Trying to figure out a plan of attack for Property, Crim and Contracts. Last semester i used emanual's as the basis for my civ pro and con law outlines and they were great (i slam dunked both of those classes). This semester i haven't found outlining property in particular to be as smooth. Maybe it's the inescapable reality that property is complex and full of minutiae...but anyone have any advice?

What is THE must have supplement for...

Property: ?
Criminal: ?
Contracts: ?

I am guessing there may be two for each; a hornbook for understanding and an emanuel-type supplement to streamline the outlining process.

nothing? nobody has any words of wisdom?

i hear dressler is good for crim, but i dunno if people mean the fat ass book he wrote or the "black letter law outline" he writes (that book looks lame as hell, there are handcuffs on the cover)

but glannon writes a crim supp, and so far glannon has been the truth

the good contracts one is the one with the boat on the cover, i hear. the E&E kinda blew. i used emanuel's, but only to double check my understanding of cases

Dressler: Understanding Black Letter law
Contracts: I like the Emanuels crunch time but my prof has his own supplement

the dressler understanding book is pretty standard here as a crim law supplement. i don't think there are any decent property hornbooks out there. if you have the krier/dukeminier casebook, you definitely want to use gilberts (it's written by krier). i'd suggest buying a workbook when you get to present and future interests.

Don't waste your $ on the crim e/e. It's very basic.

Crim: Dressler was the one recommended to me and seemed to detail most if not all of the material.
Contracts: The green hornbook by Calamari and Perillo(Slightly higher priced since its hardcover, BUT it is definetely worth a look they may have it at the reference desk or look for it used); also heard but havent looked at the blue Chirelstein book with a boat on it)
Property: For Future Interests and Estates- "Estates in Land and Future Interests" Green Paperback 90% of my class had it I would say. I didn't but it because I just shared with others but it works you through it all. Generally, I would say the E&E or a supplement by the author of your book.

Hope this helps

by "dressler" do you mean the book with the handcuffs on the cover or the hornbook or w/e that he writes?

Understanding Criminal Law by Joshua Dressler SoftCover Lexis
http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Criminal-Law-Joshua-Dressler/dp/082057001X/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234878467&sr=8-10

....

Wait, Glannon never wrote a book on criminal law right?

There is a "Glannon Guide" to Criminal Law, it is named after him, but written by someone else (Levenson?)?

Does anyone recommend Moynihan's Introduction to Real Property? I'm thinking of buying it.

For Contracts, I disagree with most people on this board because I found that the E and E by Blum was quite useful.

Sure it could get a little long at times, but I felt his text was excellent.

I remember reading one poster who said that Blum was not good because his responses to his example questions were never clear. Instead, for instance, Blum would answer "The doctrine of promissory estoppel will probably apply..........but if not........"

THAT IS THE WAY TO WRITE A LAW SCHOOL EXAM ANSWER!

At the very least, his writing style will give you a fantastic idea of how to properly analyze a hypothetical, that is, by answering both in the positive and the negative.

Understanding Criminal Law by Dressler was somewhat helpful to me.

I never used it, but most of my friends recommend the Gilbert's Property as the best property supplement.

Any idea if the 2004 "Estate in Land and Future Interests: Problems and Answers" is too old to use, and the 2007 should be bought instead? 2004 edition is about 20% the cost of the '07 edition..

I have to imagine that they are basically the same. I mean property literally has laws the started in 1200 AD. If they haven't changed since then what are three years gonna do.

^Thanks, kind of what I figured, but I'm way behind in prop so I have no idea if there are any areas that were undergoing change recently for some reason.

Here's what worked for me.

For Contracts, I read Chirelstein around Thanksgiving and used Crunchtime to help me streamline my outline. I did well.

For Crim, my professor focused more on the MPC than on common law. I bought Dressler's, but found it too focused on common law. I read and outlined the MPC instead. I did well.

For Property, I used the E&E. Did less well. In fact, when I reviewed my exam with my professor, he pointed to a detail I'd gotten from the E&E and said, "Did I say that?" Oops. Maybe that's less about the E&E and more about knowing your professor.

There might be some changes to Takings, idk. We didn't cover it, but thats all I can really think of.

Gilberts for property is by far the best supplement if you end up having a really shitty visiting prof that tells you nothing in class... I have understanding property law as well, and I can see that as being good if you got things like rules out of your class, but we don't get anything like that out of ours.

SO TRUE!!! I really liked the E&E for Contracts (mostly because his model answers were like A+ exam answers) but also because the chapters have really detailed explanations of the concepts unlike some of the other E&E's.

Criminal Law: dressler

Contracts: Chirlstein and EE

Property: No clue

Civ. Pro: Concept and Insights by Issacharaoff (which is a good overview of how everything fits together), EE.... Also, i'd advise approaching the topics in a flow chart manner, only instead of boxes, you have cases the development of the law

Torts: Torts EE is helpful...

Final Rule: If you professor has written a book, get it and love it...
Secondary Rule: If you professor was taught the subject by someone who has written a book (Arthur Miller comes to mind), read his book... Unless your prof. talks about how much she has changed her views, they probably are similar.