orientation programs about how to study law. It covers how lawyers use the law, how the legal system works, how to study, how to read and brief case decisions, how to participate in class, how to prepare course outlines, and how to study for exams and write essay exam answers. It also provides a chapter with pointers about legal research and writing because of the importance of these subjects in the first-year curriculum. The book's aim is to provide a practical, prescriptive, and descriptive treatment of the conventional topics and instruction given by law professors about studying law. It has been vetted by over twenty-five reviewers, consisting of law professors, current and prospective law students, and practicing lawyers.

Beyond One L: Stories About Finding Meaning and Making a Difference in Law is inspired by Scott Turow''s One L, the classic account of a first year law student''s experience at Harvard Law School. With an introduction by Turow, Beyond One L explores first, second, and third year experiences in the decades since One L was published. It then moves beyond law school to tell the stories of taking the bar, searching for judicial clerkships, practicing law, and leaving law practice to become a teacher or judge.

The National Jurist featured Plain English for Lawyers in its August 2021 list of "Three Books to Read During Law School," saying, "This one speaks for itself. The book is a quick punch of information: it provides helpful tips to improve your legal writing while familiarizing you with many of the terms of art you are likely to see down the road as a legal professional." Wydick's Plain English for Lawyers--now in its fifth edition--has been a favorite of law students, legal writing teachers, lawyers, and judges for almost 40 years.

Letter to a One L Friend teaches students how to rise to the top of their law school class. The book began as a letter the author wrote in his final year of law school to a good friend who was just starting. Weaving in anecdotes from his experience as a student, the author presents a simple, proven system for law students to excel. Many law students study during every waking moment just to stay in the middle of the pack. This is because law school requires a unique method of analysis that is completely different from anything students experience in college. Incoming One Ls assume that the hardest-working, smartest law students earn the highest grades. But what happens when 300 top students with similar LSATs and GPAs try to outwork and outsmart each other? Despite what many students expect, doing well is more about strategy than intelligence. Students who use the correct process excel, while students who use the wrong process don't--regardless of how smart they are. Having a clear strategy when students begin law school is almost as important as working hard once they get there. Letter to a One L Friend teaches students that strategy and empowers them to excel in law school. Click here to listen to the author discuss Letter to a One L Friend on the Lawyer 2 Lawyer podcast.

For class planning purposes, instructors may find a brief list of changes from the second edition of A Lawyer Writes here. This new edition of the popular text teaches the foundational principles of critical reading, analysis, and writing in a clear and accessible way. By putting the reader in the place of a first-year attorney, the text shows law students how to succeed in law school and in the practice of law. Using graphics and contrasting effective and weak examples to illustrate concepts, the book demonstrates best practices in both traditional and electronic environments. Speaking to its readers in a straightforward manner, A Lawyer Writes communicates essential skills and theories so that they will be retained for a lifetime of legal practice. This third edition of A Lawyer Writes preserves the original concepts from the previous edition while refining content to reflect current practices. Chapter 18, "Professional Emails," not only discusses the form and substance of electronic communication, but now features new material on how to convey analysis effectively in email. Chapter 19, "The Transition from Objective to Persuasive Writing," has been reorganized and revised to highlight effective strategies for drafting persuasive analysis. Revisions in other chapters reorganize and update the original content by expanding on or clarifying ideas.

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.

This popular book helps students make the transition from their undergraduate experience to law school learning. Unlike other "introduction to law school" texts, Bridging the Gap offers a different approach because it: Explains the "why" of law, providing students with the context necessary to understand why law school is taught in a certain manner. Explains the "how" of the law, setting out a step-by-step process that will help students adapt to the law school setting. Explains the "what" of the law, giving students the opportunity to practice the problem-solving process by providing numerous exercises in a variety of subject matter areas. Rather than giving only general advice, or black letter law and some practice problems for a specific subject, Bridging the Gap provides the context, the process, and the problems.

The ability to read law well is a critical, indispensable skill that can make or break the academic career of any aspiring lawyer. In the first semester of law school alone, for example, it is not unusual for law students to read well over 2,500 pages in their assigned casebooks. This reading is challenging not only because of its sheer volume, but also because it is comprised largely of material that is unfamiliar to even the best-educated pre-law students. The reading is critical because it forms the foundation upon which all classroom discussion is built'and upon which exam content ultimately rests.Fortunately, the ability to read law well (quickly and accurately) is not a gift that you're either born with or are not born with. Rather, reading law well is a skill that can be acquired through knowledge and practice'an ability that can be masted, improved, and perfected by any motivated student. The sooner the student masters these skills, the greater the rewards.Using seven specific reading strategies, reinforced with hands-on exercises at the end of each chapter, this book shows you how you can read law like expert law students and expert lawyers do'efficiently, effectively, powerfully, and confidently. Part I introduces the reader to the fundamentals of legal reasoning upon which law-based reading builds; Part II introduces the reader to concrete strategies for reading effectively in law school; and Part III teaches strategies for reading law outside of the law school context.Law students, pre-law students, and any professional whose work touches on law will all find Reading Like a Lawyer to be an engaging, easy-to-read guide to the complex and powerful world of law-based reading.

This study aid explains that success in law school does not require any special skill or genius. It demonstrates that if students can apply the basic techniques described in this book, they can be in the top 10% of their class. This comprehensive guide provides reliable frameworks (backed by cognitive neuroscience) to navigate everything from the first day of law school to the first year of practicing law. It offers frameworks for handling reading assignments, classes, taking exams, and getting on law review--all the way through succeeding as an associate in a law firm.

The Pre-Writing Handbook for Law Students describes a detailed, systematic approach to the task of analyzing a legal problem. The Handbook is designed to help students focus on and become competent in the process of legal analysis that precedes their work on early legal writing products such as memos, case briefs, and other documents. The Handbook is designed with first-semester legal writing students in mind, but it is also suitable for use in academic support courses and in pre-law programs. The Handbook teaches the process of legal analysis by walking students through a series of repeatable steps they can apply to any legal scenario. By practicing and internalizing these analytic steps, students will experience a smoother writing process that translates into a better written product.

Hard-Nosed Advice from a Cranky Professor is a must-read for any new law school student who wants to be successful both in and out of the classroom. The book provides advice from the most valuable source: the law professor. It gives a no-nonsense, hard-nosed approach to advising students on what they must do to succeed. The advice is provided in a light-hearted and humorous manner, which makes the book a quick and easy read for any law student. The book's practical, hands-on approach to learning helps students master the most essential skills needed in law school, including briefing cases, outlining, taking exams, meeting professor expectations, and many more. The authors provide step-by-step instructions and concrete examples to help students navigate each skill. The book's user-friendly style and wealth of examples are its greatest assets. In this new, updated edition, the authors enhance each topic by simplifying the approach even further and providing additional hypotheticals to turn the abstract into the concrete. The second edition includes new examples of case briefing, outlining, exam writing, and bar essays, and also includes an entire chapter dedicated to the skill of legal writing. In this new chapter, the authors transform a complicated writing course into a simple, step-by-step guide that makes legal writing attainable for any law student. With detailed explanations, examples, tips, and insights, this book is a tool no first-year law student should do without.

The Legal Writing Survival Guide is for any law student or lawyer facing legal writing's most common conundrums, including: the document that is too complicated, the memo that didn't find the "right" answer, the brief that must deal with bad law, and the email that has to deliver bad news. Covering predictive writing, persuasive writing, and correspondence, it offers practical tips, tricks, and tactics. The Legal Writing Survival Guide also includes clear illustrations and solutions to common grammar, punctuation, citation, and style issues that are critical to surviving any legal writing assignment. It is the survival guide you have been waiting for. Whether you are a procrastinator, a pessimist, or just plain perplexed, The Legal Writing Survival Guide will help. "Smith has the direct style of a writer and teacher who has learned not to waste any time; subject headings include how to write "I was wrong," "I need help," and "I did not mean to send that earlier email" emails. Along the way, the book offers the kind of practical emotional advice that will be valuable to those who are trying to produce highly technical documents in a highly competitive environment without adequate sleep. This writer knows her audience." -- Book News, Inc. (December 2012)

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. Alex Schimel is a Lecturer-in-Law at the University of Miami and a leading expert on law school academic success. 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.